: What's the story on Glorfindel, in the Lord of the Rings? He
: is in Elronds household at Rivendell. He is said to be a
: mighty Elf-lord, but i've never read of him before, or is he
: the same Glorfindel that killed the Balrog in the
: Silmarillion? Help, please....

Tolkien decided that the two Glorfindels were one and the same, that Glorfindel of Gondolin had been released from Mandos early in the Second Age and eventually returned to Middle-earth by way of Numenor to help Gil-galad in the wars against Sauron.

: Second:

: Can somebody please give me a clear account of the Palantirs?
: I've just reread LOTR but i'm still confused. Where were they
: to start with, where did they go, and what became of them at
: the end of the Third Age?

The Palantiri were made by the Eldar of Aman, possibly by Feanor, although the true master stone was in Avallone, a city on the island of Tol Eressea. Seven Palantiri were given to Amandil, apparently during the last visit of the Eldar to Numenor. Elendil put the Palantiri on seven of the ships where he gathered the last of the Faithful Numenoreans.

When the Faithful reached Middle-earth, three Palantiri ended up in Arnor with Elendil and four of them ended up in Gondor with his sons. The largest of the seven, and their "master", was placed in a tower in Osgiliath, the city built on the bridge spanning Anduin between Anorien and Ithlien.

A stone was placed in Minas Ithil and another in Minas Anor, and the fourth Gondorian stone was placed in Orthanc.

Elendil put one of his Palantiri in one of the three towers that Gil-galad built for him overlooking the Gulf of Lune. This stone was specially attuned to look back to the master stone in Avallone.

Another stone was placed in Annuminas and the third one was placed on Amon Sul (Weathertop).

During the Third Age four of the stones were lost. The stone of Annuminas was taken to Fornost Erain when the Dunedain abandoned the former city at the division of Arnor. When Angmar overran Arnor in TA 1974 King Arvedui took the stone from Weathertop and the Annuminas stone north with him, and these were lost on the rescue ship that foundered in the winter storm.

The stone of Osgiliath was lost during the Kin-strife, the Gondorian civil war in which Castamir the Usurper drove the rightful king of Gondor, Eldacar, out of the kingdom.

The stone of Minas Ithil was captured by Sauron's forces when the city fell for the second (and last) time in TA 2002. That stone eventually ended up in Barad-dur after Sauron returned to Mordor in TA 2951.

Denethor secretly used the stone of Minas Anor to learn about Sauron's power, and to struggle with him. It was this stone which Denethor took to his funeral pyre, and the image of his hands burning amid the fire was so ingrained in the stone's vision that only someone of very great will could force it to reveal something else.

The stone of Orthanc was misused by Saruman, who was never given the right to use it, and Aragorn eventually recovered it. In time he restored it to Orthanc.

The last stone, the stone in the tower of Elostirion, the one which looked back to Avallone, was guarded and used by the Eldar during the last thousand years of the Third Age, and it was finally placed by Cirdan on Elrond's ship and sent back to Aman.
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