What Is Palantir? An FAQ.

In the First Age, the Elves of Valinor, in the Uttermost West, made several magic orbs. Whoever gazed into one of these crystals could see what was happening in other places, and could communicate across great distances with other users of the orbs. Stronger users could read weaker users’ thoughts, and control what weaker users saw. The name for one of these seeing stones was palantír, from the words in Quenya, an elvish language, meaning “those that watch from afar.”