This weekend, Hall of Fire will be examining the reasons that may have motivated Frodo to accept the Ring Quest.
`I will take the Ring,’ he said, `though I do not know the way.’
Why did Frodo accept the Ring Quest?
Arguably, no other decision in The Lord of the Rings has such ramifications. Everything that follows is the result of Frodo accepting that the burden of the Ring’s destruction is, ultimately, his alone.
Would he have been justified in not standing up at that moment? Would it have made more sense for him to decide this was a task for someone more experienced in the world outside The Shire? What exactly is his moral obligation in that moment? Should anyone ever be obligated to “save the world”?
What role do the warnings of both Elrond and Gandalf about the Ring’s lure to the assembled council at Rivendell play in his decision? Or Boromir’s desire to use the Ring as a weapon? Or Bilbo’s suggestion that because he started the problem, he ought to solve it.
These are just a few of the questions that we’ll discuss this Saturday, September 26. Be sure to join us at 6pm ET in the chatroom and let us know your thoughts!
Suggested reading
Fellowship of the Ring: The Shadow of the Past
Fellowship of the Ring: The Council of Elrond
Fellowship of the Ring: The Mirror of Galadriel
Upcoming discussions
Saturday October 3: The Hobbit: Chapter 18: The Return Journey
The Council of Elrond by Alan Lee.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)
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Our server details:
IRC server name: irc.theonering.net
Channel/room name: #theonering.net
Port: 6667 (6697 for SSL connections)
