Out rolls August, in rolls September and with it a new set of Hall of Fire topics! With 3 months plus to go until the films, it’s fitting that the beginning of this month coincides with the theme of this weekend’s discussion: the beginning of the Fellowship’s journey. The Hall of Fire staff invite you to join us for three great discussions on:

Book II, Chapter III: The Ring Goes South

“Now the tale of Nine is filled. In seven days the company must depart.” The words of Elrond after Pippin’s plea for himself and Merry to be part of the Fellowship. The four Hobbits, Gandalf, Strider, Boromir, Legolas and Gimli face the most important journey of their lives. And as Frodo receives Sting and mithril chain mail from his Uncle Bilbo, we witness the end of Frodo the Hobbits and the beginning of Frodo the Ringbearer.

The first leg of the journey is to the Redhorn Gate, a pass under the peak of Caradhras. But as brave and valiant the Fellowship are, they are no match for the cruel and harsh conditions of the lofty peak. With freezing temperatures, piercing blizzards and an impassable terrain, the group of Nine are forced to turn away, defeated not by the armies of Sauron but by Nature itself.

We’ve seen various images from this sequence in the films, from Boromir looking at the ring as he holds it in the snow to Bilbo and Frodo talking in their room for one last time. This is the chapter that deals the first blow to the morale of the Fellowship, and also leads them to a different and more fatal path. We’d love you to join us this weekend and join in on what should be a fantastic discussion on the story.

Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Saturday Chat: 7:00 pm ET (19:00) [also 12:00 am Sunday (0:00) BST and 9:00 am Sunday (09:00) AET]

Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) AET [also 11:00 am (11:00) BST and 6:00 am (06:00) ET]

Sunday Chat: 6:00 pm (18:00) BST [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 3:00 am (03:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
BST = British Summer Time, GMT +1 hour
AET = Australian Eastern Time, Australia’s East Coast

Upcoming Discussions:
Sep 8 & 9: The Latest Movie News & Rumours
Sep 15 & 16: FotR Chapter Discussion – A Journey in the Dark
Sep 22 & 23: LotR Character Discussion – Aragorn
Sep 29 & 30: FotR Chapter Discussion – The Bridge of Khazad-Dum.

Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.

As a follow up to the previous post, the new Fellowship of the Ring poster has just been posted on the official site. To check it out in all its glory, just click here.

Head on over to moviefone.com for a new contest where you can win the NEW LOTR: FOTR poster!!! We brought you this poster a while back, you can now win your own!! [More]

J.R.R.Tolkien succeeded both in creating fabulous new worlds and rendering them utterly believable. Reading his trilogy has become a rite of passage for many in several generations. An updated atlas of Middle -Earth provides a definitive guide through hundreds of maps and drawings. [More]

Book Reviewed: ‘Atlas of Middle-earth’, buy it on Amazon today!

From: Pierre P

Check out IFILM, they have a list of must see movies for the upcoming months. [More]

From: Bob M

My friend was at the Xgames in Philadelphia and they where handing out free LOTR pins. The pins had the picture of Frodo holding the ring on them.