In a comment on an earlier post, Paul said,

    “Hmm. Both Denethor and Saruman, the two clear examples of OEJ’s you give, were corrupted by Sauron following their use of palantíri. Is this significant, I wonder?”

I initially responded with the following:

    “Paul:

    “It would appear so, but Tolkien says somewhere (again, I apologize for not being able to put my finger on the book) that Denethor’s will – being so nearly pure Númenorean – was too strong to be overthrown by Sauron; the same was true with Aragorn. Still, Sauron deceived Denethor into despair by carefully selecting what he allowed the Ruling Steward to see in the palantír.
    “Similarly, Saruman would be too strong for Sauron to overthrow and corrupt. If anything, Saruman was corrupted by studying the arts of the enemy too deeply – which may have been Tolkien’s rebuke of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, of which Tolkien strongly disapproved and believed to reflect the unprofitable (to JRRT) close friendship of Lewis with Charles Williams (whom Tolkien never liked very well).”

Doing a little more homework, I wrote the following and thought I would post it rather than limiting it to a comment. Here, then, is additional and corrective information about the Ruling Steward and Sauron’s influence on him:

    Paul:
    I found the reference I mentioned above: it is in Unfinished Tales in the chapter entitled (oddly enough) “The Palantíri”; first, however, is a quote from Tyler on the matter, followed by Tolkien’s own words:

Being a man of iron will, he dared to use the palantír (seeing-stone) of that Tower, to gain intelligence concerning the Enemy’s moves against Gondor. His strength of mind was too much for Sauron – who possessed the Ithil-stone – to overcome by this means, yet the Dark Lord was still able to direct the visions shown in the stone: thus Denethor was fed endless images of the power of Mordor opposed to him. In the end this broke his mind, with grievous consequences for Gondor.” – The Complete Tolkien Companion, p 143

“In the case of Denethor, the Steward was strengthened, even against Sauron himself, by the fact that the stones were far more amenable to legitimate users: most of all to true ‘Heirs of Elendil’ (as Aragorn), but also to one with inherited authority (as Denethor), as compared to Saruman, or Sauron. It may be noted that the effects were different. Saruman fell under the domination of Sauron and desired his victory, or no longer opposed it. Denethor remained steadfast in his rejection of Sauron, but was made to believe that his victory was inevitable, and so fell into despair. The reasons for this difference were no doubt that in the first place Denethor was a man of great strength of will, and maintained the integrity of his personality until the final blow of the (apparently) mortal wound of his only surviving son . . . Sauron failed to dominate him and could only influence him by deceits.” – Unfinished Tales, pp 407-408

    So I was right about Denethor but wrong about Saruman: Tolkien says that Saruman was dominated by Sauron, although the wizard did harbor a secret plan and hope to obtain the Ring himself and rule in Sauron’s stead.

    There was certainly, as you suggest, significance in the use of the Palantíri by Denethor and Saruman. The latter was overwhelmed by Sauron while Denethor was deceived: the decision to abandon all hope and kill himself (and Faramir) came after he used the Palantír. In his treatment of the Steward’s suicide and attempted homicide, Shippey explains the “why” and “what” of Denethor’s error:

The key reference is some thirty pages before, when, after Faramir has been brought in wounded, Denethor retires to his secret room, and watchers see ‘a pale light’ gleaming and flickering from the windows. Denethor is looking in a palantír, as is confirmed later by Gandalf and Beregond . . . What did he see on [March 13th], the day when Faramir was brought in, the day the ‘pale light’ was seen flickering? The 13th is the day when Frodo is captured and taken to Minas morgul. The likelihood is that that is what Denethor has seen, in a vision controlled by Sauron. That is why he says to Pippin, speaking of Gandalf, ‘The fool’s hope has failed. The Enemy has found it, and now his power waxes.’ It is the Ring, but (though the first-time reader does not yet know this) the Enemy has not found it . . . [Denethor] looks too far into the future, and misinterprets what he sees. Above all, he trusts to his own chains of logic.” – Author of the Century, pp 172-173



Namárië.