The Military uses of the Palantiri.

[JeffF.]

As most of you know I'm particularly interested in the military aspects of M-E. LotR shows some uses of the Palantiri that reveal their usefulness as a source of Intelligence on the enemy e.g. what Denethor saw of the armies and fleets mustering against Gondor that caused him to despair. The Palantiri should have been as great an INTEL advantage as ULTRA was for the Allies in WWII and should have been the M-E equivalent of spy satellites as well as a secure means of communications (like ENIGMA should have been for the Germans of WWII).

When Elendil and his sons fled the destruction of Numenor and were scattered by the storms that resulted the Seeing Stones must have been critical in communicating with each other between the lands that would be known as Arnor and Gondor. According to the limitations of the stones revealed in Unfinished Tales they could not have been used aboard ship since they required careful alignment but once ashore their powers could be used to find each other and communicate.

When the Last Alliance went against Sauron the military potential of the Stones should have been used to their full potential. Though the attack against Minas Ithil that started the war is never written about in detail it is likely that it involved attacks by Orcs from holds within the mountains around Minas Ithil, mountains that have long been the borders of Mordor and likely filled with Orc strongholds. If part of the attack was through underground passages the Palantiri would have been of limited or no use in detecting those. The mustering of Sauron's Easterling, Haradrim and Black Numenorean allies could not have been hidden from the Stones. In any case it is likely that Sauron had no idea that Elendil and his sons possessed any and would therefore not have thought any precautions were needed. The Stones would have been a great advantage to Anarion as he held Osgiliath and the line of the Anduin River against the further assaults of Sauron (while Isildur went north to seek the aid of Elendil and Gil-galad). They would have enabled Anarion to detect Sauron's main thrusts and position the forces of Gondor to meet them while assuming little risk in thinning his forces elsewhere. As Elendil and Gil-galad advanced on Mordor the Stones would be perfect sources examining Sauron's defenses in detail (to aid in deciding how and where they should be attacked) and for detecting the maneuver of Sauron's forces, they were probably key to the successful retaking of Minas Ithil (which was held by Isildur's sons Ciryon and Aratan during the Battle of Dagorlad). During the battle of Dagorlad the Stones should have given ample warning of any tactical deceptions or troop movements Sauron intended (like those Morgoth used in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears). If the army had two or three stones with it they could have been used even as tactical communications at least between the major divisions of the army, to coordinate maneuver and attacks.

Sauron's armies must have greatly outnumbered those of Elendil and Gil-galad at Dagorlad but the Stones would have enabled a tactical advantage that should have been decisive, eliminating or reducing the "fog of war" for Elendil and Gil-galad giving them real-time knowledge of the exact disposition and movements of their enemy as well as seeing the exact positions of their own vast forces.

Even in the later wars of Gondor and Arnor, prior to the loss of the Stone of Minas Ithil, the Stones properly used should have prevented either kingdom from suffering surprise attack particularly from enemy men. The loss of the Ithil Stone to Sauron would have gone far to level the playing field or even swung the advantage to his side since using the other stones would have made their users vulnerable to Sauron's great powers. I would think that the Chief Stone located in Osgiliath would have been less vulnerable to a user of the lesser stone of Minas Ithil even when wielded by someone of Sauron's power.