Tomorrow (Saturday) at 5pm ET, in our weekly Hall of Fire chats we’ll be cracking open the first chapter of The Return of the King and joining Gandalf and Pippin as they ride through the night toward Minas Tirith.
As they ride, the beacons of Gondor summon Rohan to aid the city.
‘Mithrandir! Mithrandir!’ men cried. ‘Now we know that the storm is indeed nigh!’
‘It is upon you,’ said Gandalf. ‘I have ridden on its wings. Let me pass! I must come to your Lord Denethor, while his stewardship lasts. Whatever betide, you have come to the end of the Gondor that you have known. Let me pass!’
The Return of the King Bk V, Ch I: Minas Tirith
As Gandalf guides Shadowfax through the city toward the upper citadel, Pippin is awed by the grandeur of Minas Tirith, but also notices signs of its slow decay.
In the Hall of Kings, the high throne sits empty. There, Gandalf and Pippin meet with Denethor. The Steward of Gondor, questions the halfling closely about Boromir’s death, and the nature of the fellowship. Tension the entire conversation, yet something within Pippin prompts him offer his service to Denethor and the city.
Dismissed by Denethor, Gandalf goes to gather news while Pippin meets fellow-guardsman Beregond to learn about his new duties. Pippin spends his afternoon in the company of Beregond’s son Bergil, watching as reinforcements arrive at the city gates -— always welcome, but always fewer than needed.
Join us at 5pm ET Saturday in the Hall of Fire for what’s sure to be a lively discussion!
Time zone conversions
America:
5.00pm EST (New York)
4.00pm CST (Chicago)
3.00pm MST (Denver)
2.00pm PST (Los Angeles)
Europe:
10.00pm GMT (London)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
Midnight EEST (Helsinki)
Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
9.00am AEDT (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
11.00am NZDT (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
