frodo-cirith-ungol This Saturday at 6pm ET, Hall of Fire finally cracks open Book 6 of The Lord of the Rings as we examine the events of The Tower of Cirith Ungol.

Sam roused himself painfully from the ground. For a moment he wondered where he was, and then all the misery and despair returned to him. […] He wondered what the time was. Somewhere between one day and the next, he supposed; but even of the days he had quite lost the count. He was in a land of darkness where the days of the world seemed forgotten, and where all who entered were forgotten too.

The Return of the King: Book VI, Chapter I: The Tower of Cirith Ungol

Sam awakes by the under-gate to the orc stronghold in Cirith Ungol.

Unable to enter the tower this way, he leaves Shelob’s Lair and makes his way up the cleft towards the tower. Crossing over the highest ridge of the Ephel Duath beholds the land of Mordor.

The Ring, now close to the place where it was forged, tempts Sam greatly. But the little gardener shows a remarkable resistance and casts his desires aside to go in search for Frodo. There the true spirit of Mordor reveals itself in all its horror.

As a reader what was your initial impression of Mordor? Exactly what is the nature of the Watchers at the tower?

How does the One Ring tempt Sam? How does he face up to the challenge? And how does it contrast with Frodo’s reaction once he realises that Sam has the Ring?

Join us this weekend at 6pm ET Saturday in The Hall of Fire as we explore the first chapter the final book of The Lord of the Rings.

Upcoming topics

August 9: ROTK Bk 6: Ch 2: The Land of Shadow
August 16: Hobbit 3 movie spoiler round-up!

frodo-cirith-ungol

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