#TheHallofFire was filled with almost 100 people this evening, all seeking to gain knowledge of the Elvish language. Our guest for this chat was Barliman’s regular, and self-taught language expert Elostrion. Here follows the transcript of the log: [More]
Category: Barliman News
We’ve had to sort out a few minor bugs along the way, but hopefully everything is just about sorted and we won’t have to endure any more service interuptions.
In the way of clarifying a few common questions, you do have to go through this new authorisation process with each nickname you have registered. For example, if you have five registered nicks, you’ll have to authorise all five of them.
However, it is a once-only process for each registered nickname. Once you’ve authed properly, you simply go back to the straightforward logon identification process that we were using before.
You should never have to auth again – except in the most unlikely situation of something truly horrendous happening that forced us to wipe the nickserv registrations and start over.
Again, to learn the funky new stuff that you can do under the new services system (nickserv and memoserv), I encourage you to check out our brand-new FAQ.
So many folks have been asking questions about the Elvish languages since the movies came out and we have an opportunity to learn a bit about this now! Elostrion has volunteered to teach a short course in “How to Construct a Sindarin Sentence”. [More]
Many folks will know SkyKing, a regular here at Barli’s. What many folks may not know is that in real life he is a member of America’s armed forces. His real life job necessitates his lengthy absence from Barli’s for several months. He sent along a letter for everyone to read: [More]
This evening we’ll be upgrading TheOneRing.net’s IRC server software. Most of the changes will be invisible to chatters, but will result in a better, more reliable chatting experience for everyone.
We strongly encourage you to take the time to acquaint yourself with these new features by reading through our brand new chat FAQ.
One change in particular will impact on everyone who has a registered nickname. This is a significant change to the registration process that regular chatters must be aware of.
This is extremely important information, that you must read if you’re not to be totally confused by the changeover! [More]
Of all the relationships that exist in the latter parts of The Lord of the Rings, the triangle between Frodo, The One Ring and Gollum is one of the most intriguing and arguably the most important to the story itself. This weekend, the Hall of Fire crew invite you to join us as we put this relationship under the microscope and examine what really was the key factor by which Frodo controlled Gollum.
Many people believe that Gollum’s newly-found obedience when leading Sam and Frodo through the lands outside Mordor was inspired by Frodo’s kind treatment of him; through Frodo’s kind treatment, Gollum began to find redemption in assisting those who captured him. However through a chance encounter with Faramir and the Men of Gondor, whatever trust Gollum had for the Hobbits disintegrates, and he knowingly leads them to almost certain death in the form of Shelob’s Lair.
But was it the humanity that Frodo showed Gollum that made him revert to the more morally bound Smeagol persona? Or was it simply that Gollum was so bound to the Ring that he had no choice but to lead the Ringbearer through Emyn Muil, under the control of the allure of the Ring? Could it be that The One Ring was the true reason that Gollum guided the Hobbits safely the the Black Gate of Mordor and beyond? Or was Gollum ever really under their control, his re-discovered conscience all a ruse to recapture his Precious?
If you share any of these opinions, then stop by the Hall of Fire this weekend and be prepared to join in on what should be a fabulous debate!
Upcoming Discussions:
Jan 25 & 26 – Arwen’s Immortality Choice
Feb 02 & 03 – RotK Chapter One: Minas Tirith
Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .
Saturday Chat: 5:30 pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30 pm (23:30) CET and 7:30 am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]
ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.