This weekend, we resume our Fellowship of the Ring read-through in Hall of Fire with Frodo still struggling toward the safety of Rivendell — and still pursued by Sauron’s minions.
With a great effort Frodo sat upright and brandished his sword.
‘Go back!’ he cried. ‘Go back to the Land of Mordor, and follow me no more!
FoTR: Book One, Chapter 12 — Flight to the Ford
When Strider finds that the Black Riders have withdrawn from Weathertop he realises their aim must be to let the morgul blade turn Frodo to their will.
He tells Sam the party must get to Rivendell quickly: only Elrond’s skill can fully overcome the blade’s evil enchantment. Luck is with them: Frodo proves resilient against the morgul-wound, the Last Bridge is not held against them, and they chance upon the elf-lord Glorfindel as they make for the Ford of Bruinen.
Pursuit is hard on their heels though; Frodo reaches the Ford barely ahead of all nine Ringwraiths. They call for his surrender, and even as Frodo defies them with the last of his will a flood rises and carries the Riders away.
Whether you’re a first-time reader of Tolkien, a first-time chatter who’s never visited TORn’s chatrooms, or an experienced hand who was with us when we began our first read-through back in 2001, we’d love you to join us. (Be prepared for a few spoilers along the way, though!)
So join us this Saturday, August 25 at 6.00pm EDT (New York time), when we’ll discuss all this and much more as we continue our Fellowship of the Ring read-through!
Time zone conversions
Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, visit our event time announcer on Time and Date.
America:
6.00pm EDT (New York)
5.00pm CDT (Chicago)
4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)
Europe:
11.00pm GMT (London)
Midnight CET (Paris)
1.00am EET (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 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 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
TORnIRC
Old TORn chat regulars might also recall TORn IRC, a version of mIRC specially skinned for Lord of the Rings.
Well, we’ve resurrected it from our long-lost Barli archives. If you’re running Windows, and want to make the leap from Mibbit to a standalone client, this is the easiest way to transition! In the instructions, scroll down to the section PC TORn IRC.
[Download] | [Instructions]
