Right, but they serve primarily as metaphysical vessels for surveillance, secrecy, corruption, and evil. Given Palantir's deliberate opaqueness and elitism, I

Right, but they serve primarily as metaphysical vessels for surveillance, secrecy, corruption, and evil. Given Palantir's deliberate opaqueness and elitism, I don't see why we should grant them a charitable metaphorical characterization of their defining symbol, especially since the aforementioned values are the opposite of the "good" values (lucidity, order, and individual sovereignty) which form the backbone of ethics in Tolkein's mythology and the (Western) culture LOTR was written in.