"I am Aragorn son of Arathorn and am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dunadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor."

After Gandalf's parley with Saruman, Grima threw the palantir down from Orthanc. Pippin looked into the Orthanc-stone during the night and was confronted by Sauron. Aragorn claimed possession of the palantir as the Stone's lawful master, for he felt the time to reveal himself to Sauron was drawing near.

Later, in a chamber high in the Hornburg, Aragorn looked into the palantir. He hoped to draw Sauron's attention away from Mordor while Frodo and Sam approached. Aragorn did not speak, but he showed Sauron that Elendil's sword had been reforged and that Elendil's heir wielded it. Then he was able to master the stone to his own will and with it he saw that the Corsairs in the South posed a grave danger to Gondor.

Click to see larger images of this miniature painted by Herbert Lukaszewski in January 2006

Click to see larger images of this miniature painted by Richard Abbott in January 2006