Henneth Annûn Story Archive

I had a Beta reader a long while back who told me that Aragorn returned the Orthanc stone to the pinacle of that tower. She cited either "Lost Tales" or "Unfinished Tales" as the source for that information. Could you verify whether or not she was correct and help me locate the relevant passage?

Many Thanks,
Wordweaver

 

It is in Unfinished Tales:

In "The sources of the legend of Isildur's death"

But King Elessar, when he was crowned in Gondor, began the re-ordering of his realm, and one of his first tasks was the restoration of Orthanc, where he proposed to set up again the palantir recovered from Saruman.

I must point out that it never says he DID return the palantir there. It seems, to me, a very unlikely place to keep the one working palantir he has.  In the citation, it is an excuse to go about the cleaning out of Orthanc, wherein many old and strange things are uncovered, including the original Elendilmir.

Gwynnyd

 

Thanks very much, Gwynnyd.  I agree it seems like a strange place to keep the one working palantir, but if Tolkien says that was his intention, that's enough for me.  Sometimes Tolkien's most illogical plot choices provide the broadest scope for imagination. 

Wordweaver

 

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