The Fellowship of the Ring: Ch 19-22

[00:00:00] All right, how did you guys like the end of the book, the last four chapters? Jon Jones, Don't Don't I loved it. Me too. It was so good. I don't know, like, probably my favorite. I feel like I keep getting more and more into it as it goes. Every, these four chapters? Yeah, I think this is my favorite chunk or the last four chapters. Those are my two favorite sections.

[00:00:24] What, um, where does, where did this book rank in your, like, list of books? You seem really into this. Well, I just gave it five stars on Goodreads, so. Oh, cool. I could do the same. Nice. And you don't give a five star often, right? Um, there's like a certain feeling that it has to evoke to get five stars, but this, it unlocked the five stars, so. Wow. Yes.

[00:00:47] But I was reading, like, people's negative Goodreads reviews, and I was like, if you don't get it, you don't get it. Like, you don't deserve this book. I was getting so, like, passionate about it. Yeah, we were. Lizzie was commenting on people's Goodreads. Yeah, like, hate commenting. You just don't get it. No, but I feel like there definitely is, like, in the beginning, I was kind of in that boat too, like, wow, this is a lot to, like, push through. Mm-hmm. And a lot of the negative reviews are just that, and they just quit. And I'm like, alright, it was not that hard to get through. Like, it really was not.

[00:01:16] I mean, yeah, it was. Not for me, though. Like, I was really, I was cruising by, like, the middle of the book, so. Okay, I liked it. I was talking to you guys with us before, but Jen, we're listening to it. I'm gonna abandon listening to it. I'm going to. I feel like you've been saying this for a little bit. So this is my whole plan for doing it. And I told people, even on their discord, I'm gonna reread the first book. Wow. In between. So when you're watching all the movies, we're gonna take a little gap so we can watch all the movies.

[00:01:44] And we'll just chill. In between that time, I'm just gonna sit and reread, like, maybe a chapter a night. And see. And reread. Because I did read the first chapter last night. And it was so much better. It was because I've been doing that with, like, the Mistborn series. Like, I can listen to it, but I focus much more. I want, like, a more active experience. When I'm listening to it, sometimes I'm, like, not doing something while I'm listening to it. Like daydreaming. Yeah, it's, like, almost passive. I daydream a little bit.

[00:02:10] Like, there's a story that happens and then I'll be like, oh, like, that reminds me of the movie. And, you know, I'll, like, play the whole movie in my head and, like, an hour later I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait. And you missed it. I just struggle with physically reading. Yeah. I'll just fall asleep. Yeah. No. No matter what it is.

[00:02:40] I never did that and then I started to do that when I was, like, right about to go to bed. I was, like, falling asleep when I was reading. But then I, like, pushed through that. And then now I'm good. Now I can read and not have to do that. We'll see. Wow. Yeah, that was a good story. I don't know. It was enthralling. Burned. I used to fall asleep in our red box. Danny, did you like this book? Yeah, I really did. Yep. And I think even by the end. We can't just tell. Danny loved it.

[00:03:08] Danny is dressed as one of the members of the fellowship. I need a real cloak at some point, but this costume will have to do. You have a real pin. Yeah, I do have the real leaf of Lothlorian, of course. Thanks, John. Yep. I thought it was great, even though I was expecting it to end more like the movies do with a little more action. It somehow just felt so right that it was ending with, like, more of the emotional side of Frodo's, like, back and forth.

[00:03:37] And like Lizzie said, these chapters, I was getting into it. Yeah. And then in hindsight, or when I was writing the chapter summaries at each last page of the chapter, I was like, it's funny. Not that much has happened, but I was just so into it. Yeah. You know, it's like a lot of like, just debating and talking and being a fellowship and what are we going to do next? And we're a little lost without Gandalf. Yeah. But still, I was eating it up. Yeah.

[00:04:01] This is the section that when I was listening to it, I was like the most actively listening to it because I was really actually into it. After I read the first chapter last night, I'm like, okay, I need to sit down for like, you know, two, three hours and just listen to it today. And I was just pretty, even just from reading the first chapter, I was pretty enthralled by it. Also, people want you to stand up and show your costume. Ah, yeah. Do you want a runway walk towards the camera? By the end of this? Yeah. I love that. But. You look like Strider. Yeah, I did think that.

[00:04:31] Strider pre, yeah. Oh. But you do have his sword. I do. Yeah, go grab it. I also have one. It's being remade. Roger, wait, Danny. Go into the, go to my bookshelf. The bottom shelf. There is something just sitting on the books. It's a different sword. I'm just, they're, they're on, they're on sale on Etsy. Whoa. They got you.

[00:05:01] Danny is onto it. What? What the heck is that? This is way bigger than I pictured it. This. Wow. I know. It is legitimately sharp too, so be very careful. I see how I'm like, I think this actually might be. We could've each had a sword at our wedding. I know, seriously. I should've gotten that earlier. John, have you already been fighting with this? I know. That's, yeah. That's a sheath. The sheath is crap. Wow. That's crazy. I know.

[00:05:31] That is. What is this supposed to be? This is I think Legolas, right? No, no. It's not a fellowship. Okay. It is nice. I was going between two different ones. I was gonna get Elrond and I kind of wish I got Elrond. Tell me to it. This is Thranduil. Oh, it does. The Elven King in The Hobbit. Oh, good. Okay, that makes more sense. It's just this, and I got it just cause it's such a cool sword. It's so cool. I love that it comes from this too. Wow.

[00:05:58] So you could really be like a cosplay right here. Wow. Cosplay, but real weapon. Yeah. These are great protections. I'm honestly, yeah. Yeah, it feels so safe. No one. Imagine someone comes into my apartment and all of a sudden, I'm standing there with a sword. Oh, and honestly, if I was a burglar and I run one at someone's apartment and they had a sword, I would. Oh yeah. I'm out. Yeah. Yeah, I know. They're sitting there waiting for me.

[00:06:27] It's tough to get back into. It's a little annoying. Yeah, just don't slice your finger. I don't care about the sword. Just don't slice your hand off. Yeah, that's what I'm like all I'm picturing is that. Mm-hmm. Like. This is awesome. It's deadly. Wow. That is really cool. John, you got quite a collection. I know. I'm starting to build on the whole wall soon as it may just be swords. Oh yeah, you could have like a shelf for all of them. I know. I feel like it needs to be around in case I get a hankering. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm scared. This is a sword fight. I'm sorry. Um.

[00:06:55] Wait, but also Danny was telling me he's like, oh no, you're gonna have a hard time finishing these chapters, Jen. Remember? Yeah. And I was like, actually, I thought these were entertaining. Really? Good. Well, once you started slowing your pace. Because then I'm like, oh great. No. I was like, uh oh. And then as I'm reading, I'm like reading with you in mind where I'm thinking, but they're just on the river for another day. And I could hear you saying like, they're just on the river forever. Like, come on. Although I will say the river chapter was shocking to me because it just, even though

[00:07:24] it was just there on the river, it was like one thing was happening after the next. It wasn't action packed. You're right. Much as like, there's a lot of progress that's being made in the journey. And there's suspense. Yeah. Which you don't get in La Florian or other places. Well, I could have missed a lot of things, but I thought overall it was good. I think that's the thing. If you gave it a five stars on Goodreads, how would you, out of five stars, how would you rate it? The last chapter or the book? No, the whole book. The whole thing. I mean, I don't know.

[00:07:54] You don't want to say it out loud. I'll be brutally honest because I think the listen was a two for me. Okay. That's tough. I honestly think the read is going to be a five for me. Yeah. But he's a really good reader. That's the thing. Like, I love all his voices. Agreed. It's just like, I don't know. I daydream way too much. Yeah, for sure. It's like, it's hard if you're not actively listening to it. The thing also I realized is that I listened to Harry Potter, but I was really listening because I needed to know. Yeah.

[00:08:22] Piece together this puzzle and Lord of the Rings. I like how it ends. So I'm not playing detective. I'm just like, okay, what happens here? Oh yeah. Like Harry Potter to me is a tighter story. This is like, like everything matters. I feel like. Yeah. And this is like with the songs in between. I'm like, there's so much extra. I don't listen to these songs. They're horrible. Yeah. And I'm like, if there's anything important in a song, I'll never know. Like I just glaze.

[00:08:51] It's like my eyes glaze over and I'm not listening. Honestly, I feel like Lord of the Rings is purposely made so that you do daydream when you're reading. Like, I don't, I feel like it's not a book that you're supposed to read really fast. And maybe I'm wrong about that. But when you guys were reading. Elvishly. Like you can probably be like, Oh, like you read this song and there's 20 different things that you can kind of look into. Not that you're looking into all those things. What does this mean? He is. No, no. But I have to actually resist because otherwise I'd get lost down these rabbit trails. And so then I'm like, Nope, you know what?

[00:09:21] This is for reading and enjoying this experience. I'm not going to go Googling and be on the wiki for each one of these things. It's, I would spend too long doing that. Yeah. But I, I've done it here and there for little things or I'll Google something, but it's rare. It's mostly just an old English word that I don't know what it means. Yikes. T went down the wrong pipe. Maybe I'll have to, maybe I could try reading it. It could be worth it. But John.

