• deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    The palantiri (plural) were made by the elves during the First Age when they lived with the Valar (gods), so yes they were made during a golden age long ago. They were gifted to men of Numenor who remained loyal to the Valar and Iluvatar (The God) and kept friendship with the elves. This was during a time (Second Age) in which the rulers of Numenor were being hostile to the elves, disrespectful towards the Valar, and just generally being assholes. The elves gave the palantiri to the “Faithful” of Numenor so they could still communicate with each other despite the opressive politics on the island. Elendil, fore-father of Aragorn, took them (and a fruit that grew into the White Tree of Gondor) when he fled Numenor for Middle Earth. (Elendil’s son, Isildur, is the one that cut the ring from Sauron’s hand.)

    But the palantiri were not corruption artifacts. They are seeing stones. The “corruption” you see in the movies is not inherent in the stones. It is simply that Sauron has a stone also, and you really don’t want him to get inside your head.