[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Nope! But you seem to have a different question: how is Galadriel's mirror different from the Palantir?

I admit this is pure conjecture and we have no basis to form a comparison, but.. just for kicks..

Palantir
The Palantir were made by Feanor I believe, though I think not even Gandalf was certain of that. Their magic was inherent, meaning anyone could use them, even a hobbit like Pippin. You didn't have to have any special ability to activate the Palantir, though to control them and direct the images you needed to have some strength of mind, and know how.

The Palantir, the seven seeing stones were connected to one another, designed to seek eachother. To pull them away from "looking at" eachother was difficult under normal circumstances, because that was their purpose. They were used to guard the realm of Gondor, to communicate between the farthest ends of the realm. To tear one away against the strong will of one like Sauron holding another stone was extremely dangerous, fighting both the nature of the stones and his strength of mind.

They also could be imprinted. If the same scene was sought again and again, or the same stone was sought again and again, the seeing stone would return to that. So it was that when Pippin looked into the Palantir, it automatically looked to Barad-dur, where it was usually aimed, instead of wandering aimlessly under the will of someone who didn't know how to direct it. One of the seven seeing stones was used to look across the sea so often it would only do that. And the stone held in the hands of Denethor when he died was imprinted with that image forever after.

Where are the other Palantir?
I believe there was one stone at the Grey Havens, the one that only looked to the sea. There was the Orthanc stone. One that used to be at the tower that once stood on Weathertop. Was that one destroyed by dragons? Not sure... There was the stone of Osgiliath, which unlike the others could communicate with all the stones at once (conference, anyone?). That was thought to be at the bottom of the Anduin. There was the stone of Minas Tirith, the one at Minas Morgul (which was once Minas Ithil). I don't recall where the 7th stone was. Sauron likely had the stone from Minas Morgul.

The Mirror and Galadriel's Elven Ring
The Mirror is Galadriel's own magic, likely she used her ring to create it.

Galadriel had one of the three elven rings. It was not linked then to anything else, unlike the seeing stones, and the elven rings were freed from Sauron's power when he no longer held the one ring. All that was done with them was hidden from him. Since Celebrimbor had hidden them from Sauron, his grasp on them was tenuous. The mirror itself was not inherently magical. It depended on Galadriel to activate it. Sam could not have come back later, poured some water, and had another look at the Shire you see.

Elf Magic
I believe it was her ring at work there, because there's no indication in the Silmarillion that elves in general had special abilities. Magic is always described in connection with some object and some skill of the maker. Other magic is created through the power of the Valar and Maiar, and not technically magic but merely the natural abilities of demi-god-like beings of greater and lesser orders.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the differences. There was no risk in using the mirror.

-Maril

[ September 11, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]