[00:09:51] I find that it's nice even just. I'm glad you agree with me. Yeah. And John. Pausing for a little in between the sentences or doing a quick reread of something that just sounds weird. Cause it's a bunch of crazy names, but if you're seeing it, you can just like do a quick scan back. Like I heard that right. Is this an Elvish word or did I just miss here? Something is this old English? What is this? Um, where maybe it's different if you're, I don't know. That's the thing is a lot of sleep a little, a lot of, but a lot of the names are so similar.

[00:10:20] So when you're hearing it, it's like, wait, who is that again? Yeah. Yeah. You're right. And again, I think he's a good reader, but I think you just have to do it actively. If you're not doing it actively, it's maybe a challenge. I think if I listen while read, like physically holding it, that'd be like prime. Or I found too, when I do Harry Potter, because I know Harry Potter so well, I could start listening to Jim Dale from any point when he's talking and immediately get back in the story. So it doesn't matter if I daydream. Oh yeah. I can like, I can daydream for an hour and then come back into the room and be like, you know where you are.

[00:10:50] He's talking and I, he, I'll just listen to him talk for 30 seconds. And I'm like, Oh, this is there. All right. It's like a movie in my head that just plays. So I don't know. This is, as I read, I haven't said this yet, but I kept in my bullet journal, a chapter log of basically a rating of every chapter from a high, medium, low of enjoyability and like difficulty. And then I realized that I would be like, Oh, okay.

[00:11:16] This was like, not as like a medium or a low chapter for enjoyability. And then as I like reflected on it, I would realize it was kind of due to like the difficulty and then the content I would realize, Oh, this is like important or that lower makes sense. Or that I know I know more about that people. And then almost every chapter ended up being like a high enjoyment. Like I love it chapter just after like reflecting on it. So I feel like I always need a minute to kind of like sit and think about it.

[00:11:45] And then I'm like, okay, that was a good chapter. Yeah. Like in hindsight. Yeah. That makes sense actually. Yeah. All right. Well, let's jump into it. Welcome to the podcast. I'm John. Jen. Danny. Lizzie. And this is the fellowship of the first time readers.

[00:12:15] 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 or 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 first time readers at gmail.com. And if you join our discord or subreddit, which is first r slash first time readers, you'll

[00:12:44] find 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

[00:13:14] enjoy the fellowship of the first time readers. Is that? Kind of. Was that the Harry Potter though? I don't even know. It sounded like bluey to me or something. That's not the race. Oh yeah. Okay. Sorry guys. Anyway. That sounded like our thing. What? Yeah. It does. Our little jingle. All right. So chapter 19 is the mirror of glad you're all.

[00:13:41] We'll cut all that before, which reminded me of Harry Potter. Yeah. The mirror. Yeah. I'm like, she just stole all his ideas. And I don't know how I feel about Harry. I don't know. There's nothing new under the sun. Yeah. Everyone's stealing everything. But glad you was like, it shows you what you, if you want to show you what you desire. I know that was, but that was like one of the options. Oh, I missed that exact word. Oh yeah. No.

[00:14:09] Cause it's like, what could be in the past, present or future, or what you desire. Yeah. So there's like four options, you know, but a mirror and you see it's like the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't touch it. And then like, you go into it. I don't know what happens when you touch it, but I missed that. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are the readers are gonna have to explain more of the lore until I reread it and then get there.

[00:14:36] And then by the end of the fellowship, I'm going to be an absolute nerd with all this. A lore master. A lore master. What do you guys think of Lothlorian? Let's talk about that first. The whole, whole realm. Yeah. I'm like, you need, I need expansion. Explanation. Yeah. We get a summary. Magical. Oh, that's right. That's right. Do you have a summary? I think I wrote summaries for each chapter. Of course. I was just soaking it in. I didn't want any of them to be over. Mm. Um. Love that.

[00:15:06] All right. Hanging in Lothlorian, mourn Gandalf. Lady Galadriel shows her mirror. Um, Sam sees surface things. Frodo sees deeper things. Frodo sees the future and the eye. Frodo offers Galadriel the ring and she turns it down and passes the test. Hmm. I cannot wait to talk about a test. It's gonna be so fascinating. Uh, what'd you guys think of the whole realm?

[00:15:34] And glad you let's talk about glad you specifically too. Oh yeah. So magical. I think I have a hard time picturing the specifics. Yeah. Like just up in big trees and then like, are they building these platforms? How close to Ewoks are they? And then like, I'm like, what is it really feel like? I guess. Star Wars. Oh, do I know what that is? Oh, the little fuzzy guys, you know? Oh yeah. Like, um, nice.

[00:16:04] Well done. Um, so I just had a hard time picturing it, but I felt magical, but I did find that because I couldn't picture it. I was just picturing the movie kind of, you know, like just forest and woodsy and it was nice. There must be something under or not. He's an attention hog. Yes, you did. I don't know. I should have left him when he was just hiding his face under there. Warms your teeth. Yeah. I think I like the elf lands the best.

[00:16:33] Like I love, I love Lothlorien and yeah. I don't know. I like the elf places. They're beautiful. I feel like I can imagine them very vividly and I kind of make them how I want them to be. And I feel like I would prefer to live in a tree. So they're my favorite. Yeah. You're a tree hugger. So, uh, yeah, I don't know the, the whole realm, it does seem magical. I feel like the movie does a good depiction of it, but need me to get you something.

[00:17:05] What's under there? Well, it's, I didn't even know that this land was in the trees. No, it's just blacking out for half the room. I know they were climbing up the trees, right? This is like, yeah, before it was when like everyone had to get Pat had like they were on their way hiding from. Yeah. The orcs. Yeah. And then is that when they, they saw the creature and they were still like on their way up where

[00:17:35] Frodo saw a creature. Yeah. I think it's Gimli, uh, Gollum. Thank you. Gimli's scurrying up the trees. Oh, Wes, that's not gonna work. Okay. Got it. Um, but yes. And then, um, this whole thing, um, happens with the mirror and it's all over the place for me. But this is what, uh, one of the lines that we have.

[00:18:05] Um, oh, this is a, one of the funny lines. I like that. This, this happened. I'm afraid that's only too true. Sam said Frodo. Yeah. I hope very much that before we leave, we shall see the lady of the elves again. Even as he spoke, they saw as if she came in to answer their words, the lady gladriel approaching tall and white and fair. She walked beneath the trees. She spoke no word, but beckon them, them to come. Wes.

[00:18:35] I like that. Uh, they're like thinking about lady gladriel and seeing her one last time. And she's like, here I am. Yep. She doesn't even say any words, but then she beckons them to the mirror and they have this whole mirror experience. What do you guys think of that? It was interesting. Sorry. I'm distracted. Just reading through all my notes on the way to the mirror. Just.

[00:18:58] We have much, but it just, I was fascinated by all the intro of even like meeting the elves and meeting galadriel. Yeah. And then you, you sense that tension with the dwarves, but then they're being polite about it. And then Gimli's being humble and gracious. Um, it also felt like Aragorn didn't know what a Balrog was, but Legolas did, but I guess he didn't mention it till now. So just little things. Like I said, like, uh, Legolas is older than Aragorn too.

[00:19:26] So I guess it would make sense that he would understand what it was. Um, He looks like half his age. Yeah. He looks half his age, but I think he's 10, 20, 30 times older than him. Legolas? Yeah. I think Legolas is like 2,000 years old, right? Someone sent this. I thought so. I thought that's what. I know he's old, but that sounds crazy. What? They don't age. I mean, yeah, it's true, but it's still weird.

[00:19:54] And I guess Gimli's pretty old too. He's almost 3,000 years old. Oh my word. Aragorn 87. Not a wrinkle on his face. I know, right? Get that skin care. One of the weird things. Um, I'm forgetting where exactly it was, but I think when they were first meeting Galadriel, it said something like only Aragorn and Legolas could keep her gaze.

[00:20:22] Everyone else like blushed and like looked away. And then it was like in the mirror, Frodo and afterwards offering the ring was testing her back. Yeah. In a sense, because she basically tested everybody in their own minds somehow. Um, where she was offering them the terrible things ahead versus going back to lovely homes. Yeah. And just seeing what each of their hearts were desiring. Um, which a little bit of a breach of privacy.

[00:20:52] Um, but interesting important work right now. Yeah. So I guess she's saying privacy can wait. This is martial law. Let's see what your hearts are really doing. Um, and I just thought that was weird. It was interesting. It was like, wait, is she like a good character? Yeah. Can she be trusted? We do trust her. She's like otherworldly. One of my questions is why do we trust her? Right. I don't get that fully.

