The Fellowship of the Ring: Ch 16-18

[00:00:00] Yeah, give us a little gauge on would you have kept up with Lord of the Rings? Um, probably not. Wait, you said you wouldn't have even started without this. No, I wouldn't if it wasn't for us like doing it as a group. Hmm. There's no way I would have read it on my own. I just don't have like an interest that much into diving deeper because I felt content with the movies.

[00:00:27] But I also saw it, how many, was that 20 years ago? Content to watch the movies once in 20 years. Yeah, I guess that's it. Hmm. This is crazy. I don't know if you would ever do this, but sometimes I'll just like flip through a book until I find an interesting part and then I'll read that and then I'll get interested and then I'll start. I've done that before too. Wow. So maybe that could have happened. I don't know. I'm like more interested. That's bizarre. Or I'll read the last page first. That's like my normal thing. But I'm not doing that now. Actually, so.

[00:00:57] But you don't know an end, so that's what's so funny. Because like the end makes absolutely no sense when you read it first, but it's like kind of interesting. Hmm. Like I did that with the goldfinch and I was like, okay, I see where this is going. Wow. And then it like gives me an understanding of like how to think about the story. Hmm. Because the last page is like way more broad scope than like the beginning story, which is like very plot. So I was like, oh, I see how I'm like supposed to process this book. And then I just like go through it like that.

[00:01:28] Wow. But. Huh. That's crazy. Yeah. That is a crazy way to read. It's fun. I have free will. Good for you. Yeah. Respect that, but that's crazy. So, Jen, how much are you liking this now? How far do you think you're gonna make it? I don't know. The whole way. I think I'm just saying it would be only because we're like coming together and discussing it. I think I would have given up on it already. Hmm. Because I listen to it and I'm not really listening to it ever.

[00:01:58] Like it's just on. And I try to focus and then they start singing and then I'm out. And then I focus and they're repeating something. I already know that. So then I'm out again. So I just feel like, I don't know. I think it would be better. I think after we finish book one, we should do all the movies. And I keep telling him that I'm like, yeah, that's a good idea. I feel like then I'll be more engaged in the story again because I don't really remember it.

[00:02:24] There's certain parts that stick out and then I'm like, okay, like literally I had to ask him to summarize the first two chapters because I don't remember what happened to me. I was like, you know, a couple of things and that's all I got. And then I missed a huge part. I was like, oh, I totally missed that. Mm hmm. You mean when I said Gandalf died? Yeah. You were like, oh, that's what happened? No way. I mean, I guess it did happen quick, but still.

[00:02:54] Granted, I probably was listening to it, not the right basis. But that's what I'm saying. I'm not like excited to like listen to it quietly with no distractions. I'm like, okay, I need to listen. It's a chore. Yeah. I will put it on. The last chapter, I was more focused and I felt like, okay, it's getting into a little bit more like, what am I trying to say?

[00:03:22] Just like more into the storyline of like action happening and like not just talking about the ring and all the people and all the generations. Like I don't care about that. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's interesting. These are these are the first three chapters that I read simultaneously while listening. Oh, cool.

[00:03:51] So I had it on, but I also was kind of reading along with the circus and that helped and it helped a ton. Yeah. Like it made me more interested in the whole story. There were some times when I couldn't actually read it. Like I had to go get up and do something. So I like just kept it on on my headphones and then just like ran it when did something for like five, 10 minutes and then came back and started reading again. Oh, that's what I need to do. But yeah, I think it would. It's a little bit more helpful. Also, again, it's more helpful. I think if you've seen the movies.

[00:04:18] So I think at the end of book one, you guys are like so excited and you're like, oh, that's this part. And I'm like, I don't remember. And like half my notes in this chapter or these three chapters are like, this is so different from the books and this is or this is so different from the movies. And, you know, you got to think about this and it's all slightly different things from the movies that I'm kind of intrigued about and excited about. Yeah. So then you only have to get through a little more of the book. Getting there. Yeah.

[00:04:48] Just spark note it or just like chat GPT. Give me a summary of Lord of the Rings chapter. That's me. I'm your chat GPT. Chapter four. Yeah. But I'm not sure most people get past. Like, when do people stop? Yeah. I mean, my point. My first read of Lord of the Rings, I stopped before book one is over. I read like the first like four chapters and I was like, this isn't. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, this is too much. But see, that's. And then when you're with like, I don't know.

[00:05:17] Is it because you're with people that you're like, yeah, I can do this? Or is it a different mindset where you're like, I'm into this now or. I don't know. Maybe. I think so. I think it's both. I think this is it's reading with other people always helps. Yeah. That's what I learned from the first book club I went to. I was like, oh, I could get into this. Yeah. I didn't read before. Only when I had to. And that was Pink Monkey and the other site. What? I don't even know.

[00:05:46] You don't know Pink Monkey? I was like, what is that? What is that? Pink Monkey is the same as. Spark Notes? Yes. Yeah. Why is it called Pink Monkey? I don't know. It's a great question. And like some of them had better summaries on Pink Monkey. They were probably shorter. Yeah. If I was a high school student at this time, at this day and age, I wouldn't do anything. Oh my gosh. It's Chad GVT. Or like any AI. I would just be like, give me a summary of this book. Even like writing an essay. I know. Because they have to. Some of the school.

[00:06:14] They have to handwrite their essays now when they're in like school. Oh, that's good. But I would still be like the morning before or on my phone on the way to school. Give me a five paragraph essay on this. I'd read all the bullet points, all the notes and just go into class and just write that up. Oh my gosh. That's so funny. I wouldn't do anywhere. Are they doing it in cursive? Probably. Cursive's dead. Terrible. Yeah. But let's jump into this. Welcome to the podcast. I'm John. Jen. Danny. And Lizzie. And this is the Fellowship of the First Time Readers.

[00:06:57] If you can, would you leave a review on this podcast? Wherever you listen to podcasts. They do help a ton. And if you want to follow us on YouTube, we have a channel where we live stream our discussions as well as publish some more nerdy content that I kind of think you'll like because you're already listening to this podcast. We do Lord of the Rings stuff, Star Wars first time watches. We do Harry Potter. We do all the first time reads and watches and all that good stuff. If you want to email us, it's firsttimereaders at gmail.com. And if you join our discord or subreddit, which is r slash firsttimereaders, you'll find

[00:07:26] all of our other social media and info you need to follow along on our journey. I am pretty excited to read through Lord of the Rings for the first time with three other people who have never read it before. And if you like Harry Potter too, be sure to check out Harry Potter and the First Time Readers where the three of us in two different seasons went through the entire series of Harry Potter. I'm a Harry Potter nerd, read it like tens of twenties of times, and it was Danny and Jen and Lizzie's first time. But thanks for listening. Be sure to leave a review or a comment or like depending on where you're listening and

[00:07:56] enjoy the fellowship of the first time readers. Okay, so chapter 16. Let's talk about a summary of chapter 16. This is a journey in the dark. We're all waiting on Jen to give her summaries. Yeah. Not happening. Chapter four. So this is basically where they enter the minds of Moria.

[00:08:25] I mean, like how many songs were in these few chapters? Not that many. Yeah. To me, I was like, are there a lot? I don't know. Or maybe they were just talking and something. They're long. They're long. They're long. When you texted and you're like, there's a lot of songs in these chapters. I was like, oh, great. Because I hate songs too. That's so funny. And then all of a sudden I read these and I was like, I think there was like three songs in this. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. And then you know what?

[00:08:52] When you're listening, it might feel worse because there could be like a one line or little song. That's not really, but it kind of feels like it. Anyways. All right. One quick note. I felt like too many. On the Ringo South. Oh, yeah. When I actually read it to catch up, I'm starting to. Here's the thing. I'm trying to get planetary about it and understand how big is this planet? It apparently has one moon.

[00:09:21] It probably mimics Earth, but my theory is it's smaller than Earth. Oh, OK. But the way they said it's going to get warmer when they go south makes me think northern hemisphere. And now I'm just curious, how big is this planet? If it's smaller than Earth, but it's warmer as they go south, they're going to notice a difference. But based on the scale of what we've seen so far, it would have to be smaller than Earth only based on climate.

[00:09:48] But then I'm even thinking there is a possibility of from the gray havens when the elves go over the sea that they're just going to another land. They don't have technology. How could they ever? You know, like there's just another continent on the other side of the Earth. And it's probably amazing and awesome. So nobody ever comes back from it because why would you? And so I was like, I'm going to continue to try and gauge the size of Middle Earth as we go. Wait, is Middle Earth the planet or the continent? I mean, honestly, it must be the continent. OK. So what is this planet? I don't know. Maybe there is Middle Earth. There's Left Earth.

[00:10:18] You're totally. Yeah, we got to go to Left Earth. A Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that's a good point. Fan right here. That's so interesting. And I'm sure there's more in the lore. But I don't want to Google anything yet. So we'll see what the books tell us. Yeah, I think Googling is a little dangerous. But that's a fascinating point. I never thought about that.

[00:10:44] Because they say that the journey would have taken a few months to get all the way to the parts of Rohan, I think. And they're kind of like Rivendell. Sounds right. So I imagine Middle Earth to be about the size of the half the continental US. Like in my head, it's like the size of Alaska. OK, nice. And if that's the case, I feel like the planet's pretty small. Right. It would have to be. Yeah.

[00:11:13] I think. But I mean, it can be warmer as it goes south and not too big. There's a picture in our book. Of like the land? Yeah. Yeah, there is. I meant like one of his illustrations. Oh, we should have brought that book. Yeah, I know. The one we got for Christmas with all the original J.R.R. pictures he drew. Yeah, that's a cool one. I wonder if it's in there. Oh, and I forgot. I'm supposed to read Appendix F. That was referenced in one of these chapters, but I never went to read it.

