> I know it’s somewhat of a tired observation by now but I still wonder every time how badly you have to misread LOTR to name your company after the witch kings cursed surveillance artefacts.

Have you considered that it is not "misread", they just see themselves on Saruman side ?

Sauron’s side, surely? Or else there is a need for a whole different question of “how badly you have to read LOTR...”

Do you guys really think Gondor was a democratic society with privacy laws?

"Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus"

It was a Mike Judge type joke, aka ha-ha only serious.

I know it’s been said but Anduril is the sword wielded by Aragon, forged from the shards of Narsil which defeated Sauron.

And the Palantiri were artifacts given by the Elves to the greatest race of Men to govern their kingdom. No connection to the witch-king (except some post-Tolkien video game).

I don't think they misread it, I think they just liked sauron more than the good guys

Not to be "that guy" but Anduril is Aragorn's sword and is the most good-guy good-thing that could ever be fantasized about. It's used to defeat Sauron. And the Palantir stones are not "the bad guys tool", they were made by the Elves in ancient history and a few of them wound up in the bad guys hands. Misread LOTR indeed!

I specifically referred to the witch kings surveillance artefacts with misreading. I don’t think their creation story is mentioned in LOTR, other than that they are extremely powerful and dangerous.

But you are right of course about Anduril and if you take the whole silmarillion as background. I never really liked that part though

The Palantiri were created by the Elves in Valinor and given to the high race of Men.

The witch-king could in theory have used a Palantir, but there’s no suggestion he did.

The seven stars in Gondor’s crest are the Palantari, and in the War of the Ring, Aragon specifically requested they be added to his banner. They represent the highest level of the civilization of Men.

Yes, but the elf who created them is quite a tragic character himself. To the extent that his own mother chose to die after giving birth because she knew how much sorrow he would eventually bring. So I'd be careful to not paint them as a good thing either.

you're right, and definitely Palantir is a harder sell here. But to say "they named their weapons company Anduril, what are they, bad guys?" frustrates the nerd in me quite a lot.

That is fair even though I referred only to Palantir with that part. Did you name this account after Eru Illuvatar?

Indeed!

I assume it's after another legendary figure, @eru

Oh yeah, totally agree with you on that one.

> I wonder when the first weapons manufacturing company calls themselves Angmar or Uruk-hai.

Luckily/unluckily, AngMar is one of those shady medical subcontracting firms instead...

I guess they are named after the founders (Angie and Mark) - but still an eerie coincidence…

Wait until my pals Saul and Ronald team up!