The Lord of the Rings: The Palantir (Part Two)

The Tale 

          Merry falls asleep almost instantly, but Pippin tosses and turns. ‘The thought of the dark globe seemed to grow stronger as all grew quiet.’ At last he gets up, drawing his cloak around him, ‘driven by some impulse that he did not understand.’ The camp is sleeping, with only the cold white moon shining down upon them, shadows black in its light. He creeps over to where Gandalf lies, seemingly asleep. Pippin steps back hastily when he sees the wizard’s eyes are not fully closed; apparently he dozes with half an eye open.

As Gandalf does not stir, Pippin draws closer and notes that the wizard’s hand seems to have just slipped off of a round bundle wrapped in a dark cloth. Surmising it is the black globe, Pippin picks it up and finds to his surprise that it is lighter than he expected. Not unwrapping it just yet, he finds a large stone, takes the globe out of the cloth and wraps the stone with it, putting the bundle near the sleeping wizard’s hand. This is well for Pippin, for when he now sneaks a peek at the globe, Gandalf stirs, murmuring in his sleep. But when his questing hand finds the substituted bundle, he settles down again.

Pippin regrets his actions almost immediately, but is too shaken to return the ball. He decides he must go away and settle down first, and in the meantime he might as well take a good look at it. With the globe wrapped in his cloak he takes it to a little hillock not far from his bed. He sits with his knees drawn up and the ball between them, ‘looking like a greedy child stooping over a bowl of food’. He removes the cloak and gazes at his prize. The air seems tense and still.

The ball is dark and dead at first, gleaming a bit in the moonlight. Then there is a faint glow and stir in its depths which holds his eyes so that he cannot look away. ‘Soon all the inside seemed on fire; the ball was spinning, or the lights within were revolving.’ Suddenly the lights go out. Pippin remains transfixed by what he sees, gasping and struggling, but cannot look away. His head bends closer and closer to the ball, then he goes rigid, lips moving soundlessly. ‘Then with a shrill cry he fell back and lay still.’

The camp is immediately roused, and Gandalf comes hurrying over to Pippin. He hastily covers the globe with his cloak and bends down to examine the hobbit, who is lying rigid on his back with staring, unseeing eyes. The wizard takes the hobbit’s hand and listens for his breath, then lays his hands to Pippin’s brow. The hobbit’s eyes close, then he sits bolt upright, staring at the crowd of pale faces all around. He focusses on Gandalf.  

‘It is not for you, Saruman!’ he cried in a shrill and toneless voice, shrinking away from Gandalf. ‘I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Say just that!’

Pippin struggles to escape, but Gandalf holds him down. ‘Peregrine Took! Come back!’ At his words the hobbit relaxes and collapses, clinging to Gandalf and begging for forgiveness. The wizard says first he must tell him what he has done. Pippin (he seems ashamed and frightened) gives him a rather sketchy answer. Gandalf presses him about what he saw and said, but Pippin shuts his eyes and shivers, until the wizard commands him ‘Speak!’

Pippin starts out low and hesitant, but his voice slowly becomes stronger as he tells the tale. First he saw a dark sky and tall battlements. ‘It seemed very far away and long ago, yet hard and clear.’ He sees tiny flying figures that seem to grow larger as his vision zooms in, nine figures flying around the tower. They grow huge and terrible the closer he gets. They seem to fly past him. ‘Then he came.’

Pippin never says the name of Sauron, but it is he. He does not speak words; he just looks at the globe, and Pippin understands. At first Sauron seems to be expecting Saruman to be checking in, but when Pippin does not answer he starts questioning him. The pressure of the Dark Lord’s mind hurts him horribly and at last Pippin answers ‘A hobbit.’ This turns out to be a mistake, because Sauron can suddenly see him, and his cruel laughter stabs like knives.

Pippin struggles, but Sauron tells him to wait a moment; he has a message for Saruman. But Pippin and he will meet again soon. ‘Tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him. I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Say just that!’ Then the Dark Lord starts to gloat over him. Pippin felt like he was falling to pieces, and then he knew no more.

Gandalf looks into Pippin’s eyes, but the hobbit looks straight into his face. There is no lie in Pippin’s eyes as he had feared. Yes, Pippin has been a fool, but an honest fool he remains; he is not under Sauron's domination. It might have gone more badly. ‘You have been saved, and all of your friends too, mainly by good fortune, as it is called.’ If Sauron had not been so greedy to question and torture him in person, the Dark Lord might have pressed him right then and there and found out all their plans for the Ring. But he wanted Pippin in person. ‘Don’t shudder! If you will meddle in the affairs of wizards, you must be prepared to think of such things.’ But Gandalf forgives him; things might have turned out much worse.

He lifts Pippin and takes him to his bed next to Merry, bidding him rest if he can. ‘If you feel an itch in your palms again, tell me of it! Such things can be cured. But anyway, my dear hobbit, don’t put a lump of rock under my elbow again!’

Bits and Bobs

Apparently when the palantir entered the story Tolkien had no idea about its ‘true nature’; the first draft has it shattering on the stone steps after it misses Gandalf. But as its possibilities in the narrative grew on him he began exploring its uses and history, determining the number and powers of the Seeing Stones. He put it all down in writings now gathered into Unfinished Tales, under the chapter heading of ‘The Palantiri.’ One thing that distinguished them from ordinary crystal balls in our world is that they are deep black, instead of clear. They also have ‘poles and axis’ for proper viewing; Pippin has ‘by chance’ set the palantir on its west to east axis, so that, coupled with Saruman’s habitual use of the ball, it takes him directly to the Dark Lord.

Pippin, when he comes out of trance at first, is obviously under some compunction to deliver Sauron’s message just as he was told, and under what might be Sauron’s expectations at first mistakes Gandalf for Saruman. In his horror of the encounter, he cannot even speak Sauron’s name; perhaps this is because he does not want to invoke the Dark Lord and make his presence seem even nearer, even in memory. This is the only time Sauron ‘appears’ in the books (and he is too terrible to describe), and we hear for the first time direct reports of his words.  

Gandalf once more invokes ‘good fortune, as it is called,’ by which he appears to mean Providence, in the old religious meaning of the word, as God’s special grace that orders the good of the world. Fortune, luck, and chance are always ‘so-called’, because there are no mere coincidences in Middle-earth. For ‘all things work together for good to them that love God,’ or Eru, as it were.

The cold white orb of the Moon makes an interesting contrast to the dark black globe of the palantir.