[00:11:43] Yeah, I saw that too. Also, whatever this planet is, it has magnetic poles, right? Because how else would they know North, East, Southwest? It's true. And the. The geology has to plan. I love this so far. Can you just be on a different axis, though? And that changes the seasonality? I mean, it could. But that's what I've been trying to eye up the mountains. She's learning.

[00:12:07] So they're constantly talking about, like, the mountains and the moon is always rising in the east and setting in the west. And they've mentioned that a few times, just like the sun. So for it to be consistently doing that, the axis, I guess that just means it's spinning on its axis. We ought to pay attention to shadows. Yeah, exactly. And there was one reference to a shadow on the mountain that said north. And but it was more like a hint. So it wasn't super clear.

[00:12:35] So I said, I need more than just this vague reference. Well, we know how many miles the journey was. Right. And he keeps making really specific mileage. Yeah. Tallies. So somebody has done this math, I'm sure. Where are you in your journey to Middle Earth? I am not. On my Strava, though, I was on the Stairmaster and I had that Aragorn shirt on. So I titled it, like, on my way to whatever that staircase is. I don't remember what it's called. That's great.

[00:13:05] And then I got kudos and I was like, yeah. Kudos from Aragorn himself. Yep. It's my motivation on the Stairmaster. Just, like, imagine myself. Lord of the Rings. On those steps. That's so great. Yikes. They don't last long enough. Yeah. Okay. But chapter 16, A Journey in the Dark. When they're kind of finally going through Moria. Now, one of the first things that I noticed about Moria, and I thought, very different from the movies, is that no one wants to go to Moria.

[00:13:34] In the movies, they're... So, Jenna, in the movies, they're on top of this snowy mountain. And they're like, we're all going to die up here. We have to get down. And then they're like, let's go around another way. And Gimli is like, if we're going to pass over the mountains, let's pass under them. Let's go through the mines of Moria. And only Gandalf at that moment is like, oh, no, that's a bad idea. But he elects to do it because Frodo wants to do it. And the whole rest of the company, the whole rest of the fellowship, they're all kind of

[00:14:02] not like excited to go, but they're all like ready to go and get out of the snow. In this, it's crazy because one of the lines in this is, the road that I speak of leads to the mines of Moria, to Gandalf. Only Gimli lifted up his head. A smoldering fire was in his eyes. And all the others dread thought the mention of that name. Even to the hobbits, it was a legend of vague fear. Which is crazy. That is crazy. So like everyone, it makes more sense because everyone in Middle Earth would know that this

[00:14:31] place is a place of dread and a place out of like terror. And it makes the movies make no sense. That was always, now that I think about it, that wasn't always a call in my head with the movies. How does Gimli not know what he's walking into when he's walking into Moria? Because he was like, this is my homeland. These are my people. And then it was like, oh, there's orcs in here. Like they took over. Yep. But it wasn't inherently a terrifying place. And then in this, everybody's like scared to go.

[00:14:58] Because again, in the movies, he walks into Moria. Yeah, he walks into the mines and he's like, soon you're going to be feasting with the dwarves. You're going to know the warm hospitality of the dwarves. He literally thought it. Yeah, and he's like red meat right off the bone. And then all of a sudden they go, oh, this isn't a mine. It's a tomb. And all these like dead bodies are around and they run around. It's crazy. Jen, you're going to love this. Promise. Why are you doing this to me? We need to watch it. I promise. As soon as we're done. We'll get there. I know how it ends.

[00:15:29] And soon you're going to know all the stuff in between. Gannath died and then you could have experienced that in the movie. Yeah, so true. That was a big moment. I do remember it. The movie? How the movie one ends or how the entire thing ends? I mean, I've seen all the movies. Oh, because the ring. Yeah, that's right. When Gannath died in the movie, my jaw was on the floor. I was like, this can't be happening. It's beginning to. You and the hobbits. It was terrible. But Moria seems darker than I expected. It was kind of cool.

[00:15:59] It makes more sense in the books than in those movies. So they're all scared of it. Like, it wasn't scary when the dwarves lived in it, right? Like, why was Aragorn afraid of it? He's been there since. I think he just knows the legend. I don't think he's been in there. Because was the Balrog in there the whole time? Okay. When did he come in? In the movies, Gannath seems to know the Balrog is in there. And he seems to succumb to his fate of the Balrog. In the books, Gannath is surprised by the Balrog.

[00:16:28] He doesn't really register as a Balrog until he sees the Balrog. And Legolas is the one who screams, I, a Balrog! Yeah. Which sounded like that. That's what he was reading out. Like, what? Yeah. But, um, it seems like no one knows what's going on here. Which, again, because Rings of Power, too. Gannath, with Rings of Power, you have that one section where, um, who is it?

[00:16:55] Durin, um, like, confronts the Balrog at the end of Season 2. We didn't get to the end of Season 2. Sorry, excuse me. Spoiler alert. Maybe we should finish that. That'll keep you engaged. Yeah. I keep telling him this and he keeps saying no. Well, because at first we were holding off. And now it feels like we need to keep you engaged. By the way, I was just looking it up from the movies. It's wide open. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was looking it. The dwarves woke something up in Moria. And this is what you said where they got greedy. Oh, I did say that. I always said I remember that in the Rings of Power. They started something.

[00:17:25] They were digging too deep. And we saw the group, the black slime. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. And it starts sling. And that's all we kind of know. We're like, something bad is happening here. Yes. Okay, great. So finish Season 2. It's not great, but that part at least was intriguing. I'm easy to please these people with their, like, critics. I've already seen John's video about it. I'm cringing at what's to come. I don't care. I like pretty much anything.

[00:17:55] Yeah, no, it's cool. I like watching anything, reading, eh. To be honest, there are, I think, good parts of the series, like that small little parts. So this part of the series did add lore to it. But it's helping me understand this. Yeah, agreed. Yeah. So I like that. And I'm a visual person, so not seeing the movies for years. And then I recently saw Rings of Power, some of it. And it's like that is more, oh, this is like, you know, it's more intriguing for me.

[00:18:23] I'm surprised how much, yeah, this connects directly to Rings of Power. Like there are a lot of reference to the characters and places. But it helps me with the timeline. It helps me with the characters. Like, you're doing a disservice to me, guys. All right. We'll redeem ourselves. Don't worry. So this is, so is, is, maybe this is a question for you guys. Does, where is Gimli from? Is he from Moria?

[00:18:51] What, is he from the Iron Hills? Is he an Iron Hill dwarf? I thought of him as being somewhere way up north where he's been his whole life. But I don't know who originally came from Moria when it was originally built. And then they all left. And then. Who went back? Balin went back. So then like all of that just feels a little weird. I don't fully get it.

[00:19:20] But I think he was from just the north. It says, Gimli made his home in Rohan in the glittering caves of Aglarond. And many of his kinfolk came with him. After Aragorn reestablished the northern realm of Gondor. So this is after, I guess. Oh, yeah, yeah. Many dwarves also made their home in the north. In the Blue Mountains and the Iron Hills. Where's his dad from? Gimli's son of Gloin. Where is Gloin from?

[00:19:50] The Lonely Mountain. Wait, who? Gloin is from the Lonely Mountain? Oh. I guess that makes sense because they're going to take back their homeland. It might have said in many meetings where they came from. Yeah, that makes sense. Jen, for your reference, the Lonely Mountain is like the Hobbit. So it's where the Hobbit takes place. Oh. And that's how Bilbo knows all of them from the journey to the Lonely Mountain, right? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:17] And someone says Moria was abandoned a thousand years before the story. Oh. Which is wild. Oh, my. So this thing is like absolutely in legend. It's like almost. Yeah, wow. It's almost like mythic at this point. Does it talk about what this Balrog is? Oh, yeah. I'm just reading about it. You got to look it up. I'm like, it doesn't say much to be honest. The description of Balrog was short, but it was potent.

[00:20:45] It says, what it was could not be seen. It was like a great shadow in the middle of which was a dark form of man shape, maybe, yet greater. And a power and terror seemed to be in it and go before it. It's got like this mystical element to it. You don't really know what the heck is going on. It's like a shadow and flame. It's like a fantastic little theme. Yeah, this thing is saying.

[00:21:11] That's one thing I noticed about the book is like, if I didn't know what that was from the movie, I would not have a good understanding of that. I would not know what the Undying Lands are, like what the sea is. None of that's described. And I'm like still confused about that. Like what? Like this kind of key? I don't know. What are you looking for? This just is breaking down the two parts of the word in Elvish language. What are the two parts? Or it doesn't tell you what they mean.

[00:21:41] No, it does. Oh, actually. I don't know. So then I won't say it. That's what I was asking. Well, you said you're still confused about some of this. I don't. I'm confused about this sea and the Undying Lands and where they all go. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Okay. That's one thing about these books as well. Like as like a grand scope scheming things thing. Like the lore of this is so deep that it does confuse me too. Like Harry Potter is just like a children's story.

[00:22:11] Like I get that. There's nothing that really confused me about that. She didn't really build out a ton of lore or like history or anything about this. Like everything makes sense within that. Lord of the Rings is like he built out this universe and just like threw a little story in this universe. But in his head, he already had the entire lore written out. And so like when he they're mentioning like the Undying Lands in Tolkien's mind, he's like everyone should know what the Undying Lands are. That's what I feel like he drops his references. I don't know what the Undying Lands are.