[00:21:17] Cause she, I trust her cause she is still a ring bearer and yeah, she's glad you'll I feel like she just has like the power of like keeping her whole kingdom pure so that she's more trustworthy through that. Like if I don't know, I feel like that's a big weight to care. She's like protect everything. So, yeah, but it did feel super nosy to me too. And I didn't like that cause I felt like she was doing her own round of vetting the,

[00:21:46] the nine to like make sure that like, I don't know if it was just cause they were in her own land or like she was gonna think about taking control and like, do I just take the ring? But it was very nosy. I feel like they were breaking their own rules a lot with having outsiders there. And this was like, fine, we'll let them in, but only if I run a few tests on them.

[00:22:06] And she also mentioned with Frodo and Sam at some point in this chapter or the next that she thought it was funny that they even call some stuff magic because some things I guess are so normal to the elves that they don't even think of it as magic. Yeah, that was funny. And they're like, you use the same word for this as deceit and tricks by like, you know, random people. So it did feel like, all right, maybe we're viewing this as magic and crossing a boundary, but to her that might just be normal.

[00:22:36] Like, hey, let me read your thoughts real quick. No big deal. That's true. Oh, then there was a song. And when Jen was zoned out, I'm sure. All right, those things don't matter. I'll pass over some of these filter thoughts.

[00:23:01] Well, just I don't know how many languages that he spoke secret tongues. He spoke long without a word. I thought, oh, is he really quiet man? I didn't think of him as being quiet, but OK. But then at the end, two things minor thorny staff. His staff is thorny. I didn't think of it as thorny. What's it made of? And then second, his staff was broken on the stone.

[00:23:29] So when he said, you shall not pass, I guess it broke. Which knowing what we know about two towers from the movies makes sense that he would have a new staff. But I never put it together that his staff broke. And I just thought, I guess he's falling down without a staff. But then in the movies, he's using a staff a little while falling. I think it's been too long. Anyways, so that's the thing.

[00:23:58] Fire and shadow both defied. His staff was broken on the stone. In Khazad-dum, his wisdom died. So yeah, anyways, never realized. It could just be like it fell onto a stone. Honestly, it could. Maybe it wasn't like mad. Maybe it's just super basic. That's really interesting. That song made me cry. Wow. And I was like laughing to myself because how much we all hate on the songs. I was like, this is not going to go over well. But it was so like, I don't know.

[00:24:27] That was Andy Serkis' best one. Were you listening to it? No. You were just reading it. Yeah. Did you have a melody in your head? No, it was just like. It was a rap, just the words. No, it's like a poem. A poem. A poem. But he said like it was. I love Sam's edition at the end too. Yep. Grief was still too near. A matter for tears and not yet for song. And I was just so sad with them in that moment. I was like, oh, his tribute song is so nice. So I like your songs. I don't want to hear the song hate anymore.

[00:24:56] Yeah. Nice. That's right. I think if reading them, the song hate isn't as real. It's only if you're listening, it feels like you got to experience it. And then the elf song, I just looked at it and saw that it was elvish and I was like, okay. And then I just kept reading it. Yeah. What was that like? Yeah, that was wild. You're just like listening to elvish? You listened to it with me. No, not the elvish one though. The one that was all elvish. You just kept going. I was like reading along or scanning along on the book when that came.

[00:25:24] When that came, I like flipped back to the book and I was like, what the heck is this? And I realized it was like half-faced. I just skipped past it. I wanted to listen to it, but then they had like the translation right there. So whatever. I tried the first line and then I came up. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Three seconds of my time and then move on. I also liked, or I maybe found myself accidentally being a little judgy of Sam, but I was like, I'm in his little bit because it was so innocent and nice.

[00:25:52] But I think it showed to me that Frodo has a deeper understanding of Gandalf and to Sam. He doesn't know him as well. He's just the guy with fireworks. Yeah. And I was laughing at golden showers, but then also just thinking that it was such a surface level thing. And Sam was greatly redeemed later in these chapters with his just like smarts. But I think at this moment, I just thought of him as not being as deep. Yeah. But then it wasn't really that. It's just that he didn't know Gandalf as well.

[00:26:22] So his relationship was not the same. He doesn't seem like the most deep person Sam in this series so far. I don't love Andy Serkis is reading of the two. The only two characters that I don't like him are Frodo and Sam. I think he does Frodo a bit too whiny. And I think he does Sam too much like a hillbilly. And I don't love that all that much because in my head, I'm like, I don't think Sam's a hillbilly. I think he's like, you know, just a simple farmer. Maybe that's what a hillbilly is. It's an urban farmer.

[00:26:52] Yeah. And then Frodo just seems like a bit too like, oh, no, like what's gonna happen? He sounds just like the actor in the movie. Yeah, I think he does. I did think he leaned into that with Boromir specifically. Yeah, Boromir for sure. I was like, wow, he's really. I thought they sounded exactly like the movies. He's like picking all their voices. I didn't notice that. I don't think I heard that. But that's 20 years ago voices. Yeah, for sure. It's a little. Okay, back on the mirror though.

[00:27:22] Can we talk about the test for a few minutes? There's a few things that happened in this that were just maybe beyond my understanding, but I'm sure it's extra lore and stuff. What happened in this? I think the movie is depicted pretty well. But like there's all sorts of lines. So these are like the two ones that I just got not caught up on, but I think they're important ones. It says, He suspects, but he does not know. Not yet.

[00:27:48] Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footsteps of doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished and Lothlorien will fade. The tides of time will sweep it away. We must depart into the west or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and caves slowly to forget and to be forgotten. Like win or lose. The elves are going away.

[00:28:18] I don't fully understand that. I know where I'm like, why? Yeah. Like why if Frodo succeeds, do they have to leave? What? Like what's the logic? How does one equal another? Does destroying the one ring destroy the other rings? That's what I thought. I took that to mean it's the ring that binds them in the darkness. It's true. So then I'm like, if it loses its power and they all lose their power, Lothlorien is not

[00:28:47] sustainable and then they have to leave. That makes sense to me. But is that the reason? Maybe. Maybe. And then where are the other rings? Do we know the other elf rings? Does Elrond have one? Does Elrond have one? Does that mean Rivendell? Same vibe. They've got a head rust. Elrond's not going to have a ring. He was so against them. Wasn't he? Some mishs. Yeah. Ooh, nice rings of power. Sorry. I just, I don't remember if I knew, but I'm trying to picture.

[00:29:14] But also what would make you think that like we were talking before Galadriel has a ring. So wouldn't you trust her less because she has a ring? So the rings are Elven made. So the rings were deceived by someone else who like, like Sauron deceived all of them, but the original three were pure made for the elves and like sturdy and good. Like the elves and they didn't corrupt or tarnished the elves.

[00:29:44] They were like the perfect creations. Oh, and then when they made them for dwarves, they made them, I guess, less good. And that corrupted the hearts of dwarves, I guess, because elves maybe are non corruptible. But I'm thinking if they're non corruptible, then why are they? So yeah, they are corruptible. She thinks she's corruptible. That's my what is that? Yeah, that's another question. Well, I'll talk about that later. But what were you saying, Jen? Hmm. I thought that all the rings were like tainted with.

[00:30:12] That would make more sense to me in some ways, but we just don't know. And that's I'm hoping rings of power shines a little light, but maybe it doesn't. Um, cause yeah, like why they can just have these for thousands of years and the elves are like, yeah, we're good. In fact, this helps us grow our kingdom strong and it's better than ever. We have these magical lands that are protected by the rings. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:37] Um, cause that was the whole point of the rings is that their land was dying and they got these rings. Yeah, you're right. You're right. That's a good reminder. And this is all right. So I didn't pick up on anything like that though, until this section, cause they had a scene in the, or is it still called a scene? It's in a book. Yeah, sure. A section in the other chapters where they were all like overlooking the view.

[00:31:03] And I forget who said it, but, um, you could just see kind of like the destruction. And then it said like, we have a power that the enemy wants. Like we have a secret. And I didn't know what that was, but now I'm realizing that's just her ring. Right. Sauron wants the ring. And that was my entire story. I didn't realize how that worked. But yeah, it is weird. And then she even was saying how I, something I think where she said Sauron's looking for her or trying to find the ring.

[00:31:33] Yeah. So all of that is like, it's just weird because I overlooked it in the movie. If I, if it was even really there. So hearing it here, it put it in a new perspective where I'm like, Oh yeah, she has a ring and it actually is powerful. And she is conceding her whole people to dying one way or another, or maybe not dying, but changing their lives forever, regardless of how this ends with Frodo.

[00:32:02] Um, so sad time. And she still resisted past the test. What does Sauron get for getting the rings though? Just the land and control. That's a good question. Like if he has the one ring. No, if he has the, but if he has the elf rings, what does that add to it? It's probably power for something though. Right. And you know, um, Galadriel made like an interesting comment to Frodo about when Frodo was saying

[00:32:30] she clearly knew he put the ring on three distinct times and she was asking him questions. I forget exactly what, but then Frodo was saying, wait, I would have the power to, I forget what it was like, see Sauron or, you know, see other people who were wearing rings who had rings of power. Yeah. And she said, yeah, but you're not trained in it. And in order to see that or have power of the ring, you'd have to have power without the ring. You would have to already have a desire to bend the will of people. Yeah.

