The Eye of Sauron loomed over San Francisco for Halloween
The great Eye of Sauron, ever watchful, ever searching for the One Ring, loomed not over the shadowy realm of Mordor on Wednesday, but San Francisco.
A projection of the prying Eye, the see-all surveillance system used by the villainous Dark Lord Sauron in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, shone on Halloween night from the top of the city's tallest building, the Salesforce Tower.
According to Curbed SF, the projection, designed by artist Jim Campbell, was the result of a Change.org petition that clocked up an impressive 11,319 signatures.
That's a pinch more than the amount of Uruk-hai who descended upon our heroes in the Battle of Helms Deep, just sayin'.
"It has been said that bonds are formed through shared experiences, the strongest of which are forged in fire," reads the petition penned by a group calling themselves The Fellowship. "We ask of you to help us unite the city, and raise the torch on Halloween night as one community, together."
Curbed SF editor Brock Keeling posted a few videos of the Great Eye to Twitter:
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Others also caught the Eye watching them around town:
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Not everyone was wholly convinced by the precious projection, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. According to Curbed, he would have preferred a different projection.
“I would prefer for it to become a signal for Batkid to return as our city needs a lot of love right now," Benioff told the publisher.
Despite its name, Salesforce doesn't actually own any stake in the tower, it's owned by real estate company Boston Properties, who manage regular projections on the top of the tower. Salesforce simply owns naming rights to the building.
So, may the Great Eye of Sauron burn.
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.
