I haven’t done one of these in a while. No real reason.
So here’s the sitch. Your unhumble correspondent has just returned from a trip to Middle-earth during the closing years of the Third Age, his aim to infiltrate Lothlorien and get skin shots of Galadriel bathing. (The mission went awry, 'tis true, but any claim that I was seen running away from a squad of Galadrim, an arrow in his ass and screaming like an eight-year-old girl, is a vicious lie.) Having left Lorien in a dignified and professional manner, I got in the continua buggy and flew around for a bit, looking for something worth [del]stealing[/del] [del]retrieving for archeological research[/del] stealing, and decided to go find a palantir, scan it, and take the pattern back to replicate it for the Tolkien fanboy market.
So off to Minas Tirith I went. Donning my Tarnhelm I wandered about the house of the Steward or whatever the hell it was called till I found where Denethor kept the damn thing. Since I had the invisibility helmet there was no reason reason to do violence to the guards, but I have standards to maintain so I shot them anyway.
But as I was scanning the orb of far-seeing, something occurred to me. I’d checked the date, and while the War of the Ring was in full swing, Denethor was still relatively rational. He hadn’t yet used the palantir to the extent that Sauron had been able to fuck with his mind fully yet; this was before the bit with the Corsair ships, you see, and in fact even before the death of Boromir. What would happen, I wondered, if things never got that far?
I had to find out. So once I had a good scan of the seeing-stone, I took a phaser too it. Blowed it up real good. For good measure I popped over to Orthanc. Saruman had already been ensnared,of course, but that was no reason not to punch him in the neck. Bastard made Eowyn cry, if only by proxy. Unfortunately the Tarnhelm ran out of juice just then, and as there were approximately 9,895 uruk-hai screaming for my blood at that point I chose to make an orderly retreat rather than take the time to destroy Saruman’s orb.
Anywho – what effect do you predict the loss of Denethor’s palantir will have on the Ringwar?
One does not simply destroy a Palantir with a phaser. But sure, take it to Rivendell or drop it into the sea. But honestly if you had this power, grab Frodo, speed him to Mt Doom and get the Ring tossed in.
OK, to answer the question, Denethor would done a bit better at building up the defenses of Minas Tirith but it would not have been enough. The power to resist Mordor was not in the hands of Gondor and her few allies but only in destroying the Ring.
Here’s one way it could play out: Denethor takes direct command of the troops at the gates, leaving Gandalf free to do wizard stuff, which includes facing the Witch King, so that Eowyn and Merry don’t have to. Result, Théoden lives. Yay.
After that, however, we’re still stuck with exactly the same Hail Elbereth play in front of the Morannon. We’ve just got another King and a thousand horsemen surrounded on the slag heaps.
Ultimately, no diff. Frodo, Sam, and Sméagol do what they need to do…or the lights go out for a thousand years.
The loss of the Palantir leaves Denethor in charge without despair, making him think he can resist Sauron without any help from any upstart “heir of Isildur”. He refuses to allow the host of the West to ride out against Sauron in hopeless battle, Sauron’s eye is thus not distracted and he scopes Sam and Frodo creeping across Mordor. Flying Nazgul arrive to escort the pair to the Barad Dur. Sauron takes the ring, consolidates his rule of all the round sections of Arda, and Manwë the Dickless Prick (Sauron’s epithet for Sulimo) rules over the sky splinter that is the Blessed Realm. Ages pass before Sauron in his dotage can be overthrown by a sentient computer.
I’d agree with all that… except the last sentence. It was to the Free Peoples’ advantage to have Denethor not at the top of his game during the War of the Ring. That let Gandalf, Aragorn and others do what needed to be done, without him getting in the way (as much).
A strong Gondor with a clear-headed leader would have possessed a crack standing army, battle hardened by the fights along its border. Sauron would have been forced to pay attention to them, particularly if they had managed to retake Osgiliath and rebuild it. With less ability to freely wreak havoc in the East, Sauron might have been contained, or at least slowed down, in building his forces.
This could have had two effects. One, the West could have used the time to foster alliances and prepare a massed army, eventually coming to Gondor’s aid and driving Sauron back. Two, the West could have fallen into complacency and assumed Gondor would bear the load alone when they could not. In which case they might never have sent Frodo with the Ring and would ultimately have fallen.
Delighted to see you back in action, Skald.
I must disagree with Qadgop. Denethor has to bow to Aragorn after Aragorn saves the day at the Pelennor Fields. Aragorn is the King Returned and receives the acclamation of the people. Denethor will not like it and will likely appear to accede - indeed Aragorn riding off to get himself killed in a hopeless battle would be seen as a blessing in disguise. But Aragorn survives, and I think that after Elessar’s coronation Denethor will step down as Steward in favour of Faramir.
Well, he’s already wearing the Tarnhelm. I say the opportunity to study the effects of doubling up on invisibility magic items is too good to pass up. What will happen? Some sort of magic item throwdown – there can be only one! Or does invisibility² make him just pop! out of existence altogether, making for high unemployment among the flying monkeys and such.
Did using the palantir corrupt him somewhat so that so he strayed from what he should have done as having almost the blood of Westernesse? Would he have recognized Aragorn and done all he could have to support the resistance even though he would no longer be ruling Gondor?
He might have balked at recognizing Aragorn, but he had certainly been weakened enough that he failed to do his clear duty, when he sat in his quarters mourning rather than leading his troops.
After the war was over and Sauron destroyed, Denethor might, at most, have delayed in recognizing Aragorn as King. He could demand to see the “Long Form Birth Certificate” but, ultimately, Aragorn had his documentation in order.
but, ultimately, Aragorn had his documentation in order.