[00:32:59] So basically you'd have to be like bad a little bit. Um, but she was like, he needs to grow in strength in order to actually be able to yield the ring, which is interesting. Cause he does use the ring later on and doesn't necessarily have the strength, but he's, he's in a really interesting way later. Yeah. So it's just a confusing time, but I guess she does have the power and a little bit of a will to, or desire to bend people's will if she's giving them tests in their minds and stuff.

[00:33:28] Um, well to get to her position, I would think. Yeah. She's just trying to protect her people. And yeah, I don't know. Like what else has she done the last thousand years with the ring? Watch rings of power. Um, Sam also had some bangers here. Um, he said it's like being at home and on a holiday at the same time being in Lothlorian pretty magical. And then another great one liner.

[00:33:58] It's the job that's never started as takes the longest to finish. Yeah. That's excellent. I love that one. That was a good one. So this was, uh, this was her, um, she passes the test or when she's in the midst of the test, I guess it says, and now at last it comes, you will give me the ring freely in place of the dark Lord, you will set up a queen and I shall be not dark, but beautiful

[00:34:24] and terrible as the morning and the night fair as the sea and the sun and the snow upon the mountains dreadful as the storm and the lightning stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair. She lifted up her hand from the ring or, and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement and beautiful beyond enduring terrible and worshipful. And she let her hand fall on the light faded.

[00:34:53] And suddenly she laughed again and low. So she was shrunken, a slender elf woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad. I passed the test. She said, I will diminish and go into the West and remain collateral. What was her test? I don't get that. Like I know of, you know, like she, okay, she, maybe she's like battling this test.

[00:35:20] She gets offered the ring and she refuses the ring, but it didn't seem like she was going to refuse the ring there. It seemed like she was very keen on taking the ring. It feels like she had to say all those things to acknowledge her own feelings or something. Maybe. Because it was like so weird. It was like, that's passing the test. Feels like you were going right to the edge before you did. Because one. That's what it is though. I think that's what she's like.

[00:35:45] To me, it's like so strong, the power that she was just like, okay, I'm gonna let my guard down. Let's see what happens. And I still didn't like at the very end, she's still like resisted it by bringing her hand down and not taking it. I ever, you guys ever seen the movie dodgeball? Yeah. When he's eating the pizza. He has like, he has like things connected to him that he eats it. He like gets shocked. Oh my bad. I felt like.

[00:36:13] She's like getting super close to the ring, but she doesn't eat. She doesn't eat the ring. She doesn't take the ring. Yeah. And therefore she is like able to pass the test on like it does. It feels strange. Like she had. I also. How do you pass a test without testing yourself? Yeah. Right. But that's why it wasn't a real test until Frodo offered it. Even though technically she's been tested the whole time Frodo was in her land because she knows she had the power to take it if she wanted. And that's where that's where she starts.

[00:36:41] And she was a little bit like, wow, you're really going to hear you can have it. Yeah. So and this is what I want to do to you because we're not there at the moment. But I kept thinking about this as soon as we got there with the temptation of Boromir and what the difference is between her test and Boromir's, I guess, temptation. And Boromir Boromir seems like a less sympathetic character because everyone like especially in the movies, everyone looks at Boromir and they're like, oh, he's like a fallen man. He's like weak.

[00:37:10] And they look at Gladger like she's the shining purse, perfect person in the entire series. And what is the difference in there that both of theirs? One of them succumbed, I guess, an inch further than the other and wanted to take the ring and just wasn't able to. And then he takes a long walk, cools down, goes back to the fellowship and is like, guys, I did something stupid. And he regrets it. Yeah.

[00:37:34] And therefore, everyone deems him as less more or more corruptible and less good than Gladreal, who was this close to taking it and didn't. And I'm like the matter of temptation and falling into temptation and being good versus evil right there seems like it's like an inch. Yeah. The only thing the difference is that he didn't have it was taken away from him. She willingly willingly stopped. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great point.

[00:38:00] I think that's huge because he would have just kept going where she was actually able to stop herself. Yeah. Yeah. And that. Yeah. She had the self control to be able to. Yeah. I fully agree. I think that's so interesting. It's weird because I think I could view it like the whole reason she brought them to the mirror and the whole reason she just happened upon them. And she made a comment that made it sound like she was listening to them for a while before that. Yeah. I'm like, I wonder if she was already playing with that idea. And she said, I don't deny it. I've thought about this many times. Yeah.

[00:38:30] It's almost like this whole time was just a big long test, which yeah, she barely passed. But the other thing is I'm like, but how much do you want that ring when you already have a ring? That's pretty powerful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Like her is her test less than Boromir to me. Okay. We're looking at both of these people. Boromir has a harder test. Yeah. Like Boromir's test is his whole kingdom is failing.

[00:38:57] Not that like, okay, maybe she's she said before this or her no matter winner lose or people are going to diminish. So they have to go into the West and like, you know, she's gonna remain glad you're there. But to me, Boromir is like the world of men is failing. And the this is like the only way that he can attempt to reconcile or like help the world of men. And he can't see the future either. Yep, exactly. So he doesn't know exactly. It's much more dire from his perspective.

[00:39:24] Which is why he's I like I've talked about this, but he's one of my favorite characters now because he's like just the most he's doing what he has to do in order to let his people survive. He's so selfless to me. Hmm. And he's so he seems so selfish in most people's depictions of Boromir is. But we'll get there when we talk about Boromir in the next few chapters.

[00:39:46] I think Eladriel was probably a worse temptation in my mind, because if she was looking into the mirror for however long she could do that, like she could play with those like alternate futures in her mind. Yeah. So like, in my mind, maybe she's been like tempting herself with that and be like, oh, if I get the ring, or if I have more power, I could do this and like just kind of seeing how things play out. And then when it actually comes into her lap, it's like then she can deny it.

[00:40:16] Whereas Boromir is kind of like more the momentary decision. Like, I don't know, like maybe Galadriel was like messing with her herself. But I'm with you to me. That's why Boromir seems harder because it seems like Galadriel has been in the gym training for this every day of her life until this point. Yeah, so true. For Boromir, it's like he's been up. Oh, by the way, literally perfect timing. Someone was giving me the dates and February 17th is when they got onto the river for the first time. Whoa, sick. Going onto the river.

[00:40:44] So we are reading this chapter as soon as they're setting up on their journey on the river. I like it. But Boromir has been with this company for like a few months, maybe two months. And he's like known about what they're supposed to do, but he's having dreams about this. And all of a sudden, like not that, not that this seems like the culmination of his dreams, but if he's not having these prophetic dreams about the ring and your kingdom is failing,

[00:41:11] it seems like the prophetic dreams would maybe lead you to think that the ring should be used for your own kingdom rather than for its destruction, which is maybe then going to thrive the world of men. Yeah. He'd be saying, why did I get these dreams to bring me all the way up here? Exactly. For the ring. That's why I'm here. And then so he has these dreams. He makes his way up to Rivendell and all of a sudden the rings there and he's like, this is the answer to my. Hmm. He's yeah, I'm following the prophecy.

[00:41:36] He's following the prophecy and he's like, he's like temptation over taking the ring right here is maybe rash and strong, but everyone else, almost everyone else in the fellowship right here says they want to go to minister with him. Yep. Well, he's got their full support. Yeah. Frodo is one of the only people who doesn't want to. Yep. We'll talk. We'll talk about that when we get there, but that was I am. Yeah, I don't.

[00:42:04] It just seems so strange with these two characters on do deep dives on it, but anything else in a 19 where we go into 20. The gifts are not on this one, right? No gifts are coming up though. Sorry. Great one. Yeah.

[00:42:18] The only other thing I thought is maybe Galadriel had such a crazy reaction for Frodo's sake to make sure he understood how dire it was that even for her, even the purity of an elf would be destroyed by the ring eventually and lead her to be a dark queen. Yeah. As if to say, thank you, but don't you dare ever offer this to anybody else. Yeah. I had to view it that way. Otherwise I start to not like her. Yeah, seriously.

[00:42:48] I'm going to view this as a protective something towards Frodo to help him understand the seriousness. I have heard people talk about with the whole Middle Earth realm, like Galadriel is really the main character for Tolkien. I think Galadriel is the most mentioned character and like the most written about character that he's ever done, even more than Gandalf or Frodo or Bilbo or anyone. Wow. So like she really seems like the main protagonist of all Middle Earth, be honest.

[00:43:14] So, I mean, she has like a massive responsibility with all this, but I want to know more about her lore and like really what is going on through this whole test. I think you've probably written about in some of these other books, but man, it's just. It's so weird. She, it's like, she knows that Frodo will succeed. Yeah. I will diminish and go into the West and remain Galadriel. Yeah. Yeah. So interesting. All right. Time to 20. Farewell to Lorien. What's this one about?

