LOTR re-read :)

[Valandil]

Rian - how's the re-read progress going?

Alcuin - further thoughts on Elendil at the Elostirion Stone: I wonder if the palantiri prompt a compulsive reaction from humans, much like a computer screen or smart phone display of today. Was Elendil addicted? We know that his name basically means "Elf Friend" - and that he truly was an Elf Friend. Did he spend all his time friending every single Elf in Westernesse?

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Valandil

…I wonder if the palantiri prompt a compulsive reaction from humans, much like a computer screen or smart phone display of today. Was Elendil addicted? We know that his name basically means "Elf Friend" - and that he truly was an Elf Friend. Did he spend all his time friending every single Elf in Westernesse? …

I don’t think they could be addictive. Tolkien says (in Unfinished Tales) that using a palantÃ*r was quite tiring, a side effect that probably discouraged overuse.

Gandalf told Pippin that “the Orthanc-stone so bent towards Barad-dûr that, if any save a will of adamant now looks into it, it will bear his mind and sight swiftly thitherâ€�. It sounds like just looking into it, with Sauron anxiously and impatiently awaiting an overdue report by an untrustworthy Saruman, meant that the user immediately saw Sauron, who seems to have kept the captured Ithil-stone close by; Aragorn initially met Sauron, too. The Ithil-stone and Anor-stone were in close alignment, too: that’s why the Stewards were reluctant to use their palantÃ*r after Minas Ithil fell.

As for the Elendil-stone, I suspect all the Arnor palantÃ*ri were left in Arnor when its army marched away. Elendil never looked into again, nor did Isildur. Any friendships and alliances meant to be maintained with that stone were broken with their deaths: Valandil of Annúminas never had the introductions and opportunities to meet the Eldar of Tol Eressëa who were so important to the Lords of Andúnië that both the Elves and the Númenóreans risked their lives to maintain them, not to mention the treasure the Eldar gave.