Why take a body? Why make a Ring?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Raynor

You know what they say: all is happy in the best world possible . Anyway, may I be permited to note a non sequitur in your statement? Your example is quite the opposite of what you were trying to prove .

Oh no, I mean it alright! I ought to have been reading about Hitler or the Corn Laws or somesuch 'useful' learning, which might have helped me get higher exam results but I was, quite literally, 'away with the faeries'...

Originally Posted by Raynor

I don't think Saruman used language either, I guess he was just scared out of his wits by the turnings of the events, which were arranging against his double crossings, that he wanted to have a second opininion through the palantir. I presume that the power Sauron wielded infused the palantir(s) - therefore when Saruman opened (?) his mind in order to direct the palantir to the locations he wanted, he may have unwillingly and unknowingly interacted with Sauron - who may even have directed what Saruman saw, as he did with Denethor.

I agree. Doesn't it say somewhere that the Palantiri did not work through the medium of sound anyway? I am suspicious that they in fact worked in some ways via sanwe. They 'capture' past events which can then be seen, and they do not show 'future' events, but can show current ones, obviously. They can show wider scenes but must be correctly manipulated to achieve this. They also only work in a 'two-way' connection (in that you can only contact one other stone at once - no 'conference calls' ); only the stone in Osgiliath could 'see' all other stones. Also, thinking about the way Denethor was trapped unwittingly and eventually driven to despair by it, yet unaware of Sauron's hand/mind, suggests that sanwe had something to do with it, Men having weak skills of unwill.