[00:43:44] A long, beautiful goodbye to Lorien and the elves. Yeah. Everyone got great gifts and the fellowship started south in their elvish canoes. Melancholy end. A little dreary. Yeah. They had some good gifts in this one. It was a good one. What? No, I just keep thinking of Gimli's. Yeah. Great. That was so good. There's also a great moment. I think it was in this chapter. She loved it.

[00:44:14] There's a good moment in this chapter where I think Gimli is eating like a lambda spread. And he's the one that really loves it because he keeps like feasting on it. And then he starts to like have his opinion softened of the elves. He's like, I've never had better things. Oh, yeah. Even the baker bakery. So and so the Dwarven baker is he doesn't even make things as good as this. And so I love that the way that his heart is being softened is through his stomach. It's so great. It's so good to me. But what do you guys have in this chapter?

[00:44:46] Yeah. Yeah. So he's kind of after the ring and in the movies, they show that much more clearly early on, like the scene on the mountain and then even in the Elrond's council. But here I feel like it took a while and it was really only this chapter. And then at the very end where you're like, oh, yep, it's happening. So I'm glad for Boromir's sake that he was redeemed a little more in the books.

[00:45:15] It was just a momentary thing where he's trying to like hint at this, but he's still being respectful. And then his momentary issue in the final chapter. But yeah, that happened. And then. There's a yeah, there's lots of interesting. I like the reactions about everyone talking here with all of what their gifts are and stuff like that. There's one moment with Aragorn where he's talking and this is Aragorn answered.

[00:45:42] Lady, you know, all my heart desires and long held in keeping only the only treasure that I seek. Yet it is not yours to give me, even if you would. And only through darkness shall I come to it. Yet maybe this will lighten your hearts. Like said Gladreal for it was left in my care to be to be given to you that you pass through this land. And she lifted from her lap a great stone of clear green set in a silver brooch that was wrought in the likeness of an eagle without spread wings. And as she held it up, she held up the gem flat.

[00:46:11] The gem flashed like the sun shining through the leaves of spring. This stone I gave to Celebrion, my daughter and she to hers. And now it comes to you as a token of hope. In this hour, take the name that was foretold to you, Elessar, the elf stone of the house of Elendil. Then Aragorn took the stone and pinned the brooch on his breast. And those who saw him wondered.

[00:46:56] What exactly was going on there? Was this when he was crowned king? I took this to mean that this is when Arwen has decided to marry him. Interesting. I took that to mean that Galadriel took this stone, which has some kind of elvish power and handed it down. Like a proposal. And then handed it down. And then Arwen is giving it to Aragorn as a sign of hope.

[00:47:26] Because he says the only gift I could request of you is too much. And I think he's saying basically the gift of marriage kind of is what I took that to mean. But I think he's kind of also, well, he's not asking her to also become human. But I'm wondering if that also happens naturally. If an elf marries a human, do they sacrifice their longevity? And by giving Aragorn that, does it extend his own life slightly?

[00:47:54] That way they might live 300 years together. Yeah. And then both die. I don't know. That's how I interpreted that. And then I interpreted that the giving was them saying there is hope. Arwen has given you hope in this exact thing. Now you can wear this. This is a promise. This is an engagement ring and she'll find you later. Something like that. But this isn't the light of the Evenstar that he wears all the time, right? I thought it was. Is it just that? It was? It could be.

[00:48:23] But then the movie, she gives it to him. Yeah. That's why I just, I don't know. Maybe it's the Liberty, but they, yeah. Cause it's kind of nice. But it was like shaped like an eagle. And then I was trying to think in the movie, like, I was like, yeah. Like a cross maybe, but maybe not an eagle. So then I'm like, it, maybe it isn't, but I thought it was that it was the necklace that he wears. Okay. And then I'm again, movie thinking Elrond is like holding her hands and saying the light of the Evenstar is fading, I think. Yeah.

[00:48:53] So again, I'm thinking that's when she's losing her elfness and becoming a little more human in mortality, if nothing else. Um, so I took this to be romance, which is more than we've gotten from anything with Halloween. Yeah. And then, uh, he gets, he gets, uh, also the reason why I thought the substantial, uh, King stuff was because he gets, um, like a sheath for his blade. Yeah.

[00:49:23] That would make a lot of sense, which it makes sense, but it seems like they're giving heat there. It's like, he's getting the pieces to be able to rule the kingdom of men. And if glad you are such an important person, maybe she's the one that is able to crown him King or something like that, which is weird that she can crown someone who the kingdom of men. But I'm like this, this seems, yeah, it just seemed, uh, weightier and heavier. But I think that you, I feel like you nailed it.

[00:49:50] I feel like now that I'm rereading this through that lens, I think that it has to be talking about their love for each other. Only because it's going from Galadriel to her daughter and then her granddaughter. It feels like it's along those lines. Like it's unconnected to the world of men. Really? It's an elf thing. But then the fact that it's a greenish something, I also thought, I don't know much about Silmarils. It's been mentioned a few times, but isn't that a grand stone? Is this connected at all? I thought it had to do something with his ring too.

[00:50:18] Cause he has a ring and they're two serpents that are devouring devouring, or there's like emeralds on his ring. And I was like, that's why it said it's a green one. So I was like, Oh, maybe this is the ring, but then maybe we'll take different liberties with that. All this jewelry that we're talking about. I don't know. It's just all over your place. Well, we're going to collect swords. You girls collect jewelry. Okay. Let's get some rings and necklaces up in here. We're going to have shells of all the lore right on this. It'd be great. Um, uh, glad real just with a harp singing.

[00:50:48] I mean, that's such an elf thing to do, but it's something the movies kind of miss. Um, yeah, hard to picture a little bit. I love the gifts too. Uh, especially Gimli's. I, I teared up at Gimli's, uh, beautiful thing. Yeah. Just like the way he was talking about it, the respect, the humility. Like, I think I just want the dwarves and elves to get along. So then like seeing that, I'm just like, Oh, it's so great. Yeah. I feel like, um, no offense elves.

[00:51:17] It felt like in a lot of ways they weren't willing to be the first to be humble maybe. So when Gimli, it seems like is taking this first step of humility as he's been doing with every elf interaction we've seen so far, I'm like, Oh man, he's, he's great. He's, uh, representing the dwarves very well. And I think genuinely restoring the, some of that relationship. And it said like Gimli and Legolas became. Yeah. Past friends or something. That was really sweet. So sweet.

[00:51:45] I'll tell you why she had three hairs. Cause I said that before. I went on, uh, Reddit and I was doing a deep dive of like, I don't believe in spoilers. It's fine. But, um, I was looking at all the gifts and there was one thing about why it was three hairs and not just like one hair. Like Gimli didn't even want to ask her. And she kind of glad you like kind of forced him Gimli to ask, but this is all lore that doesn't

[00:52:14] really make sense to me, but Galadriel's uncle who like made the simmer. Um, they need like the light of like the stars or whatever. So her hair has like the light of these two trees or these two stars or something. So it's like very valuable. And he asked her for her hair and she denied it. And he asked three times and Galadriel said no every single time. So then Gimli doesn't even want to ask cause he's so respectful.

[00:52:43] And then she gave him three. So it was kind of like, screw you like the other guy for asking three times and then just like willingly giving it to Gimli cause he's not going to make anything. He's just going to put it in his little crystal and have an heirloom. And the other guy wanted to like use it and make the stones or something. I think that's right. Someone fact check me, but yeah, I can't wait to do deep dives into all this. That's like your, it's just cute on the surface level. Like, Oh wow.

[00:53:13] She gave extra. Like that's really nice. And then you realize there's like a whole meeting behind it. Everyone's saying you nailed it. Let's go. That's awesome. Love it. Great. Yeah. I was on Reddit for many hours, just like going through and Boromir. I was on a whole Boromir thing. I really like him now cause of all the Redditors. Yeah. Um, kind of proving his case. Cause he's just like a, it's like a military dude.

[00:53:40] That's I think the perspective shift of like, he's just trying to get the best thing for his kingdom and try and save his kingdom and like protect his people as well. Cause he still has his original mission of like what you guys were saying. The dream is like sending him on this mission and that's his mindset. And he's like, we can just use the ring to do that. And then there was like some people that were in the military that were like commenting too. And I was like, all right, I'm convinced. But yeah, that's great. Boromir.

[00:54:09] That's also, uh, interesting to me because in the movies it's almost a pick that is more romantic than anything else. And I do think there's an element of element of romance to it. For what? The hair? The hair. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's the extended scene where he goes, uh, I asked for one hair from the golden head. And then he like looks away into the stones. She gave me three. I think that's a good depiction, but it's, cause it's talking about like the honor of these, this hair and like the honor that Gimli is like starting to feel about this.

[00:54:37] But that idea is so cool that she's like doing it as a big, like middle finger to this other guy. Cause Gimli is the more noble dwarf. I love that. There is nothing lady glad you also getting like bowing low and stammering nothing unless it be, unless it is permitted to ask me to name a single strand of your hair, which surpasses the gold of the earth as the stars surpass the gems of mine.

