“Under the Mountain dark and tall, The King has come unto his hall! His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread, And ever so his foes shall fall.”

This weekend, Hall of Fire returns to our chapter-by-chapter discussion of The Hobbit with Chapter 15: The Gathering of the Clouds. Be sure to join us in our live chat on Saturday August 22 at 6pm EDT (New York time).

“And ever so his foes shall fall” … or so the Dwarves think.

The Hobbit: Chapter 15: The Gathering of the Clouds

After hearing of Smaug’s demise from a trusted source, the Dwarves are euphoric, over-taken by treasure-lust. But then cold reality looms — a large force of lakemen and Wood Elves approaches seeking recompense for their loss. An ugly confrontation looms as Thorin and Co. turn stubborn.

With Bard as their leader, how do the lakemen now appear? Should the and Elves have chosen a different approach when they came to parley with the Dwarves?

What responsibility do the Dwarves owe the two parties? Will Bilbo’s stomach save Thorin and Company once again?

Join us in our live chat (#thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net) on Saturday November 12 at 5pm EST (New York time) when we’ll examine all these questions and more!

Upcoming discussions

Saturday August 22: The Hobbit: Chapter 15: The Gathering of the Clouds
Saturday August 29: Gildor Inglorien
Saturday September 5: The Hobbit Chapter 16: The Clouds Burst

99abc2de84404cd73974a11ec4619bc1Gathering of the Clouds by Alan Lee.

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)
Midnight CST (Paris)
1am EEST (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 about 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. It is based on internet relay chat technology (that means it’s hella old skool). It’s a text-only, moderated chat room full of eccentric Tolkien fans. We’re open 24/7 (although some times are busier and more active than others).

There are many ways to connect to the chat server. However, the easiest is generally to use a browser-based client. We usually direct folks to Mibbit:

* TORn Mibbit Widget
* Mibbit direct (as opposed to the widget above, this allows you to see others joining and leaving)

If you’re more oldschool or technically adept, you can install one of the scores of standalone chat clients that available for desktop and mobile devices. Just plug in our server details (see bottom) into the client and connect.

* Xchat: http://xchat.org/ (Windoze PC and Linux. Free)
* mIRC: http://www.mirc.com/ (Windoze PC. 30-day trial)
* AndChat: http://www.andchat.net/ (Android app for mobile. Free)
* Colloquy: http://colloquy.info/ (Mac OS and Apple mobile devices. Free)

Our server details:
IRC server name: irc.theonering.net
Channel/room name: #theonering.net
Port: 6667 (6697 for SSL connections)