The White Council

Re: Denethor's Palantir

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: It is likely that the fall of Saruman began long before he was : trapped by Sauron when using the Palantir of Orthanc. We know : that his knowledge/obsession with the rings of power was in : full flow when Sauron was still based in Dol Guldur and that : he was already working counter to the wishes of the White : Council at this stage. I presume Sauron did not have access to : the Palantir of Minas Ithil until he returned to the Barad Dur.

Although it might have been safer by some measures not to move the Palantir far, Sauron had control of it for over a thousand years. To wait until the end of the Third Age (he declared himself openly in 2951) to use it seems a little strange.

In "The Palantiri" Tolkien writes:

"Two things contributed then to the neglect of the Stones, and their passing out of the general memory of the people. The first was ignorance of what had happened to the Ithil-stone: it was reasonably assumed that it was destroyed by the defenders before Minas Ithil was captured and sacked; but it was clearly possible that it had been seized and had come into the possession of Sauron, and some of the wiser and more farseeing may have considered this. It would appear that they did so, and realized that the Stone would be of little use to him for the damage of Gondor, unless it made contact with another Stone that was in accord with it. It was for this reason, it may be supposed, that the Anor-Stone, about which all the records of the Stewards are silent until the War of the Ring, was kept as a closely-guarded secret, accessible only to the Ruling Stewards and never by them used (it seems) until Denethor II."

Saruman did not take possession of Orthanc until 2759, more than 700 years after the Ithil Stone was seized. In that time, it appears no one tried to use the other Stones to contact the Ithil Stone or look at whatever region in which it might be located.

According to the Tale of Years, Saruman didn't use the Orthanc Stone until around the year 3000:

"The shadow of Mordor lengthens. Sarumans dares to use the palantir of Orthanc, but becomes ensnared by Sauron, who has the Ithil Stone. He becomes a traitor to the Council. His spies report that the Shire is being closely guarded by the Rangers."

Michael