[00:22:39] And like you have to go find the lore to like understand it. Which I kind of love, but it's also awful when you're going through one story. But then I feel like you're missing. Like I'm missing stuff. I don't know. I'll say this. To me, it makes the story more believable because this is how people like talk. Like it makes the whole story like it makes me want to find where Middle Earth is as a planet because it feels like it's more out there. Yeah. It feels like this place exists because of how much lore surrounds it.

[00:23:08] But as far as like a tight knit story, it's it's very meandering, very, very meandering, which is weird because they're like on a on a mission to get somewhere. Yeah. But it still feels like they're just like, oh, let's go into Moria. And I'm going to sing a three page song about the lore of Moria. And it was a terrible time to sing that song as well because Gandalf like kind of needs them to be quiet. Right.

[00:23:34] And then all of a sudden they're hearing footsteps behind them and Gimli is like, oh, no Moria. It was like, OK. I feel like equally scared of Moria as I do of the ringwraiths. I think Moria would take me out. I hate caves. I hate being underground. I would be gone. But this cave system scares you. Yes, it's pitch black and it's enormous. Just like empty space around me. They were walking like 20 miles into the one. The scale of it all.

[00:24:04] The amount of time they were walking. I'm like, how far? Oh, my goodness. That would be creepy. Once you're like a certain number of miles in, you're like, there is nothing but rock in every direction. That would freak me out a little. And then you're on like these little narrow staircases. OK, I love this. I'm getting a lot of info here. Moria. Crazy, right? Another chat says Moria was built by Longbeards. This is the clan of dwarves that Gimli, Balan, Thorin, et cetera, are a part of.

[00:24:32] After Moria fell, their new main settlement was the Lonely Mountain. So Moria kind of predates the Lonely Mountain. And that's crazy. Yeah. I thought these like dwarven settlements and cities were like all all happening at the same time. But this makes more sense. This is kind of cool. We don't know who this is. No, never heard of Melkor before. I'm just I'm curious about how where it came about.

[00:24:59] But it's funny because in the explanations, like you're saying is saying, oh, in Tolkien's like universe here. And then it's going into like the history of another person that's like not meant like the lore of it. Like you're saying, I'm just like, wait, how does and they're they're quoting Tolkien like with each. Yeah. Thing. I'm like, what? Yeah. This is like all Wikipedia. It's like when you click on one article from Wikipedia and it just keeps going from one thing to the next.

[00:25:28] Like you can get so lost in this, which seems kind of fun, but it's the stories that you tell are just different. Like you have to include the entire realm when you're kind of telling these things. I don't know. What do you guys think of Moria? You guys think of this chapter? It was fun. Yeah. I felt like it was intrigue and suspense. You never really knew what was coming.

[00:25:58] And that's the beauty of these movies. It feels like they were just scratching the surface on some of this stuff. There's a lot of content out of the movies. So you really don't know if something's going to happen, which makes it fun to read. There's a few other differences, even in the movies. Like. I loved to me. Hobbits in the movies have like the ability to understand riddles and in the books, Gandalf

[00:26:27] is just the one that figured out the riddle to enter Moria, which I was like, you know, that makes sense. He's wise. He knows what he's doing. But I love the idea in the movies when Gandalf like gives up. He like throws his staff and throws his hat and sits on a rock and he's like bummed. And then Frodo steps up and he's like, it's a riddle. What's the Elvis word for friend? Melon. And I'm like, oh, let's go. Frodo does this. Yeah, yeah. But in the books, Gandalf is the one that just figured it out. Gandalf seems like he's like the main person who's trying to figure things out.

[00:26:57] And he knows where they're going. And everyone just is relying on him for like the trailblazing of this, which kind of makes sense because Gandalf's Gandalf. But I wouldn't mind if Aragorn stepped in a little bit. I like in the movies, it does seem more of like a combination effort, to be honest. I was so excited for these chapters because I don't know if you remember my theory from the movie, but I had like one headcanon that I really liked. And I was like, yeah, that's what happened.

[00:27:24] And I was hoping that I could like preserve it through reading the book. But it's totally not true. But after watching the movie, I thought when they get stuck at those three doors and they like wait, I thought Gandalf like knew the way and he just paused so that Frodo could see Smeagol and he could have that conversation. So I was like, he was just stopping so that he could tell him don't kill Smeagol. And like that was on purpose. And then they had that conversation, they up and left.

[00:27:51] But then in the book, it's like Gandalf is so much more confused. They're stopping all the time. They're just like discussing which way do we go. And then Smeagol, we haven't even like seen yet. Like he's just still crawling around in the back. But he's lurking. He's so spooky. He's between the pages. I did not like him. He's lurking way closer than I thought. And at first you're like, is Frodo going a little nuts or is he really picking up on this? What did I say earlier? He can hear really well compared to other people.

[00:28:21] So then I was like, what is it? And then the elves confirm it. You're like, it's not in his head. He is seeing these things. Like, wow. He is way too close for comfort in all of this. He has skill in trees. Is this the same elves that let him go for walks and stuff? Uh-uh. Okay. Different breed. So is he like planning this? I know. He's preparing his skills? This is like the Lord. He's going to be next. Gollum preparing his skills? Yeah. Like he knows how to climb trees. And then he goes to the other elves that live in the trees. Yeah.

[00:28:50] That's kind of true. Like, why else would you do that? Like, where else are you climbing trees? We need like a rocky montage of Gollum like training in the trees. He's like doing pull-ups because he knows he's going to get the ring and he knows he's going to get a lot of glory. And like there's like the rocky theme music behind it. Two other little things that I noted. Gandalf says when they're kind of like hesitant about Moria, they compare it to a stronghold

[00:29:18] of Sauron and Gandalf says, I alone of you have ever been in the dungeons of the Dark Lord. I was like, oh, he has? Oh, gosh. What the? When? Yeah. And then later, like Aragorn mentions that he has been to Moria before. So again, just like the amount of missions these people have been on for random things in fighting for good in Middle Earth is crazy. I remember that line from listening and I thought he was talking about when he got kidnapped by the wizard.

[00:29:47] As like a dungeon of Sauron. You know, kind of. It almost is like a. Like I was in the dark. Yeah. Even though it was Saruman's thing, it kind of was of Sauron. So maybe that's what he was referencing. Yeah. I forgot the tweet. And it's interesting, too, because the dialogue, I'm just constantly comparing this to Harry Potter. The dialogue in Harry Potter is different because it's kids who are thinking these things and having like this conversation.

[00:30:14] When the adults come in, it just seems like a bunch of slughorns who are on this trip and just want to swap stories. And like they're trying to it seems like a grandpa thing, like you're trying to outdo one another with your cool stories. Yeah. Like Gandalf just sneaking a light in. Oh, I've been to the Dark Lords, you know, like dungeons. I can just imagine like Mary and Pippen are like, pause. Hold on. Tell us the story. What's going on? Have you really been? That's ridiculous. Fine. I'll bite.

[00:30:44] Tell us the story. And then Gandalf's like, fine. Okay, here's the five page song. This is for you. This was a really good summary. Jen's learning about Silmarillion over here. Oh, I love this. Yeah. Jen's going to be our lore master in like a month when she watches the movies. Yeah, right. No, it's just the Balrog. It was just talking about its origins.

[00:31:07] And it said, if you haven't, you have to read that because that start is pre like pre. Yeah. Yeah. That's like the whole history of I think Middle Earth, right? Yeah. But there's battles and wars and there is a more evil person than Sauron. That's what I was talking about. What's his name? Starts with an M. Dang. I just said it before. Morgoth.

[00:31:37] That sounds like a familiar name, but I don't know why. No, it's Morgoth. Yeah, Morgoth. Morgoth. No. But yeah, the one you're saying is Melkor. And I don't know what either of these people are. Morgoth is mentioned, I think, in the first season of Rings of Power. No. Maybe that's why it's familiar. I think. Maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, no, I think you're right. This podcast is all over the place right now. Jen's doing research. I'm sorry. You need to mute mine, Mike. No, I love this. This is great.

[00:32:07] This is what the people have come for, you know? I like that Stella Brimbor is the one who drew the signs on the door. Yeah. Again, giving us a gauge, something else we know from Rings of Power, which I thought was cool. Yeah. Any connections there? I love. And then I was trying to decipher the writings in here. And then I think that on this symbol on the door was the number five. And I was like, what's that about?

[00:32:35] And that was just based on the appendix and my elvish comparison. Danny's like going through the appendix here. The main thing I was concerned about in this chapter, and this is the question that I have for you guys, because I don't know if I missed this or if it was just left unknown because the fellowship doesn't know this. Is Bill the Pony dead? No. That was so sad. That was so sad. Sam. That was so sad. He was really having a crisis.

[00:33:04] He was like, I have to choose between Frodo and the heart. And then when he had to make a choice and finally goes in, he's like, I chose because of you. I'm here because of you and Bill's dead. Bill can't be dead. I'd like to think he's just out grazing happily. I literally thought in the movies, I feel like this was a thing where Bill runs off and we never see him again. But in the books, there's hope. I want to see him again. I know. I know.

[00:33:34] I hope that we see him again. That was just like a sad scene. Because I just lost all my grandfather. Oh, because there's one scene where Gandalf seems to like light his hands on Bill and like give him a wizardly blessing. And I don't know if that was real or not. Do you guys remember what I'm talking about? No, I don't remember that one.

