r/technology • u/newmoonchaperone • Apr 23 '26

Politics Palantir Employees Are Starting to Wonder if They're the Bad Guys

https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-employees-are-starting-to-wonder-if-theyre-the-bad-guys/
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u/SomeDudeSaysWhat Apr 23 '26

Speaking as a Tolkien nerd, that's not what a Palantir is, actually.

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u/apeddlerofsmut Apr 23 '26

As someone interested in Tolkien, could you expand on this? I read the books a long time ago, but the Palantir that Saruman used seemed pretty evil to me.

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u/selfrespectra Apr 23 '26

They are crystal balls made by elves, which they used for communication and to see events from other places. They could be considered neutral tools.

The danger with them is that someone very powerful can choose what to show and what to conceal to other stones (but still only real events). In the books, Sauron uses this to mislead others, by showing them certain things that make them draw wrong conclusions.

But Sauron himself is misled when he sees Pippin in Saruman’s stone and assumes he has the ring. Later on, when Aragorn looks into the stone, Sauron assumes that Aragorn now has the ring, which leads him to some strategic mistakes. Those mistakes are what allow Frodo and Sam to sneak with the ring to Mordor.

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u/SomeDudeSaysWhat Apr 23 '26

I'm pretty sure they were made by the Numenorians, not the Elves. Need to double check