Barliman's Chat This Saturday at 6pm ET, we continue our Fellowship of the Ring read-through in Hall of Fire with the second half of the Council of Elrond chapter.

At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.

“I will take the Ring,” he said, “though I do not know the way.”

FoTR: Book Two, Chapter Two — The Council of Elrond

In our earlier discussion we heard and analysed the proofs of the Ring — that it is the One Ring that Sauron made to control all others.

Now the Council of Elrond must decide what to do with it. Such is the gravity of the situation that the council vacillates for long hours over the best course of action.

Should it be destroyed, as Gimli the dwarf wishes? Should it be used as a tool against Sauron as Boromir prefers? Or should it be cast back into the deepest sea, and beyond the reach of any member of Middle-earth? Elrond counsels none of these. He suggests to send the Ring to Orodruin. To unmake it and destroy the foundation of Sauron’s power.

If Gandalf and Elrond are right to reject solutions that would simply pass the problem along, why do the others of the council take so long to be convinced?

And when Bilbo asks who the members of the Ringquest will be, why is Frodo the only one to speak up?

Join us tomorrow (May 5) at 6.00pm ET (New York time), when we’ll discuss all this and much more as we continue our Fellowship of the Ring read-through!


The Council of Elrond by Alan Lee.

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Our handy conversion table can help! Alternatively, this event announcement on Time and Date will tell you when it’s on in your city.

America:
6.00pm ET (New York)
5.00pm CT (Chicago)
4.00pm MT (Denver)
3.00pm PT (Los Angeles)

Europe:
11.00pm GMT (London)
Midnight CEST (Paris)
1.00am EEST (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
9.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane,
10.00am AEDT (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
Midday NZDT (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last 45 mins to 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. You can connect instantly using our 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