Barliman's Chat
This Saturday (at 6pm ET (New York time)), Hall of Fire will return to our chapter-by-chapter read-through of The Lord of The rings, rejoining Frodo, Sam and Gollum as they enter The Dead Marshes.

“To do the job as you put it – what hope is there that we ever shall? And if we do, who knows what will come of that? If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you, Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not. If we can nurse our limbs to bring us to Mount Doom, that is all we can do. More than I can, I begin to feel.”

The Two Towers: Book IV, Chapter II: The Passage of the Marshes

Gollum leads the way toward Mordor, but Sam — and Frodo, especially — have trouble keeping pace. The Ring is an increasing burden on for Frodo, weighing him down. Gollum leads them via a track he once used to escape orcs and Frodo has a lucky escape when he becomes ensorcelled by the dead faces that give the marshes their name.

When one of the Nazgul flies overhead, Gollum is overcome with fear. He belives Sauron is aware of the small trio. The impediments increase and the pace slows as they approach the gates of the Black Land. Ever-practical, Sam worries about the state of their food stocks. He also overhears Gollum debating with himself stealing the Ring — is Stinker overcoming the will of Slinker?

Come share your thoughts with us on Saturday in what’s sure to be another great Hall of Fire discussion!

Some suggested reading:

TTT: Bk IV, Ch II: The Passage of the Marshes

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, check our handy Event Announcer over on Time and Date for the correct time in your area.

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

Europe:
11.00pm BST (London)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
1.00am EEST (Helsinki)

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

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last from an hour to ninety minutes, 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