[00:34:00] So he has this where, um, this is a conversation. You will have to choose between Bill and your master. You'd follow Mr. Frodo into a dragon's den if I let him, protested Sam. It'd be nothing short of murder to turn him loose with all these wolves about. It will be short of murder, I hope, said Gandalf. He laid his hand on the pony's head and spoke in a low voice. Go with the guard and guiding on you, he said. You are a wise beast and you have learned much in Rivendell.

[00:34:29] Make your way to places where you can find grass. And so come in time to Elrond's house or wherever you wish to go. There, Sam. He will have quite as much chance of escaping wolves and getting home as we have. Like, now, one of my questions is, uh, is Gandalf doing this to appease Sam or is he, is there some kind of wizardly blessing that he can give? I hope it's not just to appease Sam. I hope there's magic in there. I know.

[00:34:54] I love to imagine Bill like is, I don't know the word, like twinkled with magic right here. And, uh, he is able to like, you know, as soon as the whole door is shut into Moria and like the fellowships in there, Bill's alone with this little tentacled octopus thing. And Bill like, you know, is fighting it. He's like pulling out some Kung Fu against it. Cause Gandalf gave him a blessing. Um, and he could go back to Rivendell or wherever his heart desires.

[00:35:24] I mean, that's great. Where's he going to go? I kind of thought it was fake, but isn't, can't you just like call on that one elf name? And didn't that like strength? Yeah, seriously. So maybe it works. I know. Maybe Bill can do that. I know. I hope so. Or Gandalf can impart that into him. I feel like he could outrun wolves. Yeah. I don't know about that, but also the wolves were pretty crazy cause the wolves are in the movie. This is one thing that for sure is not in the movie when we're like coming down off of,

[00:35:53] uh, this mountain pass and they're, all of a sudden they're like, we need to sleep. And they're like, oh no, these wolves are coming. We need to go first thing in the morning. And then the wolves start attacking them and they're like, stand back to back and they're fighting these wolves. And even as they're going into Moria, they're hearing these wolves howling. Pretty crazy. Yeah, it is. There's like way more peril. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I like that. Cause then it's more animals that are falling to the dark side. Yeah. Yeah. Like more of the world is infected. Yeah.

[00:36:24] Now, are these just, uh, wolves? These aren't riderless wolves, right? Yeah. I pictured them. They are. Well, I picture them riderless. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Okay. Good. Good, good, good. All on the same page. Oh, you know what? I was also picturing them as wargs, not wolves. Yeah, I was too. So I accidentally made them more big and crazy. Are they though? Wait, what is a warg? Like that'd be from the second movie. Like the things that the orcs ride. Yeah.

[00:36:54] When Saramon goes, send out your warg, ride us. Like they're kind of, they look like giant hyenas a little bit. They're like hunchback little things. Yeah. Yeah, Jen, look at that. So these might have just been normal wolves though. That's how I was picturing them too. Or maybe just like beefed up wolves. But middle-earth wolves. I also picture Bill very small and like weak little pony. Not like a normal horse. Not weak, but just like a miniature pony. Hobbit size.

[00:37:22] He's like little Sebastian in Parks and Rec. He's got like the little mini horse. He just is walking around. Yes, mini horse. I love Bill. He's probably my favorite. My favorite member of the fellowship. The 10th member of the fellowship is now gone. Lost our first soldier. Did you guys have anything else in the journey in the dark before we go on to the next?

[00:37:47] I just thought it was interesting that Frodo mentioned the grim wound had not been without effect. Like he was blaming some of his current issues on the wound from the blade that he was stabbed with. And I just thought it was interesting that he thought it was caused by that and not the ring or some other kind of like healing from Rivendell. Oh, I remember because it was he was saying this is where he said he could hear better. Yeah, that's right.

[00:38:16] He was like, I must be more in touch with some other realm because of that stabbing. Now, maybe it's his own body and he could feel the difference. But I'm like, why not credit that to the ring or the magic of Rivendell that they, you know, gave him some kind of magic tea. But instead, he credited that blade, the Morgul blade. So interesting. That was really interesting. And again, it's going to it's going to constantly be in my head for how the ring is affecting him through this entire thing.

[00:38:44] Because I don't know if the movies are going to portray that really well, but maybe in the book, those little things that happen like he is more perceptive of things in the dark are really because of the ring. Yeah. Because of the world. And it even said more see more in the dark than any of his companions. Yeah. Save perhaps Gandalf. I was like, what about what about like? He's got up eyes. I mean, isn't that he's supposed to be the best of this? Yeah, seriously. All right. Let me see if there's anything else.

[00:39:15] There's so many little things to know, you know, epic song. Yeah. Yeah. I was listening to dwarf metal. My old roommate used to send me dwarf metal. Dwarf metal. I love that. And they sing about rock and stone and mining. And wow. So when this song came along, I was picturing it pretty, pretty metal. I could see that in my head now. That's only what I'm going to think is he breaks it down. He's like. Yeah.

[00:39:44] Can you hear me? That was it. There was. Was it in this chapter or the next one, too, when they walk into like the dwarven city? It's one of my favorite sections in the entire movie when they walk into while Dwarf Adelph and like the music kind of swells and stuff like that. But it's the pillars that are holding. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty much. And it's like it almost looks like a huge city. But it's it's a cool thing to note, too, that when they walk into this and this is like even what you're saying with how these chapters are creepy.

[00:40:12] It's like when you're in pitch black. Yeah.

[00:40:41] And you like are walking through like a cave system. And it's completely blacked out. But then Gandalf lights up his staff a little bit. So cool. And then like it's like a little flash. And then I think the thing says like things scattered. And I didn't know if that was because like the flash flash and it looked like things scattered or if like, you know, there were still like a bunch of things hiding around him. Like how terrifying would that be if he like illuminates a little more light and like 10 feet outside of where they're like walking. Yeah. It's like a bunch of orcs.

[00:41:11] It's like when you turn on the light and like cockroaches. It's like that. But it's worse. Yep. Terrifying stuff. Absolutely terrifying stuff. Nightmares. Also, later, it said it was like 100 orcs following them. Like that's a huge amount. That is a massive amount of orcs. That's crazy. Yeah. Or orcs. Are these orcs or goblins? It mentioned they're orcs, right? Did it? It did mention orcs a few times.

[00:41:38] I don't know if it mentioned goblins, but like orc scimitars. Like I think, you know, like things like that. Trolls. Exactly. But yeah, it feels like it's a hodgepodge of different things. Yeah. So they're just living there, right? I think they're just living there. Yeah. Yeah. Go Gandalf. Which is weird that they're living there because there's such like lore about Moria and everyone is terrified of it. But there's orcs that are living there. And have they not crossed the path of the Balrog? Why was the Balrog awoken at this moment?

[00:42:09] Wouldn't they get along? Yes. The orcs and the Balrog? The Balrog is the evil that everyone fears, I think, in Middle Earth. It's like an independent evil. But it was created. Never mind. I was just reading up on it. Jen has more lore than we do. You literally become the lore master. It was created by who? It was just saying that the dark lord before Sauron. Morgoth or Melkor. They're the same thing. Oh, they're the same. Nice. That like created or...

[00:42:38] No, I really forgot. Because it does feel like it was a little bit more drawn towards Gandalf and the others. But I feel like maybe the orcs have just learned to cohabitate a little bit. Even if they're scared of it, they're like, all right, don't make noise. Don't shine bright lights. Just be dark. Well, in Elvish, it means like demon of power or power demon or demon of might, apparently. Ooh. Is what the name of a Balrog is.

[00:43:08] But then it said that after there was this war, they went to hide underground. And that's why this Balrog is probably in the cliff. Oh, interesting. That's crazy. Yeah, because after this big war, which the battle, I was just saying from the other book by Tolkien, middle earth, part of middle earth was destroyed and they went to hide these creatures. Whoa. So they like went into hibernation. Imagine like an army of these creatures.

[00:43:37] That would be the most terrifying thing in the world. Oh my. Yeah, this is really interesting. I'm hoping it's accurate. It does. You're getting hooked on that lore. That was great. You're like, Wikipedia writes compelling. That's because it's so tiny. I can handle a little paragraph and I want to understand why. Sorry. We can delete this. Jen's not going to understand any of the Lord of the Rings. We're going to be like, oh, what about this creature? And Jen's going to be like, oh, I know all the lore about this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. These things do seem weird too.

[00:44:06] And that makes sense that if they like went and they hibernated, that they're waking these creatures up. But it was probably thousands of years before they woke these creatures up. And what was this one doing in Moria? That's like concerning. They seem to me like, like I thought of two things with this. Have you guys, Danny's probably the only one, seen the Mandalorian? Yeah. Have you seen Mandalorian? Season three? I started but didn't finish. Okay. Did you see the Mythosaur episode? Season three.

[00:44:36] Bummer. I don't think I have. That was the only good episode in season three. Is it far along in season three? It's when he goes into the waters and then bathes in the waters beneath the mines. Oh, man. It was a great episode. Oh, nice. It was like the only good episode. And I thought the whole season was going to build up to this, but they didn't. So the Mythosaur is the creature that Mandalorian. We're putting in the whole other lore here. This is great. I love it. Yeah, double lore. We should just call this lore of the rings. Nice.

