This Shadow of Mordor iOS app listens while you play--creepy or awesome?

A new companion app for Lord of the Rings prequel Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor can actually listen to gameplay and automatically direct you to Wiki pages about the game to help you learn more about its characters and locations.

The app is called Palantir and is named after the magical "seeing stone" from The Lord of the Rings. It works by using "advanced audio-sync technology" to listen to videos about the game, including game trailers and eventually gameplay itself. It then takes this information and grabs related article pages from the official Shadow of Mordor Wiki page without any input from you.

The Palantir app has two modes: Reader mode and Sync mode. In Reader mode, you can search through the Shadow of Mordor Wiki page just like you normally would in a browser. The Sync mode performs the more interesting actions described above.

The app is available today as a free download for iOS devices, but no mention was made of an Android or Windows Phone version. We've reached out to a Warner Bros. representative for comment.

The benefits of the Palantir app are obvious. If you're stuck in a level and need help, or if you just want more information about characters or locations, having that information automatically relayed to you is a pretty exciting proposition.

Shadow of Mordor is coming to Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC, but not Wii U. No release date has been announced. The game has already drummed up some level of controversy, as a former Ubisoft developer has accused Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions of using Assassin's Creed II code in the new game.