Fëanor and the Palantiri

[Sharkey]

As we know,Fëanor made the Silmarils and the Palantiri,and these were his most famous works.
The Silmarils were priceless to him and they were the chief cause for the flight of the Noldor.The Palantiri were apparently not as precious to him as the Silmarils,but they were without a doubt very very valuable.

How come Fëanor left them behind when he pursued Morgoth into Middle Earth - it is strange that he would do so,taking into consideration how much he loved the work of his hands? Being a very powerful tool they would have been very helpful to him and his sons and the wars with Melkor. Who "claimed" them and how did they end up in the hands of the Numenoreans?

[Celebthôl]

Maybe he didn't want to loose them to Melkor aswell, coz i think that he dowted that he would defeate Melkor

Celeb

[Mithlond]

Weren't the Palantiri given to the Numenoreans as a gift from the Elves not long after the island was established?

[Celebthôl]

yes but that was years after the noldor left the blessed realm

[Turgon]

My guess is that carrying seven Palantíri (perhaps eight if we include the master stone which later resided in Tol Eressëa) on the long march to Middle-earth would have been no easy feat.

'At smallest they were about a foot in diameter, but some, certainly the Stones of Osgiliath and Amon Sûl, were much larger and could not be lifted by one man.'

Remember too Fëanor's speech in Tirion...

"Say farewell to your treasures! More still shall we make. Journey light: but bring with you your swords!"

Not too suprising then that Fëanor should not carry them with him on his march. On another note, we know of seven 'lesser' Palantíri, the ones given in gift to the people of Númenor and of an eighth stone (the Master Stone of Tol Eressëa) is it possible that these seven lesser stones were originally designed by Fëanor for his seven sons, and that he himself had the keeping of the eighth? Probably just a coincidence of numbers but interesting none the less...

[Walter]

On a sidenode I would like to mention that the palantíri had not been conceived by Tolkien until late 1942 (or maybe 1943), whereas the story of the exodus of the Noldoli had been first developed some 20 years earlier. It appears to me that assigning the palantíri to Feanor's craftsmanship was an afterthought of the Prof.

[Ardamir the Blessed]

I also came up with the theory that Fëanor constructed the palantíri for himself and his seven sons and I think that it is quite interesting. Why did Fëanor create them? Were they used in Valinor before the rebellion of the Ñoldor, or did Fëanor create them quickly just in time before the rebellion to be used later? Maybe the Exiles brought them to Middle-earth and used them in order to communicate, though as far as I can recall they weren't much split up by then yet, so perhaps they were going to use them in case they were split up or organised more of a siege against Angband, with several hosts. Then after Fëanor's death his sons perhaps used just the seven lesser palantíri. After the end of the War of Wrath most of the Ñoldor departed to Eressëa, so they probably took all the palantíri with them. Then later the Elves of Eressëa gave the seven lesser palantíri as gifts to the Númenóreans, as is mentioned in the Akallabêth, but the Master-stone remained on the Isle of the Eldar.

I somehow doubt that Fëanor would have given his palantíri to the Teleri of Eressëa long before the rebellion, but perhaps the palantíri stayed behind, and then were later given to the Elves of Eressëa after the War of Wrath so that they in turn could give them to the Númenóreans.

It should be noted that the Master-stone of Eressëa is not mentioned in 'The Palantíri' in UT, which was written around 1966, while 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' was written in the late '40s, in which the Master-stone is mentioned, so maybe JRRT abandoned the conception of a Master-stone on Eressëa. Also, the palantir of Elostirion had special properties, and not employable in communications.

[Garwen]

I agree with you. In fact I would have said the same thing that you had said. But you had said it better And when in doubt quote Tolkien, after all he knew It was his world

[Ardamir the Blessed]

Well, it is just speculation. To my knowledge there is no explicit mention of a palantír in Beleriand.

When browsing Tolkien art I happened to stumble upon this picture of Vinyamar. Is there a palantír in the tower?


EDIT: I e-mailed the artist and asked about it.

[Ardamir the Blessed]

I never heard from the artist.

[Ellatur]

maybe he was afraid it would fall into the hands of the enemies. His treasures: the silmarils, fell into the hands of morgoth and he probably didn't want the palantiri to go to him also. Plus, we all know the sideaffects caused by the palantir that Sauron took. Feanor may have been afraid of the side affects also.