[00:55:05] I do not ask for such a gift, but you command me to name my desire. That's so good. It's cute. All the elves murmured and stirred. Yeah. Scandal. Yeah. I like that. They all were like scandalous. This is crazy. That's so good. That's cause it was a scandal last time, you know, like they were, they all live through that. Yeah. I'm going to do so many deep dives.

[00:55:35] Um, anything else in this chapter before we go on to the next? Um, I'm just trying to process in light of what we're hearing about all these other things. A rendal star that now Frodo has in. Yeah. So I guess I don't fully get all of that, but stars and light and elves can give it as gifts. Yeah. That's something that I, I didn't understand that the movies, I don't understand that here right now. Hmm.

[00:56:03] Like what I need them to define a star for me real quick. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, wait, isn't, is Aragorn's thing. That's also like a star and there's light and then her hair and then making rings. And also this thing that Frodo was holding and then a rendal star. Is that the even star? And then, yeah, there's like a lot there. Tolkien definitely assumes that you're smart and then like, or like, you'll just read all of his stuff. Like you're not just going to read one isolated thing. I feel like that's what most Lord of the Rings fans do too.

[00:56:32] If you read one thing, you're kind of in all of them unless you like have to read Hobbit before you school or something like that. Um, so like you read something and then you're like, Oh, I'll get to that. And like, you know, five books when I keep reading through all this stuff or you just accept, ah, there's some stuff. Yeah, exactly. If you don't know all the details, that's okay. So I do like that. He assumes you're smart and like, I want to know about the makeup of old, what these stars are and what these gems are and like why these things actually have any kind of power.

[00:56:57] Um, but, uh, I'm just, I'm like, he'll probably explain it later. We'll probably get there, you know? Yeah. I feel like he's not going to explain it, but once you read it all and you go back, then it's like, you can put the pieces together. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I think so. Which is kind of fun. It's all foreshadowing. I really like this line about Gimli and Legolas. The travelers now turn their faces to the journey. The sun was before them and their eyes were dazzled for all were filled with tears. Gimli wept openly.

[00:57:27] I have looked the last upon that, which was fairest. He said to Legolas, his companion, henceforward, I will call nothing fair unless it be her gift. He put his hand to his breast. And then it just goes on. It's like, ah. It's so good. Also, someone says, uh, Erendil star is a very unique star. It's a Silmaril. Erendil star. Erendil. Erendil? Who's Erendil? Eer. Erendil. Erendil. Erendil.

[00:57:57] That's the one that you were talking about? Yeah, like the one that Frodo has in his hand. Oh. Which I was thinking it was similar, but then I'm like, oh, okay. So I don't know what a Silmaril really is, but I guess it's one of, it is a Silmaril. And there are a bunch of them. Yeah. I guess. So Frodo's got a Silmaril. That feels important. I don't know what, I still don't know what Silmarils are. Silmarils. Silmarils. I don't know. It was like some powerful stone.

[00:58:28] That kind of idea was concrete to me. It was cool. It was like, there you go. Love that. That's why in the Hobbit when they have the heart of the mountain, that seems really concrete and cool to me because it's like, oh, they. It just, I don't know why, but it just makes sense. Yeah, it does. Doug so deep that they like found the very core of the mountain. And that was like a divine blessing almost for the world and kingdom.

[00:58:58] I don't know what the Silmarils are yet. I don't know really where they come from. That makes so much sense. Yeah. It's just so concrete. Yeah. Yeah. Like every mountain has one and the bigger the mountain, the more precious the heart is. Like, yeah. Like, oh yeah. Especially like the lonely mountain. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's this one mountain out there. It's huge. And you really gotta get like, you know, you gotta get the heart of the mountain. And then you can see why the dwarves would dig so much trying to find these. It's like part of their whole thing. But the elves, I just, I can't wrap my mind around it.

[00:59:28] Yeah, me either. They're too ethereal for me right now. I do love that in this page, it said it twice. Something about elvish words remain graven in his memory. So Frodo could even translate this song later because the elvish words have that way about them where you just don't forget them. And then Legolas said the same thing to Gimli. Um, memory is more like, uh, well, he's saying you're not going to remember it. It's going to remain unstained in your heart. It will not fade, fade or grow stale.

[00:59:57] And then Gimli is explaining it that he's heard memories are more like the waking world than a dream for elves, not for dwarves. So again, I thought that was an interesting way of summing up one of the magic things about elves where they can relive memories as very, very vivid, which is even crazier when they live thousands of years. Yeah. And someone saying that, uh, Frodo doesn't have a summer, it's just the light of one. Okay.

[01:00:27] So I don't even know what that means either. But that makes a little more sense. Yeah. The hair captures the light. Yeah. Yeah. Also the bow is strong with an elf hair. Legolas is bow. Yeah. I was like, which is crazy. I'm like, wait, like one, just one hair. Like a whole bunch. It's like, they do make a lot of rope, but I'm like, oh, and that was this chapter two where Sam was nerding out about making rope. Yeah. And the elves were like, weird. No one has delighted you. Oh, that's so cute. That was cute.

[01:00:55] She was like, you little gardener, lover of trees. Yeah. And I love that gift because especially for Sam, it's giving him that hope, not only his own natural hope, but that the elves thought there was a good chance he'd make it home at the end of all this. Yeah. So then as he's carrying this little reminder of like a hope of a garden, you know, like it's such a pure gift for him. And that was his dream too in the mirror that he was back in the Shire.

[01:01:23] He was watching it get destroyed and he wanted to go save it. Yep. And she's like, you will save it. You'll save it on the whole yard. Brutal. Brutal thing to see in the mirror. Yeah. And then. Is that real? That's the present, right? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I was. There was another thing that I wanted this so bad out of all the gifts that they were given. She gives Sam the little thing that he sprinkles on his garden and it like magically makes it produce. It's dirt. It's just dirt. But like from that magical land.

[01:01:53] Yeah. How sick is that? I thought that was so cool. That is cool. And cause there was a moment there where I thought that that was like, she was giving, cause in the movies they have the salt from the Shire that Sam has. That's like really important. I thought it was gonna be Elven salt and I was gonna get so mad that it wasn't the real salt from the Shire. Yeah. But there's still hope that that comes later. No, I think it's literally just dirt. Yeah. It was just dirt. I love that. I thought that was so cool. All right. Let's go to chapter 21. The great river. Here's a G set for Galadriel, but it may stand for garden in your tongue.

[01:02:23] It's just like re-gifting the box too. Yeah. Doesn't even care. It's so cute. Great river. This is when they're just on the path on the river. They kind of camp on the river for nine days, right? Eight days, nine days. I thought it was 10. Yeah. It became 10 eventually. I don't know if that was this chapter or the next, but yeah, Boromir starts getting a little weird and it's decision time. Uh oh. Boromir says Minas Tarith and Aragorn is not so sure.

[01:02:52] Mm-hmm. Um, so one of the first things that happens on this is they are going and then they run into Gollum, but they kind of see Gollum who's the waterman and he's kind of just following them, which is pretty incredible. And I guess it's been a while. That is in the movies, right? Yeah. They show him on the log. It's another deleted scene. I forgot about it. Is that what it is? Okay. Um, yeah, they show him in the log and then he just like his hands and then he just kind of goes into this one little section.

[01:03:20] What weirded me out was that Boromir, Aragorn and Frodo were all aware of him, but they didn't say it to each other. They all just like kept it to themselves that they had seen him. Yeah, that's true. And I was like, I think we should like communicate more. Let's talk about our problems. And then Aragorn's going out at night to try and catch him. Yeah. Like running away from camp to like, they're all just fighting their own little battles. And I was like, I think you should kind of work as a team more. Hmm. And honestly that like Aragorn is, you know, noble and strong.

[01:03:48] I would be terrified to go after Golem on a one-on-one fight. Yeah. He seems so much worse in the book. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Way worse. Seems terrifying in the books. Cause in the movie, you kind of just know he doesn't do much. Like he's just scurrying around. He just is with you. And then in the book, I'm like, I don't know what he's going to do. Like when we actually encounter him. Cause he's in the background, like being creepy or talking with orcs already. Yeah. Like he's not doing that in the movie.

[01:04:17] I gotta say, this is one of the more fascinating, like villain characters as well. Even here. Like I was comparing it. It's totally different, but like an Umbridge where in book five of Harry Potter, you're reading that and you just cannot wait for Umbridge to die or like get out of the book. And it's like, she's always present on every page that you read. You're like, Umbridge is still here. This is ridiculous. This seems darker because it's like every page Gollum's not on it, but you know, he's

[01:04:46] lurking in the corner. It's so creepy to me. So when they, this stuff keeps popping up, I'm like, and then Aragorn is going off to hunt Gollum. I'm like, this is, you need like the whole fellowship to go hunt him. This is terrifying to me. Ugh. And then they have these other things. These, these birds that are shooting them out of the sky. I don't know what this is. I thought potentially this is like a fell beast, but I don't know. What is a fell beast? Yeah. That's what I put too.

