Middle-earth abounds in characters both creepy and gruesome; Gollum, Shelob, trolls and orcs. But, arguably, none inspire the shivers quite like the Nazgûl.

Nine Rings he gave to Mortal Men, proud and great, and so ensnared them. Long ago they fell under the dominion of the One, and they became Ringwraiths, shadows under his great Shadow, his most terrible servants.

The Nazgûl: masters and slaves

The Nazgûl occupy a fascinating position in the hierarchy of Sauron. As his chief captains, they sit at the top of the pile (MoS excepted perhaps) — feared by every underling, and by the enemies of the Dark Lord.

Yet as Gandalf points out, the power of the One Ring has made them utterly bereft of any power to resist Sauron’s commands. If as Gandalf says, we should “pity even his slaves”, then should we not pity the Ringwraiths most of all?

What is the story of the Nazgûl? How do their origins affect how we ought to perceive them? What is their responsibility? Are they truly masters? Are they slaves? Or some strange combination of the two?

Join us in The Hall of Fire (in #thehalloffire live on our chat server irc.theonering.net) this Saturday at 6pm EDT as we look at The Nazgûl — masters and slaves.

Upcoming discussions

Saturday July 25: The Hobbit Chapter 13
Saturday August 1: Morgoth
Saturday August 8: The Hobbit: Chapter 14
Saturday August 15: Orcs and goblins

Nazgul
Nazgûl from Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings

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)