[00:45:04] So the Mythosaur is the creature that Mandalorians, like the Mandalorian leader would ride this Mythosaur. Oh my goodness. That makes so much sense. It's a crazy huge like dinosaur water creature and it's like, it's thought to be extinct. It's their symbol. It's their symbol. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So that's their symbol. The skull of the Mythosaur is their symbol. So the Mandalorian ruler, because they think no more Mythosaurs exist, the Mandalorian ruler was chosen essentially by combat and you're signaled as a Mandalorian ruler if you

[00:45:32] have the dark saber or not, which is like a lightsaber that is dark rather than light. And it's one of the coolest things ever in Star Wars. I love it so much. I like that. I think it's sick. Yeah. So whoever's holding the dark saber owns and controls Mandalore. So there's going to be some people who probably have qualms with me for my language here, but that's how I understand it. But in one of those episodes, the Mandalorian is bathing in these waters to redeem himself

[00:45:58] and Bo-Katan goes and dives after him because she, the Mandalorian gets taken underwater by something and she dives under and she saves him at the bottom of these, these, this like massive pool. And she starts bringing him up. And all of a sudden her light is gets flashed on something on like a cave wall. And it's the Mythosaur. And this thing is huge. And all of like that oxygen in her helmet just goes immediately up because she's like absolutely blown away by this thing.

[00:46:27] The Balrog felt like that to me. Like this thing is just chilling in hibernation. And all of a sudden there's all these drums beating and all of a sudden they're like, Balrog's like, why are you waking me up from sleep? And he's pissed off at this. And I, I, uh, I thought it was like cool little bit of, uh, like absolute terror. And the one other scene that I loved in this too was they seem to have like a magic battle. Gandalf and the, uh, at the door, Balrog at the door. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:46:57] That was crazy. Cause Gandalf was like shutting the story and he's like, oh, there's orcs. I'll easily do this. And then all of a sudden, whatever creature in this Gandalf still doesn't know what it is at the time. It's like whatever creature it was like easily shut me down. And I had to give all my might in order to stop this thing or in order to shut the store. And he does, but then the door gets destroyed. Crazy. It's so cool to me. Um, but anyway, that's what this chapter is about. The bridge of Khazad-dum. It's about their battle.

[00:47:22] They finally meet a, um, Balrog and they go on the bridge of Khazad-dum and Gandalf. Gandalf dies or falls. Well, what else did you guys have in this chapter? The whole tone of this chapter was kind of dark and pretty creepy, but. I felt like, um, I wish he would linger on some of the battle stuff a little longer. It felt like it goes by so quick. Yeah.

[00:47:50] Um, the dark skin, greenish scales, Boromir swings, uh, his sword and the sword actually breaks like it was not. Yeah. And then I also was a little confused. It was a large orc, not a cave troll that came in and stabbed Frodo. Yeah. Which I thought was interesting. And I liked that he didn't, uh, mention the Mithril yet. Yeah. And it was already discussed, but it was kind of like, Ooh, you know, we're in on the secret. Yeah. Seriously.

[00:48:20] I know that was great. I love that. Cause Gandalf, Gandalf for sure. And there was like a passage of more passage of time that went along with that. It wasn't like, Oh, they just, you know, won the small little battle and then they found out that air or that Frodo was okay. Right. Right. Aragorn slings Frodo over his shoulder and they're running and Gandalf thinks he's dead at this time, which is crazy. And Frodo's like, I have a secret, but he doesn't really tell him at that moment.

[00:48:46] And Gandalf had already told them all about the Mithril vest that Bilbo had. So then Frodo realizing that last chapter was great. It was really good. Um, does Boromir's horn do anything? Great question. I love that he blows it all the time. He's an interesting character to me. He's so much more interesting in the books, but I had the same thought. I'm like, why does this guy in the middle of his battle blow his horn to signal, you know, Gondor needs to come? I know.

[00:49:13] Like if it, if it has magic power, did Elrond say something about it? Like, don't blow it again. Cause if he does, it's going to like do something good. Maybe. I don't know. Oh, I thought it was like, be quiet. Like your journey starting. Don't drop. That's not our vibe. Yeah. I thought it was just like a confidence boost. Like he's like, okay, it's time to go. And then the horn in the movies is so cool sounding. I love it. Yeah. It's great.

[00:49:43] I kind of love it. One of the, another scene that I actually love too is, oh, what was the. Maybe I should just sit here and watch it while you guys. Honestly, we'll just have a plan or a general watch and we'll just discuss. Um, okay. So Boromir is blowing his horn. He's like all gung ho about this. Boromir is a weird dude. Cause he's laughing through the caves. He had this one moment where I forgot the exact line of it. And I get a right after that.

[00:50:12] But, um, he was also, he threw the stone into the lake. Yeah, exactly. He threw the stone into the lake. Not the hobbits like in the movie. Yes, you're right. Exactly. And then, uh, he's like the hobbits have to reprimand him for doing that. He seems like the most childish out of all of them because he's like laughing through the caves. And then he has this one really brave moment that I actually loved that Gandalf is on the bridge to cause of doom and Aragorn steps forward and is about to be like, you're not, you, you don't stand alone. So this is, this is the whole full line with a bound.

[00:50:42] The Balrog leapt full on the bridge. It's whip world and hissed. He cannot stand alone, cried Aragorn suddenly and ran back along the bridge. Elendil, he shouted. I am with you, Gandalf. Gondor, cried Boromir and leapt after him. Oh, like, I love this. He's such like a child, but he's just leaping after him, which. Sorry, my mind is going everywhere. Is Boromir the youngest member of the fellowship?

[00:51:14] It's surely not Gandalf. Oh, wow. Yeah, you're right. It's not Gandalf. It's not Gandalf. It's not Aragorn. No, it can't be Aragorn. It's not Frodo. It's not. Can't be Legolas or Gimli. Well, we don't really know Gimli. Gimli seems very old. He seems old. We don't know. Legolas seems young to me. In the books. It would just be whether Merry or Pippin could be in there on the younger side because they're not Frodo's age, right? They might be in their 30s or 40s. No, I think they're younger. I think Sam might be the youngest.

[00:51:45] How did they do? I think Pippin, yeah. It's Pippin here. What are the ages of the... Boromir's my least favorite. Really? Yeah. Why? I just never liked him in the movie. But he's so much better in the books because he hasn't done anything blatantly bad yet, right? Yeah. He's just an idiot, kind of. That's true.

[00:52:11] Well, you know, because it wasn't up on the mountain where he had that little thing with Frodo where he grabs the ring and he's holding it. Yeah. And Frodo's like, give it back. And you're like, is he going to? He seems significantly darker in the movies than he does. Yeah, but here I'm like, I don't think he's even given a bad look yet. He just kind of feels a little funny. Yeah. He hasn't earned his other side. Does this help though? He jumps out to save. I love this. Yeah. Yeah. He's 41. Sam is 39. Mary's 37. And Pippin's 29. So he's like middle of the pack.

[00:52:41] He's 10 years younger than Frodo. Aragorn's 88. Wow, that's kind of crazy. Bilbo or Gimli is 140. Dang. Yeah, nice. Gollum's about 600. Wow. Legolas is about 3,000 years old. What? Elrond is about 6,000 years old. Galadriel is about 11,000 years old. Wow. That's crazy. That is crazy. That's nuts.

[00:53:12] This is so cool. More lore. But yeah, that's interesting that you don't like Bormir. Because he's not my favorite member of the trilogy. Or the trilogy. Or the trilogy. Of the Fellowship right now. But I kind of love him.

[00:53:41] You haven't seen him in the movies yet. Just Google. Sean Bean. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't help me. Yeah. But he's the one who came up and rode 110 days to get to them. I said rode. I don't know if he had horse foot. Oh, he's the one that dies. Well, he does die. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Why are you pretending like he's... Well, I'm pretending for myself. But yeah, he dies. He gets shot with arrows in the movies. Yes. We'll see what happens in the book. Maybe he lives in the book. Oh, okay. Okay.

[00:54:09] That's like part of why I think I don't like him is because from like the fragments of the movies that I'd seen as a child before I actually watched the movie, I had the understanding that he like kind of like wanted the ring and then kind of like gave up in that battle and was like fine, I'll just like die. And he kind of like wanted to go because he didn't trust himself. So then in my mind, I was like, ooh, like he doesn't trust himself. So he's just going to like give up and like I didn't like that.

[00:54:38] But then I rewatched like when I actually watched the movie that didn't seem like how it was like written at all. Like I don't think that was a misunderstanding, but I'm kind of like maybe I can find that in the book. It's already headcanon. So I don't know. I just don't love his attitude. I think he's like a little too gung ho. Yeah. He seems like he's the like the.

[00:55:08] Daredevil of the group, to be honest, he's he seems like he has no caution, like he just wants to go and he wants to prove himself and he's like really out there, you know, let's, you know, blow the horn of Gondor and be loud and blazing. I'm so curious to get more of like his motive and more of his background and more about his father and more about Faramir and stuff like that. I think that's going to flesh out his character more because right now he just seems brazen, which I kind of love for him.

[00:55:36] I feel like he probably just has the least knowledge of all the magic. Agreed. So like Legolas has all the elf magic. Aragorn does as well. And then Gandalf is literally a wizard. So I feel like he's used to like trusting his human strength and his army. And then to have that contrasting with everybody else who's kind of like wary of all the magic and the evil in the world. And yeah, and Hobbits seem really cognizant of this, too. Yeah.

[00:56:03] At least they can't do it, but they seem to respect it and know it. Because they're like the little guys. Yeah, exactly. They have to. Yeah. He does seem like maybe the most naive out of everyone here. And he it's funny, too, because I when I'm reading in the book right now and the movies Marion Pippen are the comic relief and they still are slightly the comic relief in the books. I find Boromir to be the most comic relief out of everyone in the book so far.

