What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?
Peter Thiel and Alex Karp’s Palantir Technologies is one of the most powerful and mysterious tech companies in Silicon Valley. Its namesake is also one of the most powerful and mysterious magical objects in the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy series The Lord of the Rings.
The palantiri of The Lord of the Rings are sort of like crystal balls or “seeing stones” that allow their users to communicate across vast distances, see events from afar, and sometimes even peer into the future. But just about everybody who tries to use a palantir in The Lord of the Rings is deceived by it, acting on the visions they’re receiving without the greater context or wisdom of what’s behind them. So why would the people behind Palantir want to name the company and build its culture around these powerful yet easily corruptible magical objects?
J.R.R. Tolkien was famously anti-tech and anti-government, expressing his fears of what would happen when those two forces combined through his fantasy works and his letters to friends, family, and colleagues. If he were alive in the age of Palantir, he might not be thrilled that a tech company with lucrative government contracts is name-checking his creations.
Vox producer Benjamin Stephen went on a quest to find out the story behind Palantir’s name, what the link to The Lord of the Rings reveals about the company, and what Tolkien might think about how his words are being used.
Read more about Palantir and The Lord of the Rings:
Vox senior correspondent Constance Grady’s piece on the conservative reading of The Lord of the Rings: https://www.vox.com/culture/466858/lord-of-the-rings-conservatives-right-republicans-elon-musk-jd-vance-peter-thiel
The Scouring of the Shire letter written by Palantir alumni: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25930212/the-scouring-of-the-shire.pdf
Caroline Haskins’s WIRED piece on what Palantir actually does: https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-what-the-company-does/
“Tolkien’s Deplorable Cultus,” an essay by literature professor Robert Tally: https://spectrejournal.com/tolkiens-deplorable-cultus/
Today, Explained covers what the right gets wrong about Tolkien: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6p2Jxa9KRttPTF15vwPmjR
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@urbanstrencan
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Ok this was great video 🤟🤟🤟
@jashalemair2808
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made"
~ J.R.R. Tolkien
@matheusmvoc
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Amazing piece of information. Thank you!
@soccerandtrack10
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
narcists always want to be assoseated with famous people and things.
@soccerandtrack10
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
1:13 computers arent evil.
palenteir company=no,but we can find out every way that can be used evil and do all of them.
we're still the good guys like the hobbits and DEFENITLLY… not destroying trees and nature.for suuuuure.just for power.
@soccerandtrack10
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
youtube=the soak.
video="people dont understand the point of fiction.".
@grantm6933
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
I have a few mates who work in cyber security, software development, and have worked with Palantir and they all describe Palantir software as terrible; good sales with poor products.
@alexanderkolassa9761
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
This guy's videos are so transparently written by AI.
@nielskorpel8860
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Maybe we should introduce D&D alignments into our common parlance about businesses.
@Kivhtas
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
So palantir is basically Delos from westworld. I wouldn’t be surprised if Palantir buys rockstar games and develops a west world type GTA and red dead IRL series games to collect data.
@bingus281
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
"how do we explain palantir to milquetoast liberals?"
@thealmightyaku-4153
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
There's an obscure recording of Tolkien in 1958, at a dinner in his honour held in the Netherlands. He gave a speech, and in it he said:
"I look East, and West, and North and South, and I do not see a Sauron. But I see very many descendants of Saruman!"
That's what these people are, in every way – heads full of metal and wheels. Tolkien would be revolted by them all.
@qwellen7521
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Never underestimate the media illiteracy of tech bros.
@idoflax
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
You're totally ignoring the wider legenderium, and the fact that the palantiiri were technology invented by Feanor, who (while being a very complicated character) also invented the writing system used by the elves and the silmarili that captured the light of the world, and that the palantiri were used in the first and second age by humans and elves, not by any bad guys per se.
@TheMrPits
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
He would see them for the tyrants they are and denounce them.
@ohms_mov
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
He'd be appalled by the use of his language
@AvengingTiki
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
I feel like we need a stronger term than ‘spinning in his grave’ to represent what Tolkien’s response to this would be. Doing a gymnastic floor routine in his grave? Vaporizing and rematerializing in his grave?
I’m open to suggestions.
@JCS8147
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
"But they were, all of them, deceived, for another Ring was made."
@AquaticFlapper125
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Torment Nexus
@samkelengcefa6207
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Did he say “puneral fyre” ?
@GreysenAult
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
we all have a eye watching us now
@Mizarriz
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
Unfortunately, I suspect that, like J.K. Rowling Tolkien would go hard right as a result of being a wealthy, white, Christian and the far-right courts influencial personalities
@lowbudgetmic
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
😮😮😮❤❤
@abercrombie4lyfe
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
God the Palantir CEO looks like he was born and groomed on Epsteins island.
@Malavander
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
I think it's worth pointing out the hobbits were largely uncorruptible as they had no desire for power or status, which allowed them to go the distance in possession/presence of these sinister objects and still remain true to their values where everyone else succumbed to influence/temptation.
@Malsgebakkengroenteburger
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WONDERING ABOUT FOR MONTHS
@mattmccallum2007
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
“If you don’t let the Orcs into the Shire you’re a racist!” – Goblins
@robmckennie4203
May 13, 2026 at 12:49 pm
What would the author of "do not build the torment nexus" think of our new company, Torment Nexus