[01:05:15] It's, uh, the, um, things that the ring race ride. Oh, that's what I thought of this too. But I didn't know that. In the movies they take the, the trebuchets and when, uh, Gandalf is writing it up. He says that once he says, send these fell beasts back to the abyss once they came or something like that. That's why you know it's a fell beast, but those are huge. Yeah. So, and then I was like, one shot. One shot. What did he do?

[01:05:44] Are we going to see one eye in the next book? Cause a bow with one hair. Perfect shot. Yeah. Okay. I didn't know those were called fell beasts. Cause I thought it was that because it made his scar hurt. And in his shoulder. Yeah, you're right. You're right. It didn't say that. And I was like, maybe, um, yeah. Yeah. So, so is Nazgul like all of them? They're like ring rates and Nazgul, but the fell beast is the flying thing.

[01:06:14] Um, I'm thinking of that line. Gandalf says it's like something of how, how many miles as the Nazgul flies and let's hope we don't have one of those on our table. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, it's also weird just to see it potentially in the fellowship. Yep. Cause we do not see this early in a movies, not till the third movie, I think. Oh no, we see it in the second. Yeah. Is that the scene where it like comes down and he's on that little bridge.

[01:06:39] Well, yeah, but we see it before the first time we see it is it's a good like movie suspense when they're in the marsh. Yeah. And then, uh, Gollum is like freaking out and then Sam's like looking over the horizon to see where the ring rates are coming from. Cause he thinks they're still on horses. And then all of a sudden you see this dragon come and it's like a shocker for a movie scene. You're like, what? Then Gollum goes, wraiths on wings. Wraiths on wings. That's what I was, it made me think about like, when is that conversation going to happen

[01:07:08] where they actually team up with Gollum or are they not going to for the longest time? Cause by now they should have been like, not quite, but very close though. But wasn't he with them in like Moria or something? No, no. I mean, yeah, he was, he was, but not teamed up with them. He was just with them. Mule. M in Mule. But they have the conversation about don't kill Gollum. Yeah. Yeah. That already occurred. Yeah. Okay. My bad.

[01:07:36] Like the, the, the groundwork is being laid out for their teamwork. No, they don't. They've never even spoken. It's like the freakiest creatures. So weird. It's very creepy. And like, who's going to have that conversation? Is it just a Frodo and Gollum thing? Is Aragorn, is Gandalf going to come back? It's also, yeah, it's also there's like beautiful moments that all the fellowship has in different sections, but Boromir here.

[01:08:06] Again, I love him so much because he has this one thing. This is Boromir held out long against this choice. But when it became plain that Frodo would follow Aragorn wherever he went, he gave in. It is not the way of, it is not the way of the men of Minas Tirith to desert their friends at need, he said. And you will need my strength if you are to ever reach the Tin Rock or Tindrak. To the tall aisle I will go, but no further. There I shall return to my home alone if my help has not earned the reward of my, of any companionship.

[01:08:36] It's intense. Yeah, it's intense. What do you guys think of Boromir? This line made me not like him. Yeah. Just because it felt like he was being a little, almost like pouty. Like, well, if I learn anything then fine, I'll do it by myself. So that's how I read it, but it could have been a slightly different vibe. How did you guys read it? I don't, I don't remember how I read it at first because the people of Reddit have convinced me otherwise.

[01:09:06] But yeah, I kind of just give him the benefit of like knowing his own strength and being a leader that like he has to trust himself. And like he, he has had people follow him into battle already. So they needed him to get through the portage. They needed him to get down the river. I don't know. I kind of get it. I kind of get the Boromir like cockiness. And not just us. We got Legolas and Gimli on our side.

[01:09:36] You know, like they all agree with this plan. Like why would you go across the marshes in enemy territory when you could stay in Gondor territory for a long, long time. Exactly. And then get to a nice solid city and then have a plan. So it is weird and counterintuitive the way Frodo sees it.

[01:09:56] I think the issue is more that Boromir wants to use the ring for Gondor's gain rather than just like protect the ring while we travel or like let's restock and then just move on again. There's definitely some kind of subtext under that. Like he wants to fight a war. He wants to win. And he's not so concerned about just like protecting the ring for a second. Yeah. And I think we naturally think of Minas Tareth in human terms. Yeah.

[01:10:25] As like a somewhat comforting place. But I think Frodo and other hobbits maybe wouldn't view it that way. Yeah. So then he's like, oh, a whole place full of people just like Boromir. And he's trying to like take the ring from me. So I think then Frodo might be thinking like, oh yeah, this corrupts men more. Yeah. I got to keep this away from men. They're not necessarily going to be helpful.

[01:10:49] I also like, oh, that's later that Frodo doesn't show the ring that Boromir hasn't even seen it since the council. Yeah. In the movies, he's just letting it flop all over the place all the time. It's like on his neck just bouncing everywhere. Taunting everybody, hypnotizing them. Yeah.

[01:11:07] The only other note that I have in this chapter was I just kept giggling at this one because I thought this was so like just a word that is misunderstood in our modern language is as they're going through these, the statues of the men. The Argonauts. And all of a sudden it says, fear not, said a strange voice behind him. Frodo turned and saw Strider. And yet not Strider, for the weathered-worn ranger was no longer there. In the stern sat Aragorn, son of Aerithorn.

[01:11:38] Proud and erect. Dying the boat with skillful strokes. His hood was cast back and his dark hair was blowing in the wind. A light was at his eyes. A king returning from exile to his own land. That's so funny. I just kept giggling at that one. I read it and I was like, yeah! Oh! Yeah! And then I just stopped dying. That's funny. It's like such a good moment. I know. Ruined by just some giggles. I can't. I can't. That is a great moment though when they're going, he's going through it and he finally like teesies.

[01:12:08] It's, Ergwen is really interesting. Um, because he's more kingly and because he's like more willing to assume his role, it seems stranger that he's not willing to go to Minas Terra. Um, you, you think that he would be one of the first people to go, but I feel like he is good because he knows the kingdom of ones, the kingdom of men's weakness. Um, but He's literally a man though. Yeah. So one of my questions for you guys is what is your vibe on that?

[01:12:35] Why does Ergwen who seems very kingly at this point and seems like he's ready to assume role, not want to go to Minas Terra. I viewed it like he does want to go to Minas Terra, but he's just very self aware and he knows that he wants to go there and he knows that he wants to be king. And he's working overtime to suppress his own desires here. And that's making him say, no, that's the easy way. That's what I do want to do. Yeah, that's true.

[01:13:04] Is it right for this quest? And then I think he's maybe playing devil's advocate a little. If everyone else is saying Minas Terra, he's saying it's too easy and I want that too. But is that right? Would Gandalf say yes, go over there. Who was, who was having that discussion? Um, in these chapters, someone was like, this is the easy way to do it, but it's not the right way. I think Frodo, maybe the conversation with Frodo and Boromir was that or something. I forgot what it was, but yeah, it was, it was, it was essentially that discussion. Like this is the easy way out. I could do it this way. But you know, that just seems like the wrong way.

[01:13:34] Yeah. Cause I think Aragorn is more focused on getting the ring back to Mordor, even if it's like a nice little safe passage for a while. It was like why Boromir just wants to stay and fight his own battle. But I like that Frodo stepped away and just thought about it for himself. And even Galadriel had said that earlier to him, that he, his mind is so clear and strong now that like he's able to see into her mind more than almost anybody else.

[01:14:02] And I feel like he just took that advice and was just like, let me think about it. And then I feel like he can trust himself a lot more now as he goes out alone with Sam. But I would probably, honestly, I would go stop in the city for a little bit. Like, yeah, at least a little recuperation before your rest of your trash. But has Aragorn been there before? Is there, do we have any reason to not like them?

[01:14:31] I kind of assume he's been everywhere, but you're right. He maybe hasn't. Cause didn't he like not get down the river that far? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you're right. Wait, wait one second. I don't know if he's- We know he's been to La Florian. It said 30 something years ago, which again, story. What was that? Why was that? Um, yeah, I don't know. Maybe not. Why would he? I felt like in the movie he had been, but I don't know. Check the map. It seems like maybe like- Is there other ways to get there?

[01:15:01] Yeah. Maybe when he was like a kid, they like brought him there, you know, showed him all the realm. And his, his dad was like, everything the light touches is your kingdom. But then yeah, weird, uh, dynamic then with Denethor or whoever else was on the throne when Aragorn was a kid. Like maybe he had to be nervous because he doesn't know if they would trust him or try to kill him to keep power. Yep.

[01:15:26] Um, my friend Micah sent me a text today that he got bookends that are the Argonoth men. Oh yeah. I saw those. He's so epic. I know. Um, and he builds a lot of these little models with like metal cutting out little plate things. And it's like the Lego equivalent. I'm like, Oh yeah, I'm going to be doing that when we watch Lord of the Rings. Yes. Make those little models. I love my Lego Isengard so bad. Oh, I just saw that when I was looking it up. It's huge. It's like 500 bucks or something. I want Lego tree beard. Someone, uh, they do like competitions and they do it.

