I’ve heard it’s from LOTR but I’m not very into that but want to understand what that foreshadows for this dystopian data grabbing nightmare company
Simplified: It’s a crystal ball that allows you to see through space. However, the target can also see you.
Think of it like one of those
cryingscrying (ducking autocorrect) balls from the Disney movies. Or a two-way-camera setup.Can’t wait for some terminally online dork with a python script to figure out that the god password for Palantir is “StudMuffin1234” and dump everything online, thus making the two-way aspect a reality…
EDIT: Just for the record, it’s been over 30 years since I read the books. I may remember it incorrectly.
The concept is used by Palantir the corporation to refer to the fact that they are placing the world under malevolent surveillance. And they’re clearly proud of that malevolence. Yucky.
The palantirs were mainly used by the evil side during the time the books are set in. Specifically, Sauron (main bad guy) uses it to draw Saruman (former good guy turned bad) to his side.
Only the LoTR books. In the earlier time periods they’re very much a tool of the “good guys” to communicate.
I knew someone was going to write that.
I couldn’t help myself:p
Only thing missing is the two way allows for the corrupting and controlling influence. Sauruman basically became the way he did by using them to much and he is from a class of beings that are about as resistant to the effects as can be.
crying balls
Hopefully you mean scrying, a crystal ball that cries sounds dreadful.
Hah! Terry Pratchett could have run with that.
Granny Weatherwax: “What’s wrong with your ball thingie? Looks leaky.”
Magrat: “Oh! I got it from Boffo Novelty and Joke Shop (No. 4, Tenth Egg Street, Ankh-Morpork). It’s supposed to be a top-of-the-line scrying ball!”
Weatherwax: “You got swindled you wet hen. That’s a crying ball if I ever sees one.”
Nanny Oog: “Now Granny, give young Magrat a break. Here honey, have a shot of this. Always puts me right on top of the world! And sometimes on the bottom, which is just as well.”
Weatherwax: “I can’t be havin’ with you two. Goats need fed.” (jump starts her crappy broom)
This made me so happy to read.
However, the target can also see you.
Not really…
If you knew what you were doing you could look anywhere
If you were a fool of a Took you just turned on a giant beacon that everyone who knew what they were doing and had their own immediately looked at.
Think of it like how some people “look for aliens” by beaming out a giant “hey, look at me! I don’t know what I’m doing!” Signal to anyone who can hear.
That’s what happened in LOTR. Then others used their own crystal balls to look at where the signal was and saw Pippen.
Literally nothing you said was correct.
Well, thanks for the links!
Thiel doesn’t see himself like Sauron, but like the Great and Good Kings of old, of the Númenor Empire…Numenorians lived hundreds of years and were good and noble, and most important, white.
They had the Palantirs, orbs that could connect the distant realms of the Empire…imagine colonial England with palantirs and Lords that lived hundreds of years.
Númeror was sunk by God (big G) because of the hubris of this Aryans that thought they could set sail to the land of the gods (small g’s)
With time, most of the Palantirs were lost. Most people didn’t even knew they existed. (Most people don’t know about Thiel and palantir either.)
Both Gondor and Isengard (city/fortress) had one.
And has other lemming has said, the palantirs work both ways.
So both Saruman (Isengard) and Denethor (Gondor) thought they could use the “power” of the palantirs to subjugate and rule.
But Sauron had one. And more power and knowledge about them.
So he used the 2 way channel of the palantirs to corrupt them whenever one of them connected with the orb. (Like Russia used the social media apps to corrupt discontent people into turning more and more to the right.)So.
Like I said at the beginning.
Thiel doesn’t see himself has Sauron. I think.He seems himself has one of the great kings of the ancient white Empire that lost the pride and diluted the blood, all because of foreigners… (Aragon has numenorian blood…but diluted…so in the films your are seeing a 80 year old man. But he will not reach the hundreds of years that his ancestors lived.)
Thiel wants to live forever, believes in eugenics and dynasties, and has a company called Palantir to spy on the whole world…
He must see himself has Aragon reforging Narsil and remaking the old white Empire.
Edit: I know Aragon is good. I’m saying Thiel thinks he is good too. The irony is that he is the last days of Númenor, and not really the glory of the good old days.
No matter who he sees himself as, his actions are those of Saruman.
Sure. Sauron was the one who corrupted the kings and people of Númenor and led to the downfall of the Empire. So I tend to agree with you.
Replace sauron with thiel and Empire with the States (world?), and yeah, spot on.
But sauron didn’t create the palantirs.
And my point was that HE SEES HIMSELF as one of the good, wise, near imortal kings of Numenor before the corruption of Sauron.
This is reality. There isn’t a sauron to blame. And I don’t like that Tolkien thinks that white people are flawless without a devil like thing to corrupt them.
But he was Christian…and a thing i learned about religion is that all glory is to God and all fault is to the devil(s)…people are inherently pure and Good. /s
Happy account day 🫡
The horrible culture of the US is Sauron. All the racism, exploitation of immigrants, sexism, genocide of the native peoples, colonialism, deepthroating of capitalism, and other terrible aspects of society are what lead to Thiel being who he is.
In addition to the other comments, when Gandalf, known for being among the wisest at the time, sees the lost seeing stone, he is immediately suspicious and wary.
Maybe you watched the movies and remember that scene where saruman doodles around with a sort of flaming crystal ball. Thats the thing. A two way spy/communications device specifically used by the bad guys.
Essentially they named their project after the totalitarian spy device of the worst guy and his corrupted (by that very device) sidekick in lotr**. Apparently that is aspirational to these people
**yes, i know sauron is not the actual bbeg but for the sake of someone who knows the movies at best i skipped last that.
Basically it’s really great to have this card out for yourself, and pretty horrible if it’s on your opponent’s side.
I mean, the artifact in LotR is magical. Reading too much into the name would be a mistake.
It’s Skype Middle Earth Edition™.
