The Lord of the Rings is a book of undeniable quality, arguably one of the greatest books ever written and in recent years winner of the incredible accolade of ‘greatest book of the 20th century’. In comparison, The Hobbit has often been criticised for being a more childish and simplistic tale, some say fairly, some say not. This weekend, the Hall of Fire discusses whether The Hobbit is a worthy precursor to The Lord of the Rings.
Some claim that The Hobbit should not be judged in comparison to The Lord of the Rings but a singular piece of work in its own right. Originally, The Hobbit was conceived by J.R.R Tolkien as a story to tell his children at bedtime, and from that evolved into the story of an unintentional hero called Bilbo Baggins. The Hobbit is a different literary genre to The Lord of the Rings, written with no thought or intention on having a successor. Is it not unfair to view it as otherwise?
However, there are a number of people who hold a contrasting view to the above. The fact that The Hobbit was written as a children’s tale is irrelevant: as the predecessor to The Lord of the Rings it is highly unsatisfactory, a mediocre piece of writing, unworthy of being spoken in the same breath as The Lord of the Rings.
But which view do you share? The believe that The Hobbit is a more simplistic and idealistic tale that shares the innocent view of Bilbo Baggins as he steps out into the big, wild world? Or is it a piece of literature that pales in comparison to The Lord of the Rings, and falls short of its high standard. Whichever view you share, join us this weekend for what should be a fantastic debate!
Place: Sep 7 & 8 – TTT Book 4, Chap 1 – The Taming of Smeagol Sep 14 & 15 – TTT Book 4, Chap 2 – The Passage of the Marshes Sep 21 & 22 – Hero & the Heroic in LoTR Sep 28 & 29 – TTT Book 4, Chap 3 – The Black Gate is closed
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
Throughout the Lord of the Rings, there are many works of a mysterious, wonderous and, despite Tolkien’s dislike of the concept, magical nature; the Elven blades that light in the prescence of Orcs, the staffs of the Wizards, and most prominent of all the One Ring. This weekend, the Hall of Fire is host to a discussion on a chapter from the Two Towers based on another one of these amazing objects from the history of Middle-earth:
Book III, Chapter XI: The Palant’r
When Wormtongue throws a black orb out from Saruman’s chamber in Orthanc to the ground below, no-one pays heed to it save Pippin who becomes immeaditely interested by it. Later that night when Gandalf and the rest of the company rest on their way to Edoras, Pippin finds a way to take the orb from Gandalf’s grasp and finally gets a chance to peer into it’s dark depths. What he gazes upon within it however is something he would ever desire to see. Soon, it becomes clear what the nature of the orb is: a palant’r.
This chapter not only gives us great insight into the nature of the palant’r, a mysterious and powerful creation from times before the Third Age, but also highlights the strength and resolve of Hobbits. We also see Aragorn take one step closer to accepting his destiny as he receives the palant’r from Gandalf. Join us this weekend for what should be a great discussion!
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
Just a quick heads up to let people know what’s coming up in Hall of Fire over the next fortnight. This weekend we’ll be finishing Book 3 of The Two Towers with a discussion of the chapter “The Palantir”.
Then over the weekend of August 31 – Sept 1 we’ll be having a special discussion:
“Is the Hobbit a worthy precursor to Lord of the Rings?”
The literary styles of the Hobbit and LoTR vary wildly, and where LoTR has been hailed as the Book of the century, the Hobbit often is overlooked. Is this because of a deficiency in the storytelling of the Hobbit? Is it simply a less worthy and interesting tale?
Does the simplistic style and the seemingly childish hobbits/dragons/dwarves trivialise this as a prelude to LOTR, or do the hints of deeper waters, larger stories, wider lands, and myths, give the Hobbit an extra dimension that works as a springboard to a more complex story?
Don’t forget to brush the dust off your copy of the Hobbit and re-read it beforehand! Hope to see you all there for what should be a cracker of a discussion.
Many, many thanks from TheOneRing.net to Barliman’s regular maegwen for putting together a fantastic Barlibash 2002 section! If you didn’t make it to Barlibash this year, a quick glance will let you know how much fun was had by all, and it might even convince you to join us next year. If you were with us in Seattle, the section is a great collection of reflections and memories of all the good times. Either way, you won’t want to miss browsing through! [More]
Throughout the first half of The Two Towers, Tolkien shifts narratives constantly from Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas plight to save their friends and to assist the Riders of Rohan to Merry and Pippin’s escape from their Uruk-hai captors and their new friends the Ents. However, there finally comes a chapter after the events of Helm’s Deep where the two groups are finally reunited and by recounting their own adventures, fill in any gaps in the story that the reader may have missed along the way:
Book III, Chapter IX: Flotsam and Jetsam
Flotsam and Jetsam is a chapter which finally gives us a chance to take in the events of the previous chapters which moved at such a quick pace and introduced us to one of the most innovative races in the history of literature. The chapter also sheds light on the things unsaid in the previous passages, such as how the Ents arrived at Isengard and how they went about wrought the incredible damage and havoc they did.
It has often been said that you don’t truly understand a character and the strife they go through until you hear them recounting the experience itself. In this way, listening to the characters in The Two Towers describe their journeys themselves, along with the thoughts and emotions they had at the time, only heightens our understanding of the characters themselves. This chapter has something for everyone, from Ent fans to Hobbit fans, so join us this weekend for what should be a great discussion!
Upcoming Discussions: Aug 18 & 28: TTT Chapter Chat – The Voice of Saruman
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
The HoF transcripts page is one of the more popular sections of TORn; we receive many e-mails from people who say they enjoy reading them. Of late, those e-mails have been wondering when the logs of recent chats would be posted.
Unfortunately, real life interruptions, and important maintenance on other parts of the site, has meant that the HoF page has fallen way behind.
However, we can finally announce that this has been fixed and TORn has a whole plethora of previous HoF chats for our avid readers to pore over.
Over the past few days, TORn staffer Arathorn (who deserves more thanks than I can adequately express) has been literally slaving to fix the Hall of Fire page and implement a system to not only bring the chats up to date, but to simplify the process of posting them.
This is good news for us, because it’s only takes 30 minutes to edit a log now, rather than a week! And, it’s good news for you also because you’ll be able to read HoF transcripts virtually right away, instead of having to wait for days and weeks (and sometimes months). You’ll also discover that the HoF page will be more frequently updated with future topics.
On behalf of all HoF staff, I’d like to thanks Arathorn for his sterling efforts, and encourage you all to check out the changes. [More]
