Palantir in T2T

[Dunadan]

(I suppose this is a potential spoiler if you've not read the book)












Some Palantir-related plot devices in TTT are:
1) we don't know how Saruman and Sauron exchange news;
2) neither of them know what happened to the Uruk-hai raiding party, other than that they had captured hobbits;
3) we don't know what the Palantir is until the end
4) Wormtongue, rather unbelievably, chucks it out the window at Gandalf
5) Aragorn reveals himself to Sauron (tho admittedly that's in ROTK), waves Anduril at him and uses it to anticipate the Corsairs' attack on Pelargir.

All this stuff is really important to make Sauron uncertain as to the whereabouts of the Ring; Aragorn might have it, Saruman might have it, even Theoden might have it. That, in turn, makes him attack too soon, and therefore Frodo's mission becomes more achievable.

So, how are they going to do this?

Since Gandalf has already seen the Palantir in Orthanc, we can't explain him not knowing about it. Frankly, it always looked a bit dodgy that Wormtongue threw it out the window. Will they go inside Orthanc and nick it? Will Aragorn toss Gimli in a window and ask him to get it? (sorry)

What do you think?