[Kuruharan]

I was obviously not disagreeing with anything said in the UT.

I didnt say they were used 'much', I said they must've ensured a degree of familiarity and cultural comparrison.

To ensure a real degree of cultural familiarity requires that they be used (for lack of a better word) "much." That is assuming that cultural contact is what they desired, and my opinion is that it was not. The communication of births, deaths and other great events, if cultural features were exchanged at all, would probably rather quickly take the line of "Oh look at the quaint customs of those folk from far away!"

The palantiri cannot be used to make an argument for the "cultural closeness" of Gondor and Arnor (relating to the succession of Arvedui, which is how this whole thing got started). That's just not what they were for. They seem, in some regards, to have been something almost akin to spy satellites.

The Palantíri are impressive things by any reckoning.

I never said they were not. I said that people are excessively impressed with them. "And by all kinds of things" I meant things like maintaining a close and tight-knit empire, which they singularly failed to do. And yet, the palantiri are brought up time and time again to sustain theories that either go against the evidence or just don't have anything to do with them.

With regards to the Lossoth, just because they lived in lands of snow and ice doesnt necessarily equate to them having as you say "one of the most miserable existances on Middle Earth"

Okay, I'll go with that. Let's say that they lived one of the "hardest and most dangerous" existances on Middle earth.