The Mystery of Light

[Lalwendë]

Right, I've got to thinking about Light again as I've been watching another physics documentary (though perhaps I ought to keep well away from them) so I have a few more musings to add to this.

This one traced the development of telescopes through Galileo and ending up with Darwin's theories and then the Hubble telescope. When we look at stars we are looking at the past, but we cannot see the oldest ones without a powerful telescope. One of the properties of the Palantiri is that they enable the viewer to see the past. As Gandalf says:

Even now my heart desires to test my will upon it, to see if I could not wrench it from him and turn it where I would--to look across the wide seas of water and of time to Tirion the Fair, and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Feanor at their work, while both the White Tree and the Golden were in flower!" He sighed and fell silent.

So the Palantiri must possess a quality akin to a telescope in that not only can the viewer see things far away in the present time but can see things in past times. Gandalf also says the following:

But alone it could do nothing but see small images of things far off and days remote. Very useful, no doubt, that was to Saruman

This means that he understands why Saruman would want to use the Palantir; he has the same desire himself though he can master it. I note that he also says 'small images', and the smaller telescopes do only provide small images.

Tolkien seems to have made use of some knowledge of how the devices work in creating the Palantiri, but I'm beginning to wonder again if there is some link with Light itself. We do not know what Saruman hoped to see of the past in the palantir, but I'd hazard a guess that it is something to do with the Ring. My winder imaginings make me think he was also using it to try and gain more knowledge of Light. And that's not totally unfounded, as he may have been trying to see Feanor at work himself and gain some insight - possibly this contributed to how he learned to make his own Ring?

Gandalf it seems also yearns to see what Feanor was doing, but not only that, to see once more the Two Trees. But what is Gandalf hoping to learn, if anything, from this?

Faramir says of the Gondorian kings:

Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars.

It seems that star-gazing, among other scientific endeavours, was popular with the old kings, with Men. And Men did build many high towers, both in Numenor and in Middle-earth, possibly in an attempt to get closer to the stars or to see further into the West as was the case in Numenor. Faramir's statement could mean that these Men were working on Astrology, but this can be carried out simply by references to an Ephemeris, so it is more likely to have been Astronomy that they were involved in.

This links back to davem's recent thread Galadhremmin Ennorath where he asks about the significance of starlight for Elves. It seems it also has deep significance for Men and possibly also for the Istari. With those Elves in Middle-earth this has a poetic and ancestral significance as they were born under the starlight and so must revere it greatly, but they may also have looked to the stars as a way of looking back in time. It is possible that Men copied them, maybe learned from the use of the Palantiri when they were in Numenor; but that Men seem to link the stars with unfathomable questions may suggest they think they have some answers for them.

So anyway, I have no real conclusion to my ramblings beyond it being apparent to me that starlight has a deep significance to many in Middle-earth, possibly as they see it holds links to the past and possibly to time. And that the Palantiri made some use of both light and Light to see not only into the distance but into time. Maybe beings on Middle-earth harbour desires to be Timelords (who wouldn't? You get sonic screwdrivers to play with ) and maybe it is not only Saruman who desired to learn more about the true nature of Light?