The Palantíri
the Seeing-stones; the stones of the kings
The Stones
The Palantíri — the “Seeing-stones” — were the seven far-seeing spheres of the Numenoreans, made (the lore says) by the Eldar of Valinor in the days of the Kings; they let the watcher see far off; and the “stones of the West” were precious heirlooms of the Faithful, brought by Elendil and his sons through the Drowning to the Realms in Exile: the stones of the North and South set in the high places of Arnor and Gondor.
Their Use and Their Peril
The stones of the Faithful were stations of sight and counsel between the distant cities of the Dúnedain — “the eyes” of the kings upon their realm.
- They were, however, two-way: the one who looked into a stone could be seen by another — and in the Third Age, Saruman of Orthanc and Denethor of the White Tower, using their stones, were in turn looked upon from Mordor, and their wills were turned by the vision they sought. The stone of Orthanc was “the most perilous” of those that remained. After the War, the stones of Isengard and of the royal towers were taken or sealed; their long silence ended the “eyes of the West”.
Significance
The Palantíri are the “seeing-bridges” of the mythology’s later age — the ancient artifact of the Numenorean lore whose power to look is also the power to be seen (and so to fall); with the One Ring they are the twin great “objects of sight” of the Third Age’s end.