[Lyta_Underhill]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>When you think about it, just adding the Palantir at the end would really alter a lot of the scenes that we've already seen - it would cast a sort of backwards shadow - "Wow, no wonder he lost it so badly. Sauron was showing him A, B and C." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I agree with this wholeheartedly! There is the indirect suggestion that Denethor already knows a whole lot before he is told, and so I hope this means there is a (perhaps implied) palantir to be had in later cuts. I thought the whole palantir business with Pippin was steered oddly and could have had more resonance than it did and definitely would have had Denethor also used one--now that we know what it does to the uninitiated. Did my eyes fail me, or did Gandalf ride off to Minas Tirith with the palantir of Orthanc in his hands? We do not see Aragorn using this palantir to challenge Sauron (which I also would have liked to see) and an alternate explanation is given (Sauron already knows the Heir of Isildur lives). It seems the whole palantir network significance is lost or erased from the final product, and this makes Pippin's experience sort of hang in mid-air. But this is inevitable in a movie adaptation of such a complex and well-woven book. <P>I will maintain that John Noble's performance blew me away, even as a cartoon villain. He had natural presence and power; that came through, as well as the gravity of his despair. But, like I said before, I always tend to project facets from the book characters onto the thinner counterparts onscreen. <B>Saucepan Man</B>, you do make a good point about the lack of dignity to Denethor's end, however. I had not thought of it that way and it does leave some doubt as to what went through his mind at the very end.<P>Cheers!<BR>Lyta