This Saturday at 6pm (New York time), Hall of Fire rejoins the Hobbits on the Barrows Downs as we resume our Fellowship of the Ring read-through.

‘Splendid!’ said Frodo. ‘If we make as good going this afternoon as we have done this morning, we shall have left the Downs before the Sun sets and be jogging on in search of a camping place.’

FoTR Book 1, Chapter 7: Fog on the Barrow-Downs

Unfortunately for the four, dense fog closes in while they nap after lunch by an ancient standing stone on a bare hill. They lose each other in the clammy, misty conditions and fall into deadly peril when a Barrow-wight captures them.

Tom proves the saviour, but what of Frodo’s desperate, frightened courage? Is it here that we begin to see the inner-strength and determination that will later carry him and his burden all the way to Mordor? And what would have possibly happened if he had put on the Ring?

What of the Barrow-wights? What are they? Why do they hoard gold and jewelry? Who is the Dark Lord the Wight refers to? And what brought them to the downs? and just how much more do we learn about Middle-earth’s long, and often tragic, history here?

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 join us this Saturday, June 23 at 6.00pm EDT (New York time) in the Hall of Fire, 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 our Event Announcer on Time and Date.

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

Europe:
11.00pm GMT (London)
Midnight CET (Paris)
1.00am EET (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
10.00am NZST (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last 45 mins to 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