Thanks for the replies. As you may have noticed in the op I am well aware that The Eye is primarily a metaphor and a symbol and certainly not the physical manifestation of Sauron himself. I even quoted the same letter as you did in my previous post,
Ibrin. I think that from an outside perspective, The Lidless Eye is just that and nothing more, a metaphor Tolkien uses to symbolize the never sleeping watchfulness of Sauron (though one wonders how fitting the cat-eye likeness really is, seeing how cats spend the great majority of their lives sleeping).
It’s certainly a very powerful one too, with applications that go beyond Middle Earth. To me it symbolizes the need for control in a totalitarian society - come to think of it, totalitarianism isn’t at all necessary for one to imagine how The Eye is on you these days. As an aside, a friend of mine got busted for possession of marijuana a few years back and one of the consequences was being ordered to go see a doctor at his own expense to prove he was no addict. “You know that big Eye in the LotR movies?” the doctor asked my mate who nodded. “That Eye is on
you now, it's watching you carefully and it isn’t going to lose focus for a looong time” The good doctor was referring to the state machinery.
Yet, from an inside perspective I’ve began to wonder if The Eye isn’t perhaps more than a symbol after all. This image is just so universal. Frodo sees The Eye before he (in all likelihood) learns that Sauron uses this symbol, and Galadriel immediately recognizes the vision, because she has it too, the very same it seems. Didn’t Bilbo see the Eye too, many years before the events in
Lord of the Rings? The Orcs often refer to The Eye when speaking about Sauron and his intent, and I very much doubt that many if any of them actually have seen the Dark Lord in the flesh, seen his actual eyes. No, clearly this image isn’t accidental. It must have been chosen by Sauron himself, and I believe he uses it as a representation of himself and his power. The vision of The Eye is something that he projects, as a sort of visual manifestation of his intent to control and subjugate.
With this in mind, would it be so hard to believe that there actually is a red eye on top of Barad Dur? That opening quote seems to suggest that Frodo and Sam though so, though they didn’t see it directly, only sensed it. That would be pretty intimidating for the Orcses I think, seeing a glowing red beacon peering down at them, much like how Frodo and Sam saw the light in the tower at Cirith Ungol, yet with much added malice. I included the description of Minas Morgul because it actually describes something similar to PJ’s forkeye in the movies (and this is most likely a literal description) – a revolving top course of a tower shaped like a ghostly face, watching over the lands with ‘magic’ means, as there would be no need for revolving if there were actual people standing in the windows. Why can't Barad Dur have a similar feature? Hm. I also think there's something unsatisfactory with the image of Sauron leaning out of a plain window for hours on end, trying to decipher what’s going on outside the Morannon. It seems undignified somehow. I’d much rather picture him sitting on his dark throne in front of the Palantir, which he’s managed to hook up to his terrifying Eye device.
And
Boro, I'm still waiting for your explanation of the quote in the op. Edit: Sorry, now I see that you did, though I'm not entirely convinced. Should think before I speak
Lastly, while there was no white hand on top of Orthanc, there certainly was a large one outside of Isengard.