This weekend in TORn’s Hall of Fire, we’ll be chatting about one of the more obscure elves of The Lord of the Rings: Gildor Inglorien.
‘I am Gildor,’ answered their leader, the Elf who had first hailed him. ‘Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod. We are Exiles, and most of our kindred have long ago departed and we too are now only tarrying here a while, ere we return over the Great Sea. But some of our kinsfolk dwell still in peace in Rivendell. Come now, Frodo, tell us what you are doing? For we see that there is some shadow of fear upon you.’
Gildor Inglorien: proto-typical high elf?
Gildor is the first named elf that Frodo (and we, the readers) meet in The Fellowship of the Ring. As such he’s rather important: he and his travelling kin provide our first glimpse of the nature and temparament of High Elves (and first impressions are always vital, right?) in Tolkien’s world.
But what inferences can we draw from how he and his folk deal with Frodo and his companions? And how does that differ from the elves we see later in The Lord of the Rings: especially fellow Noldor such as Glorfindel, Elrond and Galadriel?
There’s also the peculiar matter of Gildor’s heritage. Inglorien means “son of Inglor”, which was the name that Tolkien gave Finrod Fealgund in some of his early Silmarillion drafts. Thus, could Gildor really be a son of Finrod? What other explanations are possible?
Join us this Saturday (Aug 29) at 6pm EDT when we’ll discuss all these questions and more as we examine the mysterious and perplexing case of Gildor Inglorien.
Upcoming discussions
Saturday August 29: Gildor Inglorien
Saturday September 5: The Hobbit Chapter 16: A Thief in the Night
Saturday September 12: Cirdan the Mariner
Frodo meets Gildor 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)
