I was never happy with my painting of the palantir, and decided to raid my wife's crafts for a bead to see if I could replace it. Question is, is there a size on the palantir I should be worried about? The GW one seems too small but don't want to go too big either with a replacement. The bead in the second picture is 4mm. Still looking for a red/black bead vs grey/black.

My GW palantir:


Bead Palantir (temp)

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I like the bead as you get the swirl texture inside as there was in the movies. In the movies I'd say the palantir appeared roughly the size of a very large grape - fruit or slightly oversized softball. So if you compare it to your minis hands that should give you an idea of the rough size

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In the books, the Palantiri were a lot larger than in the movies. Here's a quote from a reliable source for all questions about Tolkien's Middle-earth:


[Source: http://thainsbook.net/palantir.html ]

Furthermore, we have:

[Source: http://thainsbook.net/palantir.html ]

So the plinth from the movies is not the same as the original ones described in the book (Unfinished Tales, in this case), but it could be thought of as Saruman's change, if you like.

In Peter Jacksons Middle-earth, the Palantiri were indeed much smaller, and the size of the bead you picked looks good!

The bead looks great, yes a little big comparitively, but I think it fits much better.

If i recall correctly, Gandalfs wrist contact the plinth when he is putting the cloth back on, which is not going to happen with the GW Palantir. Stick with the bead.

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I think the master stone was quite large. The Palantíri were made by the Ñoldor in Eldamar, possibly by Fëanor himself in Aman during the Elder Days in the Time of the Trees, and then given by the Elves to the Númenóreans, who kept them as heirlooms until the Fall of Númenor during the Second Age; seven of these stones were rescued and brought to Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons.

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The Dúnedain placed the stones across large distances in order to communicate with one another. The stones were housed at these locations: Annúminas, Amon Sûl (Weathertop) and Elostirion (Tower Hills) in the north, and Osgiliath, Orthanc (Isengard), Minas Ithil, and Minas Anor in the south. The Master Stone resides in Tol Eressëa, in the Tower of Avallonë.

Four of the stones are known to have been lost. The chief stone of the north, at Amon Sûl, along with the stone from Annúminas, was lost with Arvedui in the cold northern seas. The chief stone of the south, in Osgiliath, was lost during the Kin-strife. The stone of Minas Ithil was captured by Sauron, and was very likely destroyed during the destruction of Barad-dûr. That's what I found on the wiki any way.

It probably wasn't destroyed, if they were unbreakable as previously suggested.

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Wow, I had no idea that Palantirs could be too large to pick up. Also, the bead looks very good as the swirling would be very difficult to paint.

Thanks everybody, think I will keep with the current size of bead. Again thanks for the input.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."