Barliman's Chat Today at 5pm ET (note the time switch because of DST changes) the Hall of Fire will be detouring from our regular book chats back into movie-land as we head into spoiler territory and pull apart the new trailer for The Battle of the Five Armies in what’s sure to be an entertaining and enlightening discussion.

Saruman: Leave Sauron to me.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies trailer chat and analysis!

What did you love about the trailer? What just made you go “huh?”? What did you make of the more sombre tone and the escalation of the sense of conflict between characters — even those who are close friends or even kin?

We also have Bard confronting Thorin, Thorin’s increasingly mistrustful nature, and a series of battles that seem to traverse all the way from Lake-town to Dale and Erebor. And what’s the deal with Dol Guldur?

Join us today at 5pm ET (New York time) in #thehalloffire on the TORn chat server for what’s sure to be a lively and spoiler-filled discussion!

Suggested reading:

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies trailer!

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:
5.00pm EDT (New York)
4.00pm CDT (Chicago)
3.00pm MDT (Denver)
2.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)

Europe:
10.00pm BST (London)
11.00pm CST (Paris)
Midnight EEST (Helsinki)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am AEST (Sunday) Brisbane
9.00am AEDT (Sunday) Sydney, Melbourne
11.00am 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. 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)