Unfinished Tales - Part Four - III - The Palantíri

[Formendacil]

The interesting thing about this chapter, as complete a history as it is, is that it prompts more questions for me. Were there more palantíri than the seven belonging to Elendil? One of the footnotes here reminds of of the Master-Stone of Tol Eressëa, but only to point out that this text says nothing of it. Was Elendil the only one in Númenor with such Stones, a gift from the Elves to the Lord of the Faithful or had they belonged a long time to his family--before Amandil, perhaps, to the ancestors they shared with Inzilabêth mother of Tar-Palantír?

The general trend of Middle-earth history makes it hard to imagine the Realms in Exile possessing technology that Númenor never had... but even though that seems to be the case, the fact that the Noldor (and Fëanor singled out among them) are said to have forged them, one wonders why there were not palantíri in the halls of Nargothrond, Himling, and Hithlum for the communication of kings? Or perhaps there were, and we are simply never told...