Why do right-wing figures name their companies after Lord of the Rings?
What do the names Palantir, Mithril and Narya have in common? They are all objects found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (LotR). They are also the names of companies founded by people loosely affiliated with the tech-right.
Think libertarian billionaire and early Trump supporter Peter Thiel, who runs Mithril Capital Management LLC, and US Vice President JD Vance, who runs Narya Capital.
There is also Anduril Industries Inc., a defence company named after a sword in the books, and Erebor Bank, which caters to cryptocurrency and AI customers and bears the name of the mountain in which the dragon Smaug guards his treasure in The Hobbit. Anduril was founded by Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus Rift, one of the world’s first consumer virtual reality headsets. Erebor was founded by Luckey and Palantir Technologies Inc. cofounder Joe Lonsdale.
Perhaps most notoriously, Palantir is the name for seeing eye stones in Middle-earth used by powerful beings to communicate with each other — often to their own detriment. Palantir Technologies Inc. is a software company founded by Thiel in 2003, which has faced criticism for its role in expanding government surveillance through artificial intelligence and facial recognition software. It has recently been the target of protests for its involvement in building deportation software for the Trump administration.
