[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I'm of the opinion that a farcical aquatic ceremony is the only legitimate means of conferring true authority.

Now that my jest is guaranteed an intelligible context, here are a few brief thoughts on this chapter.

In her excellent introduction, Estelyn posed the question:

Do you think the palantír came as a surprise to Gandalf, or did he suspect that all along?

I think that we can approach an answer by looking at an earlier passage. In Minas Tirith, Beregond tells Pippin:

And the Lord Denethor is not like other men: he sees far. Some say that as he sits alone in his high chamber inm the Tower at night, and bends his thought this way and that, he can read somewhat of the future; and that he will at times search even the mind of the Enemy, wrestling with him.

If this rumour, which was obviously current among the guards of the Citadel, reached Gandalf's ears, I doubt that he would have found it very difficult to put together 'he sees far' and the meaning of Palantír. In fact, I think it very likely that Gandalf knew that there was a Palantír in Minas Tirith, and feared that someone might be tempted to use it.

The reference to 'wrestling' with Sauron naturally brings to mind the earlier contest which Aragorn initiated using the Palantír of Orthanc, which he won only by the narrowest of margins. The events of this chapter are, then, foreshadowed much earlier in the narrative and only at this point explained as they come to a head.

The reference to 'heathen kings' reminds me of a passage from Beowulf, one of the narrator's many Christian comments on the events in the narrative:

Hwilum hie geheton æt hærgtrafum
wigweorþunga, wordum bædon
þæt him gastbona geoce gefremede
wið þeodþreaum. Swylc wæs þeaw hyra,
hæþenra hyht; helle gemundon

in modsefan, metod hie ne cuþon,
dæda demend, ne wiston hie drihten god,
ne hie huru heofena helm herian ne cuþon,
wuldres waldend.

Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offerings to idols, swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to their aid
and save the people. That was their way,
their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts
they remembered hell. The Almighty Judge
of good deeds and bad, the lord God,
Head of the Heavens and High King of the World,
was unknown to them.

Lines 185a-173a. Translation by Seamus Heaney.

The appeal of both of these comments is to an awareness of the superiority of present faith over the untutored heathendom of the past. Gandalf is appealing to Denethor's cultural vanity by comparing him with the untutored forebears of Men. The implication is that there is a higher power than temporal strength at work in the world, but Denethor's pride will never allow him to see it. He has been considering the struggle in terms of military strength and political alliance, so that he succumbs to despair just as his fortunes are about to revive. Those who hope on against all odds, whom he considers to be deluding themselves, are eventually justified.

I'm afraid that I don't have time to give any more than those very brief ideas, but I hope that they are of some use.