Palantír
Sign in to saveA palantír (; in-universe ) is one of several indestructible crystal balls from J. R. R. Tolkien's epic-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The word comes from Quenya 'far', and 'watch over'. The stones were used for communication and to see events in other parts of Arda, or in the past.
Key facts
- Fictional artifact.name
- Palantír
- Fictional artifact.source
- The Lord of the Rings
- Fictional artifact.first
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- Fictional artifact.first_type
- Novel
- Fictional artifact.date
- 1954
- Fictional artifact.creator
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- Fictional artifact.genre
- Fantasy
- Fictional artifact.type
- Crystal ball
- Fictional artifact.uses
- ScryingTelepathic communication
- Fictional artifact.traits
- Indestructible sphere of dark crystal
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- crystal ball
Show 1 more fact
- from narrative universe
- Tolkien's legendarium
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Fictional artifact
- Origins
- Characteristics
- Analysis
- In film
- See also
- References
- Primary
- Secondary
- Sources
A palantír (; in-universe ) is one of several indestructible crystal balls from J. R. R. Tolkien's epic-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The word comes from Quenya 'far', and 'watch over'. The stones were used for communication and to see events in other parts of Arda, or in the past.
The palantírs were made by the Elves of Valinor in the First Age, as told in The Silmarillion. By the time of The Lord of the Rings at the end of the Third Age, a few palantíri remained in use. They are used in some climactic scenes by major characters: Sauron, Saruman, Denethor the Steward of Gondor, and two members of the Company of the Ring: Aragorn and Pippin.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Palantír” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.