Barliman's Chat This Saturday (at 6pm ET (New York time)) Hall of Fire will be discussing one of the great (and tragic) heroes of Middle-earth — Boromir the Brave.

‘The Men of Gondor are valiant, and they will never submit; but they may be beaten down. Valour needs first strength, and then a weapon. Let the Ring be your weapon, if it has such power as you say. Take it and go forth to victory!’ The Council of Elrond.

Boromir: the tragic hero of Gondor

A proud, strong warrior and a charismatic leader of men, Boromir the Brave is both a heroic and a tragic figure in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. His need for power, action, and great deeds push him too far. Yet, at the same time, we can find much to admire in his personality.

How do you view the strengths and weaknesses of Boromir?

What would have been the outcome if Boromir had come into possession of It, or if he had persuaded the Walkers to go to Minas Tirith? Would Boromir have acknowledged Aragorn as King? How would you have fared under the influence of the Ring?

Finally, what lessons can we draw from Boromir’s trials?

Come share your thoughts with us on Saturday in what’s sure to be another great Hall of Fire discussion!

Some suggested reading:

The Council of Elrond
The Breaking of the Fellowship
The Passing of Boromir
The Window on the West

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)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
1.00am EEST (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
10.00am NZST (Sunday) Wellington

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last from an hour to ninety minutes, 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