[00:56:32] Like his lines are just like. Such like a dude's line, such like an airhead's lines. And they just seem to come out of nowhere. Where like I find myself to be the most similar to Boromir right now. Which is why I could just turn it off. That's great. Because if I'm walking along this like little lake and it's like late at night. Yeah. You're darn right I'm picking up a rock and I'm throwing it in that lake. And it's like he's carefree. He's just like. Exactly. Frodo's like, I don't think it's wise to just give me. He's like. Why? What are you talking about?

[00:57:01] Like shut up, you 51 year old man. I'm skipping stones, dude. Yeah. Frodo like has a hissy fit about it. He like cries about it. Not cries about it. He's like. What? Cry about it, you little baby. He's like freaks out. He's like, I wouldn't disturb the water. Like rightfully so. Yeah. Agreed. It's a creepy situation. They just came across wolves and like, you know, there's something already in the deep that they feel like is rippling the water. Super creepy. But. And you just toss another one and be like, see if we can get. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. For sure. Nice.

[00:57:30] But what you said makes perfect sense because he doesn't seem to like understand even middle earth. Like it's the whole. So there's three characters at the end of the book or at the end of this chapter, especially I want to talk about. And it's Boromir, Aragorn and Gandalf. And it's the choices that all of them make. Boromir seems to go in with. No. Understanding of the world. And he seems to jump in to me.

[00:58:00] I don't know the difference between these two. I don't think exactly Aragorn has faced a Balrog before, but I feel like he knows what Balrog is at least I feel like Boromir doesn't he's jumping in and he literally just yells out Gondor and jumps into this battle. Aragorn, I feel like is jumping in out of loyalty to Gandalf and Gandalf is doing something totally different that I want to talk about in a second. But I don't know. I like the contrast between those three people right now. He's just like a military guy to me. And it's like he's calling on that. Yeah.

[00:58:31] I wouldn't mind him as a leader to be honest. One does not see. Gandalf tells him to stop and Aragorn and Boromir did not heed the command. Yeah. I love it. They're like, we're staying here with you. It also says Boromir raised his horn in blue. It rang out. Orcs quailed and the fiery shadow halted. So it's just weird that like orcs and the Balrog responded to the horn. Yeah. So whether power or just like curiosity, it impacted that. Maybe Gondor.

[00:59:01] Yeah. Maybe this is like touting Gondor. Maybe Gondor is really a kingdom to be feared. And like, you know, they don't. Maybe they hear this and they think, you know, Gondor is coming to fight. And maybe they're scared by that. It's kind of a cool idea. But the last thing I want to talk about in this chapter is when Gandalf gets knocked out because it's totally different in the movies from the books. This is what it has. And just in one small little thing. With a terrible cry, the Balrog fell forward and its shadow plunged down and vanished.

[00:59:30] But even as it swung or even as it fell, it swung its whip. And the thong slashed and curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone and slid into the abyss. Fly you fools. He cried and was gone. Which is very different from the movies. In the movies, the thing knocks him off, grabs him by the knees with the whip. And Gandalf essentially is grabbing. He is able to grab the stone bridge.

[01:00:00] And then he like pushes himself pretty much onto the bridge and then looks at the fellowship and goes, fly you fools. And then let's go. And then goes down. In the movies, it seems like it is his absolute choice to do this. Yep. You're so right. In the books. Wow. What is going on? I kind of missed that distinction. You're right. Yeah, you're absolutely right. It's like a weird little thing. And it changes the whole character of...

[01:00:29] It changes this idea too because it seems like Gandalf has actually died. If I'm reading this in the books and I don't know anything about the movies, Gandalf is dead to me. Yeah, you're right. 100%. Because he didn't do this with any choice. It's like this thing took Gandalf with him. And so like the guide for the fellowship is gone and the fellowship is like going to dwindle after this. It's a pretty terrifying thing. He's not a human. Yeah, for sure. So like, do they die? Yeah, that's a great point. Which I probably be questioning myself at that point when I'm reading this series.

[01:00:58] Can Gandalf die? Right. But in the movies when he jumps off of this thing, even though you kind of think he's dead, I still remember when the second movie started, I'm like, oh, he's going to be back. Don't worry. Because you feel like it's part of his plan. Exactly. If he just lets go. Yeah, that intention. You're like, there was a spark in his eye. There was something there. Yeah. Like, what's going on here? Like, you knew it would lead to good. I didn't know if he was going to come back, but I knew that it was better that he did that for some reason. Yeah. Just that like trust, you know, but.

[01:01:26] And it is like almost, I don't want to say it's comedic, but it almost is more comedic. Fly, you fools. It's like a funny line rather than a dead serious line. The movies, fly, you fools. That's such like, like, oh, such hefty weight to it. And in this one, I just imagine Gandalf flying down the sky. Fly, you fools. Yeah. Yeah. Totally different. He's like his last dig in the fellowship. You guys are fools. Get out of here.

[01:01:55] I think it's just like an interesting change here that they did in the movies. I kind of like it in the movies, but I don't know. It's it just doesn't give him a choice over it, which I think is an interesting decision. But that's all I have for this chapter. I don't have a lot for the next one either, but we can we'll go to the next one. Lothorian. Lothorian. The only other little note I had is just that it said Aragorn smote the ground. The captain stood on in his path just because there were a few more orcs they had to get through.

[01:02:24] And then it said the rest of the orcs ran away in terror or something like that. Oh, fled the terror of his wrath. So again, just like more depth to these orcs. They're not just running at them. Like in the movies, it feels like they're just getting ready to be killed. But here you're like, oh, yeah, they're they're scared. Yeah, running. They're nervous. Absolutely. Yeah, that was a cool section, too. In the movies, you have maybe a little bit of that. But the movies, they seem like a bunch more of a mindless group of people. Yeah, you're right.

[01:02:52] In the books, they seem like they have a bit more like organization and. They seem like their own little tribes. Yeah. Yep. It's kind of cute, actually. I kind of don't mind them. All right. Chapter six is Lothlorien. Mourn Gandalf. Get moving. Lothlorien. Hildar is rude. Elvish rope. Treehouse. Gollum. Elf dwarf beef. Then it's resolved. Lady welcomes them. Heavenly forest.

[01:03:22] Love that. That's a great summary, isn't there? That's good. Yeah, this is a. Not an action pack chapter, but a. Like an info dump, I felt like. There's a lot of stuff that was happening in this chapter. There's also like no Boromir in this chapter. You understood this one? The half. The half of it. Nice. Yeah, there isn't any Boromir in this chapter, yeah. Because it broke it up into two for me. Oh, really? That's so weird. Wait. Boromir's still with them though, right? Yeah.

[01:03:51] Like, was he even mentioned a single time? He just had his moment in the other chapters. Yeah, like I don't even remember him being mentioned. Yeah. I like this little elf kingdom. This is where I would be. Yeah, this kingdom is awesome. I'm a fan of this kingdom. I had a hard time picturing it. I should have done some research on it. See what AI could do. Because I think just the trees and then like going up and then they built a platform. I was like having a little bit of a hard time.

[01:04:19] And then I was picturing it like kind of magical. But then it felt like it was more magical than I was imagining. Yeah. But I didn't know how to turn up the magic in my mind. Yeah, for sure. I'm kind of the same. Like, I don't know how to, how, I don't know in my head what's a picture of some of these realms. Like the movies, I think, did a good job of like, I don't know. Like, because this is my qualm with Lord of the Rings. It just doesn't feel like gritty and like earthy enough. Or Rings of Power.

[01:04:49] It doesn't feel gritty and earthy enough. Where Lord of the Rings did. Even like the realm of like Elrond. Like even though, even Rivendell and Lothlorien. You know, they felt like magical. But they still felt like places on earth. Where Rings of Power didn't. But some people talked about how Rings of Power seems like it's a better depiction of what the books actually have. Which is like these completely other realms. Like these places that are so filled with magic. It doesn't look like anywhere else on earth. It looks like clean and perfect and pristine.

[01:05:18] Maybe Lothlorien really is like that. Where you walk through this forest and it's like a perfect forest. And you walk to like their tree houses. And it's like these perfect little things that you like, you know. I mean, I have a perfect picture in my mind. Well, even Frodo said there were no dead things. No dead flowers. No dead trees. So then I thought, what would a forest even look like if there was nothing dead in it? No dead leaves on the ground. You know, just like everything is alive. Like grass. Unicorns everywhere. Yeah.

[01:05:49] I feel like it wouldn't be a healthy forest. Right. It's magic. It doesn't matter. True. It doesn't need the dead leaves. This isn't in the movie at all though, right? Like I don't remember this place. It is. It is. Well, the place is. But it's much quicker. So. Yeah. I don't know if you remember, like, I think it's Gimli. It's focused on him as he's walking. And then he like turns and there's like a arrow right in his face. And so I think that's how it starts. And what's his name? Haldor? Hildor or something? Yeah.

[01:06:19] I feel like in the movies, I did not like him. Yeah. I was just like, oh, this guy is really obnoxious. But here I'd like him. I feel like he's trying to represent things well. He seems like a nice guy. But he's like a little bound by the rules of his kingdom there. Yeah. He seems like he's like in inner conflict and turmoil over the rules of his kingdom. He seems like he wants to let these people go and even get let Gimli go. I like that they had to blindfold him here to walk him into this. Like it's the rules of our kingdom. We have to let this. We have to do this. Like I thought that was that was hilarious.

[01:06:48] I do not remember this at all. In the movies, this is when they're walking through and Gimli tells the hobbits, he goes, come closer, come closer. He's like, they say a witch lives in these woods. And all who hear her spell or all you all who hear her voice are, you know, held captive under her spell. And then Gimli goes, here's one dwarf. She wanted snare so easily.

