This Saturday, Hall of Fire returns to the Fellowship of The Ring as the hobbits — momentarily free of the Black Riders — finally arrive at Frodo’s new home in Crickhollow.

“Now we had better get home ourselves,” said Merry. “There’s something funny about all this, I see; but it must wait till we get in.”

FoTR Book 1, Chapter 5: A Conspiracy Unmasked

As the Hobbits arrive at Crickhollow, we learns that Buckland, though still inhabited by Hobbits, is very different from most of the Shire. More threatening; less safe. Bucklanders even go so far as to lock their doors at night.

What do we make of these differences?

Frodo realises the time has come to divulge his secrets and tell his friends he must leave The Shire. But Merry is already well-aware, and does not mean to let Frodo go alone — even if it means venturing into the Old Forest.

What is it that makes Frodo’s companions more adventurous than most Hobbits? Are they brave to want to go with Frodo, or, as he says, do they simply not understand well enough that Frodo is “flying from deadly peril into deadly peril”?

And what does Frodo’s strange dream portend?

Whether you’re a first-time reader of Tolkien, a first-time chatter who’s never visited TORn’s chatrooms, or an experienced hand who was with us when we began our first read-through back in 2001, we’d love you to join us. (Be prepared for a few spoilers along the way, though!)

So us this Saturday, May 12 at 6.00pm EDT (New York time), when we’ll discuss all this and much more as we continue our Fellowship of the Ring read-through!

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, head to Time and Date.

America:
6.00pm EDT (New York)
5.00pm CDT (Chicago)
4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)

Europe:
10.00pm GMT (London)
11.00pm CET (Paris)
Midnight EET (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
11.00am NZDT (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last around an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation! However, our main room, #theonering.net is open 24 hours a day. We don’t always talk Tolkien there, but if you have a burning question, you’ll usually find one or two of “the regulars” up for a chat!

Where — connection details

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our embedded Mibbit client that works inside your web browser.

Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.

Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire