Trying out a slight loosening of The Green Dragon format… to hopefully lead to broader discussion of some of the events in the books. From here on out, rather than strictly obeying Chapters, we have decided to group the chapters into larger sections that cover a series of related events in the story, but can span a few chapters as they develop, and may not cleanly follow chapter breaks. We will still cover roughly one section per week, unless by chance the discussion is still hopping, in which case we will wait.
Yes, we are speeding things up some, but I hope folk will keep up with the new schedule, and hopefully those who are eager to move faster will be satisfied! (At this schedule we also hope to be able to get through The Two Towers before Christmas(!) and many of us are eager to start talking about that…
New weekly topics:
Bree (chapters 9-11) Continuing now!
Journey from Bree to the Ford (contained in chapters 11-12) This coming Friday:!
Rivendell (Book 2 - chapters 1-3)
The Ring goes South (chapters 3-4)
Moria(chapters 4-5)
Lothlorien (chapters 6-8)
The Breaking of the Fellowship (chapters 9-10)
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Fellowship of the Ring
Topic: Bree
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken
The crownless again shall be king.
Pertinent Chapters (all or part)
Chapter IX – At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
Chapter X – Strider
Chapter XI – A Knife in the Dark (first part)
Movie Pictures-Arrival in Bree
And here is ecurbh’s Timeline if you would like to keep track of what day it is as we go!
And here is a Map of Middle-Earth So we don't get lost!
Index to thread… click link to find the start of each prior chapter discussion:
(First Five chapters are re-posts of highlights from the old forum)
Prologue and Chapter One – A Long-Expected Party
Chapter Two - The Shadow of the Past
Chapter Three – Three is Company … And also here – double post! ugh!
Chapter Four – A Shortcut to Mushrooms
Chapter Five – A Conspiracy Unmasked
End of re-posts
Chapter Six – The Old Forest
Chapter Seven – In The House of Tom Bombadil
Chapter Eight – Fog on the Barrow-Downs
Chapter Nine – At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
Let us talk more about Strider then shall we? I love the way Bree, and the introduction of Aragorn played in the movie. I do miss, though the part about Barliman and the note from Gandalf. "I hope Butterbur sends this promptly… If he forgets, I shall roast him."
To hopefully start some discussion: Aragorn is really cool. Book or movie, the way he comes into the story is equally dramatic. He seems incredibly self-assured next to poor doubting Frodo. He's an adventurer; what these hobbits have been struggling with for the past few days is his whole life. He knows what hunts them, and he's still willing - insistant - on taking care of them. But he is still a bit of a sinister character, kind of like all of Bree. It's sort of on the edge of the wild. Nobody's quite as nice as they are in the Shire. The nicest person is Butterburr, who'd probably be more worried than he is if he had any idea what was really going on...
Now I can really read the threads! LOL. Time permitting, of course!
1) Gandalf's letter which confirms Frodo's trusting of Strider. Though they did move my favorite line "...if by life or death I can save you, I will" to the Council of Elrond and it was much stronger there.
2) Merry and Pippen weren't 'accidental' companions, they were Frodo's best friends and would not let him go without them. That fits in later at the Council when they insist on joining the Fellowship.
3) (and getting ahead) Gimli, Celeborn and Galadriel's exchange when they first meet in Lothlorien. It shows the distrust between the Dwarves and Elves was both ways and how Galadriel started to heal the rift with her kind words and how Gimli starts to fall for her.
Grateful as always,
Sean.