[01:07:15] I've got the eyes of a fucking ears of a ears of a fox or something like that. And then he turns around and all of a sudden the arrows are right in his face. Wow, you nailed it. And then Haldir goes, your dwarf breathes so loud that we could have shot it in the dark. I was like, that's a great laugh. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That was in here too. But yeah, that was in there too. But it was, I think the group, I think it was like they were just talking about the general movement of the group. Yeah. There was another point here where they don't seem to be able to hear Haldir.

[01:07:45] Haldir seemed like, where was he in location? I thought he was up in the trees. Yeah. That's what I thought. But just like the trees are so close. He's just like Tarzan, Ewok, just like going from tree to tree. But was I wrong in saying, in thinking that Legolas was the only one that could hear him? Yeah. But even Legolas, I thought, didn't hear him until the last second because Legolas was going up the tree, I think. Oh, okay. He's like, oh, I think we're gonna have to sleep in the tree. And then the hobbits are like, I don't know. I'm not a bird.

[01:08:15] I'm not gonna perch up there. They're like, well, you're not gonna be on the ground. And then Legolas goes running up the tree. And then I felt like he jumped down or was startled because he wasn't paying attention, didn't think to look up in the tree, but then realized someone was there or something. And then right then is when he realized, oh, wait, this is an elf. We're all right. Cool. That image is so funny. They're going in a tree and Legolas is talking to the fellowship down there. And all of a sudden he turns around and Haldir is just, hey, guys.

[01:08:44] I've been calling you guys out the entire time. He's just sitting in the tree with them. Like, hey, didn't see you there. I love when the elf just like pops his head up and just goes, orcs. And then he goes back and he tosses the ladder up. That was great. Yeah, this place does seem very magical, though. Definitely. The water is singing. Yeah. The trees are growing upright. All right. Here's a little mini theory.

[01:09:12] The maiden Nimrodel. What if she's Goldberry? Oh. And she never went to her man because she found a new man. Oh, I am so into this. Her mantle white was hemmed with gold. I thought it was Goldberry. I was like, oh, interesting. Interesting. It was like so long ago. In L'Oreal's fair. And so fair and gold were both things used, like words used to describe Goldberry.

[01:09:42] So I just thought it was interesting as I'm like reading this. And then I was like, oh, it's too late. This is canon. She's literally, it's named after river. She lived next to a river. And her name is Goldberry, the river goddess or whatever she was called. I was like, oh, that'd be awesome. Bless you. I forgot. Yeah. They found her in the reeds or something. Well, right. And so I'm like, if she was home next to a river and that was kind of her thing. So then Tom Bombadil finds her, his river lady somewhere else.

[01:10:10] I didn't actually look up any articles on this, but I started to type in, in Google, is Nimrodil. And then the first result is Nimrodil Goldberry. Wow. You're on the right track. I'm glad I'm not the only one. And it's like, no, she's not. I'm sure the first answer is like, no, don't be an idiot. That's a great connection, actually. Maybe, yeah, she was after her man. And then all of a sudden she meets Tom Bombadil. And who can top Tom Bombadil? I mean. Impossible. Yeah. Ageless. Yeah, seriously. Little Paddington.

[01:10:42] I forgot. That does seem so long ago. I know. We've really been on a journey. Yeah. I feel like it. I know. Even more for me. So many songs through this whole thing. Like a quarter of a month. The name of Aragorn, son of Arathorn, is known in Lorien, said Haldar. And he has the favor of the lady. I'm curious what that is. Because it's. Well, no, but I was confused.

[01:11:12] Like he's been here before, I guess. But at first I thought he wasn't. But then he loves this place and he felt like it was familiar to him. So I'm curious like what it was, where that came from. He just, he gets around. Everybody loves Aragorn. There was. Aragorn's connection to this place seems so bizarre. Like, I don't know. This whole realm is like too ethereal for me to understand.

[01:11:41] Like I, weirdly, this is going to sound terrible. I like, I like them in Moria more than I like them in. What? I get that a little. It's so concrete. It's so concrete. Until Izzy's like a cave. You are out of your mind, you serial killer. I'm out. I almost picture them just like with Tom Bombadil. I'm like, oh, they're on mushrooms again. Yeah, seriously. Like they're getting high again. Yes. Like the magic of this forest isn't just, it looks great. They're not even sober minded anymore.

[01:12:10] They're high on this forest and they're just like in a dream. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, this feels so crazy that, and that's the part that I just am like, I'd rather than be sober. Yeah. You know? And just like handling what's coming. So this is just funny. I'm like, they're just in the forest getting high. And his writing style changes too. So when he writes in the Lothlorian chapters, he writes super like, and this person, like here's one, one of these lines that I have.

[01:12:35] I thought this was a beautifully written section, but at the foot of Frodo or at the hill's foot, Frodo found Aragorn still standing and silent as a tree. Beautiful. What? At the foot of Frodo. At the foot of Frodo. That's where it's a feet podcast. Beautiful feet. Beautiful feet. But in his hand was a small golden bloom. You'd make a lot of money. What? Those hobbit feet though. I know, I know. I'm so sorry. What you say?

[01:13:05] He goes, but in his hand was a small golden bloom of Eleanor and a light was in his eyes. He was wrapped in some fair memory. And as Frodo looked at him, he knew he had beheld things as they once had been in the same place. For the grim years were removed from the face of Aragorn and he seemed clothed in white, a young lord, tall and fair. And he spoke words in the elvish tongue to one whom Frodo could not see.

[01:13:37] Arwen, undamniel, Namari, he said. And he drew a breath and returning out of his thought, he looked at Frodo and smiled. Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth, he said. And here my heart dwells. Unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we must tread, you and I, come with me. And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Saren Amoroth and came there never again as a living man.

[01:14:08] Weird way to end. Such a weird way to end. And it, I feel like this was the, not the first time, but it, it feels like the first time since the early chapters where we were almost taken out of the story. And now he's a historian again, telling us how it ends. Like saying as a living man, like, yeah, Aragorn's going to die eventually. And he never comes back here. It's almost like a spoiler or like something. I'm like, oh man, like why, why do that?

[01:14:37] Yeah, seriously. Why hit us like that? You know, we're trying to enjoy this magical place. Right before with Frodo too. Cause it says when he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there upon the grass among Eleanor and Nimrodil, the Fairlothlorian. So it's like Frodo the wanderer. It's not like, wow, you're right. You're right. Like that struck me as weird, but I didn't even process why. Yeah, you're right.

[01:15:04] So Frodo comes back, I guess, but Aragorn doesn't. Wait, say it again, because in my head, it was almost like in his mind he was there. Which is the thing that trips me out about it. And that's why I view like heaven almost. Like forever, this is his like ideal. Though he walked and breathed and about him living leaves and flowers were stirred by the same cool wind as fanned his face, Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not

[01:15:32] fade or change or fall into forgetfulness. When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there upon the grass among Eleanor and Nimrodil in Fairlothlorian. Interesting. So I don't know what that is. It almost feels like, oh, that's somewhere on this page. It feels like they are tripping. And then if you're in heaven and they're dead or they're on mushrooms.

[01:16:00] And it feels like they are forever, like for the rest of their lives when they're daydreaming, this is what they're thinking of. Yeah. How magical is this? But again, not fully captured in the movies. Yeah. Although it gets a little there. It's not like foreshadowing. But in my mind, I'm like, I don't know how to picture a place like this. So weird. Is it like unfiltered? It's like J.R.R. got high while he was doing this whole thing. Unfiltered, you're saying? Yeah.

[01:16:27] If all realms were, if you were able to see through all the realms of the world, would you be seeing, would this come forth? Like these thoughts. It's like they're in the elvish land, but now they're seeing like. Like time doesn't exist. Yeah. Like the past, present, and the future all simultaneously in this one realm. That's a great point because the writing kind of lends an ear to that where like Frodo doesn't see the experience time. And they're in this elvish land.

[01:16:57] And then that's why Tolkien, yeah. That's why Tolkien writes this idea like he never came again as a mortal man. You're like, oh. Whoa. Like he steps outside of time. Whoa. Yeah, because that's what. No. But I mean, I think you're hitting something like with that. Because that just feels like what like heaven or God would be like.

[01:17:23] So then it feels like this elvish land is with the God, like that same essence. And maybe you don't. The time doesn't exist. Maybe you're seeing all the, like you were saying. There's this sentence. Take a slice of the undying lands on Middle Earth. In Rivendell, there was memory of ancient things. In Lorien, the ancient things still lived on in the waking world. Oh, yeah. What a great line. Where are you finding all these lines so quick? I got all the good ones. I'll give you one.

[01:17:54] Spark notes. Yes. Lizzie's spark notes. That's a fascinating point, Jen. That was so astute. Thank you. Thank you very much. I never. I know that Tolkien hates like, you know, the allegory of his work and stuff like that. Or never wanted this to be an allegory. Oh, sorry. And never forced that on anybody. No, no, no. No, you didn't.

[01:18:23] But I think when people, when readers get that stuff out of it, he didn't really intend it to mean those things. But I think there's so much that you can draw on that, like we as readers get to participate in, which is different from like the work of Lewis, because both of them quarreled over that a little bit. Like Lewis's work seems blatantly allegorical. And you have to go figure out what he was talking about as a reader. With Tolkien, I like it. I don't know better. It's just different.

[01:18:50] But I like it a lot now because it's like he created this world and he created Lothlorien, not really without with any intention for it to be, you know, this heavenly place or like this realm of heaven. But it's like a slice of the undying lands brought to Middle Earth that you get to experience what it's like to be undying. And we now as readers get to instill like a ton of meaning into that, into whatever you believe about, like, you know, the life after death or whatever it might be.

