Quote:
Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
How much control did Sauron have over what Denethor saw? And if Denethor saw this, how is it that the Dark Lord did not?
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I do not think the Stone would lie to him as Gandalf says the Stones of Seeing, "do not lie, and not even the Lord of Barad-dur can make them do so. He can, maybe, by his will choose what things shall be seen by weaker minds, or cause them to mistake the meaning of what they see." [RotK, p. 170] When Gandalf spoke of the Stone of the White Tower he said that the Stewards thought they only knew of it. But Gandalf knew they held it. Denethor used it, "as the peril of his realm grew... and was deceived: more than once, I guess, since Boromir departed...
he saw nonetheless only those things which that Power permitted him to see... the vision of the great might of Mordor that was shown to him fed the despair of his heart until it overthrew his mind." [RotK, p. 145] I do not think anything he saw was false but he apparently did not get a complete picture of it and only saw what did not help his hope. Gandalf said that when Denethor was more wise he, "did not presume to use it, nor to challenge Sauron, knowing the limits of his own strength." [RotK, p. 145]