The Military uses of the Palantiri.

[Rumil]

Hi Jeff,

Yes indeed the palantirs should have been an enormous advantage before Sauron got his nine fingers on them.

I guess the response by Sauron in the Second Age is to move troops by night, which of course suits the orcs and trolls pretty well. In close country the orcs etc might be able to lie hid by day, but on the plains they should have been easily spottable.

This depends to some extent on whether Sauron was aware of the palantiri, perhaps he found out about them while he was in Numenor, or could have been aware via his 'powers' ?

One question is why Sauron didn't spot the Rohirrim appearing on the flank of the Pelennor Fields. However it seems that you must know where and when to look, and his attention was probably taken by the encounter at the gate. Also, the Rohirrim rode through the forest on their march, so likely not spottable, and even if Sauron had immediately seen them forming up, he would pesumably have had to send a Nazgul or other messenger to Gondor, which takes some time even for Winged Beasts.

These show the drawbacks of the Palantir - you must know when and where to look, I guess it doesn't work at night and it might take a long time to respond to distant events. Sounds rather like modern satellite technology or UAVs!

Excellent for planning a siege though, you could check everything out in immense detail.