[01:19:19] I think that's such a fascinating point. You're like including the reader's perspective on things more than just you're instilling your own imagery into this. I think it's a better form of writing to do that. I think it's great. Tips for pronouncing Elvish. C is always pronounced as a K. K. Someone just said that. Good to know. Celebrimor. Galadriel is older than the sun and the moon. Oh my gosh.

[01:19:49] What the? But yeah, Galadriel dwells in Lothlorien, no? So that kind of makes sense. It does. Processing that. Galadriel lives in Lothlorien? I think. Yeah, like she's the lady of... Galadriel's Arwen's mom, right? No. No. Is she any other connection to Arwen? Is Arwen's dad. Yeah, but who's the mom?

[01:20:18] There was no mother. There was no mother. I thought she was the mom. And that's why Aragorn was like favored by the lady because he'd been there and that's like... Mother-in-law? Yeah. Well, yeah, I literally was wondering why... I was like, it has to be like a relative. Was Aragorn hanging out here a little bit? Who was... So maybe another woman will speak in the next chapter. We haven't heard a woman say anything since they left the Shire. Calabrian. Calabrian.

[01:20:48] Whoa. It's been a little long. Farmer's maggot's wife, I think, was the last woman. Is who? Is Arwen's mother. And she's... Daughter of the elf queen Galadriel. Ruler of Lothlorien. So don't say it. Wait, grandma? Grandma. Okay. No way. So grandma. Arwen is... Or Galadriel is... Mine is blonde. Sorry, I can't even say words.

[01:21:18] Arwen... That's okay. That's my wife. Galadriel is Aragorn's grandmother-in-law. Soon-to-be-grandmother-in-law. That is... That girl is in Lothlorien, though? Galadriel is in... What'd you just say? Lothlorien. So... It's like the descendants. Because Aragorn and Arwen are related, I believe. Galadriel's... Daughter... Somehow. ...got with Elrond. Had Arwen.

[01:21:46] Oh, but we don't know who got it. Yeah. She was the mother. Galadriel's... Don't... Yes. I don't know. I'll have to look at these things later. Because... Aragorn and Arwen are related, though, somehow. They are related? Yeah. Like, thousands of years ago. But I guess that doesn't really matter if they're already thousands of years old. Also, if you're not the same species, does it happen?

[01:22:16] Oh, but if they're somehow related. I mean, not about species, but... Well, isn't Aragorn slightly Elvish? He has to be. He's... According to the movies, like... Or what did it say? The Dunedin? Or Dunedine? Oh, yeah. So that's why he's old. Like, he lives a long time. I thought elves... But I don't know how long that is. Is this, like, 200 years? Or is it 500 years? Well, he's, like, 80 now. Right. And he looks good for 80. But he's not... Yeah, like... It's still possible.

[01:22:45] He doesn't look like he's still 20. Like, the elves... Yeah. I think are a thousand years and they still look 20. That's what I'm saying, though. By species. I mean, like, how... Like, they don't have the same... But that's the craziness of it. Yeah. And that's why the elves are saying it's a blessing and a curse. You see everyone die? Yeah. I mean, I even meant death is a blessing and a curse because... I forget if they were saying it or if it was something else.

[01:23:13] But it's, like, the idea that things coming to an end is a reward because it increases the value of everything you do. So the elves see that in... For humans, it is a blessing and a curse. You die. That's unfortunate. But you get to experience life in a fuller way because of it. Kind of. Where the elves just do whatever. Yeah, like, wouldn't things just kind of get old? Like, after a while... I've been picturing The Good Place. You guys ever watch it? Mm-hmm. It was interesting.

[01:23:42] And they played with some of that stuff, too. Where, like, if you're just doing a good thing forever, when does it become a little, like, all right, we've been doing this for a while? That's a good question. That's so interesting. So, yeah, maybe the elves are a little, like... That's why they come off a little obnoxious. Kind of rude. Yeah. Been there. Done that. Yeah. Nothing matters. I'm just off in heaven hanging out. A little haughty. Yeah. They're often Lothl-Orient hanging out. Why, when they were going to go in the tree, did they say, we'll take the hobbits. We're not afraid of them.

[01:24:12] Like, that confused me. And I wanted to know how that was in the audio book. Because I was like, is that a joke? Or is that, like, genuine? Because they've never seen a hobbit. Or they know that they have the ring or something. They just, like, trusted them. They're like, oh, yeah. No big deal. That didn't sound like a joke. I do love that they didn't really know about hobbits. Or they hadn't really, like, heard about hobbits for a long time. But they're still a lot smaller than them. Yeah, for sure. So they feel like they can take them. Yeah. That's very true. But even the hobbits.

[01:24:45] I felt like the hobbits almost were offering something to them, too. They're like, oh, yeah. We've heard of the Grey Havens over west of where we are. They're like, oh, can you tell us about this? We haven't heard anything about it in a long time. And then I think it was Pippin, maybe Mary. It was like, oh, no, no. I've never actually left the Shire until this trip. So I can't tell you anything about it. I just know it's over there. That's so great. The Bia is funny. It's a dynamic. I know. Yeah, there's, like, weirdly comedic things about this. I kind of love it.

[01:25:18] All right. Anything else in this chapter? Before we do the favorites? Nothing else. All right. Let's do who gets the basket of mushrooms. Who is the hot tamale? And what's your favorite moment? I think we skipped me.

[01:25:48] Just get ready with your dittos, you know? Exactly. I'm going Boromir as my basket of mushrooms. No! He deserves it in this one. I love him. He's jumping in willy-nilly. Just, like, no thought for his life in front of a Balrog of Moria. Crazy. So is Aragorn and Gandalf. Yeah, but they're, like, you expect it from them. And, like, Aragorn's, like, quadruple his age. Yeah, exactly. You know? True. A little different.

[01:26:17] And Aragorn's been in Moria before. Boromir is just, like... So that's why I'm... He's going to be hot tamale for me. I like it. Hot tamale. My hot tamale is Aragorn for that last line. Oh, nice. And he's, like, having, like, a little thing with Arwen in, like... So true. He's not there, but might be there. Right. And this little weird time moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantasy land moment, yeah. That was some hot tamale stuff. I'm going to say Aragorn's my hot tamale.

[01:26:48] I'm going to say my favorite moment is Gandalf fighting the Balrog at the door. When all the magic is happening. And he's, like, trying to shut the door. And... Masking of Mushrooms. I don't know. Revisit. Give me a minute. I'm going to think. I feel like I definitely had one when I was reading this, and I don't remember who I was going to give it to. I think Gandalf was pretty great in these.

[01:27:19] That's true. He gave it all. I know. Yeah, I feel like they couldn't have done any of this without Gandalf. They wouldn't have even gotten into the mines. And then they certainly wouldn't have been able to find their way through. Maybe Gimli could have. I don't know. But not easily. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he'll get my basket of mushrooms. Gandalf. I want to give Aragorn the basket of mushrooms, but I already gave him Hot Tomali. You can give him two. Okay, I'll give him both. Because he, like, stepped up and led everybody. Yeah. Oh, true. You're right.

[01:27:47] And when they were going to blindfold Gimli, we didn't talk about that at all. You're right. He kind of, like, diffused the situation. It was like, everybody's going to get blindfolded. That was good. And then he gave a little sass back to Legolas. And I was like, oh, that's nice. He really... It feels, like, fair. He's not just, like, boys with Legolas because they've known each other longer or something. Yeah. It was good. And the only thing that I didn't like about Aragorn in this section of chapters is that

[01:28:14] when they come out of Moria, they're, like, running to Lothlorien. And they run, like, 20 miles. And Aragorn is, like, still running on ahead of them. And the hobbits are, like, their legs are, like, numb. They can't, like, move. They're so hungry. And they just want to, like, get a meal. And Aragorn's, like, guns a-blazing going in. I'm like, just relax a little bit. Yeah. Let them catch their red, dude. At least he was nice. He apologized for it and stitched him up. But, yeah. He was not thinking.

[01:28:42] I think my favorite moment in this whole thing was the duel at Khazad-Dum. And now I know, like, even the small little bit of lore that I liked that the book gave was why Khazad-Dum, the bridge of Khazad-Dum, is the way that it is. Because it's, like, the last station where if orcs invaded or the whole city got invaded, then dwarves could fight one-on-one on the bridge. I'm like, that's such a great defense strategy.

[01:29:12] It's so cool. And then just the whole battle that Gandalf has with the thing on Khazad-Dum. I thought that was just, like, the movie was so good and the book was just fantastic along with it. I just love that moment. Yep. Ditto. I was going to say. I mean, honestly, that is a ditto for me. I think that was my favorite moment. A lot of good moments, but that'll be the one I'll remember in many chapters more. Yeah.

[01:29:44] Jen, anything stand out? You want to ditto anything in particular? I like what Lizzie was saying. What part? Aragorn. Oh, yeah. He's my favorite. I always pick him. Yeah. He can be a basket of mushrooms and hot tamale. From what I remember, I had a crush on him in the movies. Oh, yeah. Respect. Of course. I had a crush on him in the movies, too. Yep. Everyone did. What? No, just me. He's mine. Just kidding.

[01:30:12] Well, thank you for joining us on our journey of the fellowship of the first-time readers.

[01:30:57] You have to read one. We have to be discussed. That's all I said. Yeah, yeah. And then we'll sit down and let me discuss it. We'll be discussing you. Yeah. I mean, the whole podcast is pretty much a movie discussion of it. It'll help. Yeah.