Barliman's Chat This weekend, Hall of Fire is taking a look at some of the mightiest weapons ever forged in Middle-earth!

Dramborleg, the famous axe of Tuor. Aranruth, the sword of Thingol — and of the Kings of Numenor. Gurthang, Turin’s treacherous black sword. Angrist, the knife that Beren used to prise a silmaril from Morgoth’s iron crown.

Glamdring, the sword of Turgon — and later of Gandalf. Sting, the blade that saved Bilbo and, later, Frodo from deadly spiders. Anduril, the heirloom of the Dunedain of Arnor, forged by Telchar. The barrow-blades of Merry and Pippin.

And what about Morgoth’s hammer, Grond?

What is it about these weapons that fascinates us? Is it the lineage? Is it something about the character of those wielding them? Are they “magic”, even though Tolkien never described anything like a “+5 vorpal sword of balrog slaying”?

And is Tolkien the creator of this fantasy trope?

Join us this Saturday, November 17 at 5pm EST (New York time), as we chat about the mighty weapons of Middle-earth and what they mean to you.

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help. Alternatively, look up your city on our Event Time Announcer.

America:
5.00pm EST (New York)
4.00pm CST (Chicago)
2.00pm MST (Denver)
2.00pm PST (Los Angeles)

Europe:
10.00pm GMT (London)
11.00pm CET (Paris)
Midnight EET (Helsinki)

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

How long do your topic chats go for?

Our chats usually last 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. 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