[01:15:56] What were you the one on? I sent that to you. They do like the competitions and this one person won the competition for making a tree beard and they're like, I'm going to reproduce this. That is so cool. How big is it? I don't know. Yeah, it's gotta be. Oh, gotta be massive. Oh, like I wanted to be reasonably sized. Yeah, I thought I could afford it and keep it in the home somewhere. Uh, anything else in chapter 21? Um, let me see. Was this where, um, the edge of Gondor's kingdom was?

[01:16:26] And B I just thought the Argonaut are facing north with their hands up. So is it like welcome to Gondor kind of like, Hey, don't come any farther unless you're welcome. Also weird spot for the king seat. I was just thinking about all the history here. Was that actually like more powerful when you sat in that seat? Like, could you actually like, was there magic to that or just the view? Frodo had the ring on too. Yeah. We had mixed signals, but I think there was a blurred like combo of magic.

[01:16:54] Was it Aragorn ran up there and he was like, let me see what I can see. Cause maybe that's when I don't know if he was trying to find out. Did he end up up there? Cause again, I was like thinking of the movies where in the movies they don't even, I don't even know if they mentioned it. Do they say ancient Kings or something? But I'm like, it was actually a significant thing that Aragorn was thinking about before they even got here as like a place full of wisdom that used to be where King sat his ancestors.

[01:17:21] So it felt like it was barely mentioned in the movies, but then it felt so powerful reading it. I'm like, Oh man, go up, sit on this old throne. Yeah. Cause then we just followed Sam when Sam broke away from Aragorn. So we don't know what any, and then I'm like, we missed so much that, that I'm like hoping the second book starts right where we left off and fills in the rest of those details. I thought the, I thought the seat was the place where Frodo and Aragorn had that short conversation in the movies. In the movies.

[01:17:51] That's the seat, right? I think so. Cause he takes off the ring there or he like sees the ring and has this whole like vision there. Yep. I couldn't remember, but yeah, he takes off the ring there. Just very brief in the movies. Yeah. There's no like real important. And then in the books, I just didn't remember if we saw Aragorn get up there at all, or if he ran up, like you said, when we weren't with him. Hmm. Yeah. I was kind of sad. It didn't end with the battle. Mm-hmm. It's just like me.

[01:18:20] I don't think there's going to be a battle. Really? I wondered the same. I thought, was that a movie fun? Yeah. I feel like they had to make the movie climactic. So they just kind of threw that in there. Cause I read. There might be a mini one. In the next book. Stormy is going to die, right? There's like a little preface of like a summary of this book. And it said in the, in that little summary, it was like, and the, the, what is this called? The nine, the fellowship.

[01:18:46] Why can't I think of the fellowship is like dispersed and like, they're all like separated now. And I was like, wait, that didn't really happen though. So it may be, it does just pick up. It wouldn't surprise me. His writing style. I feel like sometimes he goes quick with different random things where it would just pick up and they'd be mourning that Boromir died and it would, it could already be over. And then they're onto something else already, but it would feel a little weird. Yeah, for sure.

[01:19:13] So I'm hoping there's still a little bit of a battle and we get a proper send off. I think death has to be pretty tragic. But then I still would love to see Aragorn fighting and get some side by side action with Legolas and Gimli doing some, some shooting and axing. Get the kill counter up. I would love to see that. Nice. Yeah. Uh, okay. Chapter 22, the breaking of the fellowship. All right. This is the breaking of the fellowship. My summary is as long as the chapter.

[01:19:43] Um, Gollum talk and debate about the route to take. Frodo went to the ancient king seat to think after Boromir monologued and tried to take the ring. Frodo decided to go to Mordor alone. The fellowship realized something was up when Boromir expressed some guilt. Sam was smart and realized what was up. Sam found Frodo and they rode over to the eastern shore of Anduin together, leaving the rest of the fellowship behind. Perfect. That was such a good Sam moment.

[01:20:13] Yeah. So good. I had to, I was reading that this afternoon. I was like, I got to make a quick video about that. It was so cool. So I just talked about that's like Sam's ultimate moment. Yeah. Where I, so unexpected in the movies. Um, you just kind of assume that Sam was just like hiding away from the battle. Oh yeah. You're right. He's just, cause he's not in the last like 30 minutes of this. It's like, they say, where's Frodo? And he was like, it's nervous. And then it happens totally different in the movies, but I love how everyone splits off.

[01:20:41] And Sam is the first one to run after him. And then the first one to also realize Frodo wouldn't be out there. Yeah. He would, he would be by the boats. And so he runs back by the boats and almost drowns. But yeah, he put himself in Frodo shoes so quickly and understood Frodo and his mindset. It was cute. I love him. I love him for that. So smart. What do you guys have in this one?

[01:21:11] Um, that was the line, uh, Sam goes, he screwed himself up to the point. Sudden. He made up his mind at last to go where to off East, not without Sam. Yes. Without even his Sam. That's hard. He had a cruel heart. I was like, oh, Sam. And then when they reunite, Frodo's laughing and he's calling them, he's calling him like lad and his friend. It's not like master. And I don't know.

[01:21:40] I feel like the bond is really sweet there. And I don't know. It's like showcases the friendship, but then also Sam's brain for like the first time. And then now they're going to be alone on their journey together. So I was like, good. Sam is getting like a little bit more. I don't know. I don't know. Credit or he's a little more trustworthy to me now. Like he can actually make a decision. Yeah. It was, it was emotional in the movies.

[01:22:08] This had like a different level of emotional, emotionality to it to me. Like it was emotional, but it was also super comedic. Yeah. It was like, I'm going to pop holes in the boats. Yeah. And then Frodo, he like makes Frodo laugh. And then he just has, there's like so many good lines, but it's still very much to me seems like this master. It doesn't seem like they're like they're friends, but they're not quite friends yet. It seems like this master and like student relationship. Yep. You're right.

[01:22:36] Which I think is fine, but it just, I like how the movies change that maybe a little. I'm I'm I hope that they change a little bit to that too. Right. I think like, uh, I think Sam's always going to respect them and always say that, you know, master master Frodo or whatever, but I think, uh, I'm excited to see it transition. If it does transition to more of like a equal friendship.

[01:23:05] I don't know if it seems like that at the moment to me right now. Yeah. Cause Frodo was never even in the lead at this point. Yeah. He's always following somebody else. Yeah. Oh yeah. True. It was funny. He's picking Sam up by his hair. I was like, whoa, invisible. So it's like funny. There was like comedy there. And yeah, it was very different in the movie reaches down. Yeah. Perfect. Like grab moment onto each other's wrists. And then this one grab rips them up by the hair. He's good.

[01:23:35] Um, just at the beginning of the chapter, um, Aragorn, the way he talked about, this is the lawn of part gallon. It made me wonder either. He's been here before and he's familiar or he's heard stories about this place his whole life. And he's been like dreaming of this and he's already like, he knows because he's, he's studied maps about this exact area. Um, another thing. Frodo was on night watch and did not have sting out. Mistake. When you're on night watch. In fact, anyone on night watch. Anyone on night watch.

[01:24:05] Sting is on your lap. And just, it's not in its sheath. It's ridiculous. It's like the most convenient thing ever just to have this. And they're like, it's like kind of glowing. Do you think they're on our side of the river? Uh, that's like right always be out. So yeah. Um, yeah. Good lines in this too. I, again, Boromir seems like, I think I like him so much in these sections because

[01:24:33] he just seems like one of the more complicated characters. Like, I guess anytime a character kind of has a little bit of a fall, they just have a more complexity to them. Like Gimli has a complexity to him right now. To me, Legolas doesn't have that much complexity to him, which is weird. Cause he's like one of the oldest, all the rest of them do it to some extent, but I like someone with like a little bit of a dark side here. Cause you can see where he's like almost getting manipulative to some extent with Frodo and their conversation. He goes, I was afraid for you, Frodo. He said, coming forward.

[01:25:00] If Aragorn is right and the orcs are near, then none of us should wander alone. You, you least of all, so much depends on you. My heart is too heavy. May I stay now and talk for a while since I have found you. It would comfort me where there are so many, all speech becomes a debate without end, but two together may find wisdom. So he's like trying to manipulate and woo him at here a little bit, which is like a little like creepy, but I still kind of love there. This was really, I know. We're nailing it. Do you want water? I have my water bottle.

[01:25:31] Um, there is, um, I'm reading Mistborn and, uh, there's one section in the Mistborn series where someone, uh, I'm not going to explain anything really, but there's someone who talks about how manipulation, how every form of conversation is a form of manipulation. Just some, some people like, you know, don't really want to look at it with like a lens like that. And I was like that there's kind of some truth to that. Hmm. I was like, it's really interesting. Like the person's like everything that you say, you're trying to win people to your cause or like they're, you're always trying to interact with people in some way.

[01:26:01] So it's, there's always some kind of form of manipulation and conversation. That's an interesting point. And so even though, you know, it, this seems more blatant manipulation where he's like trying to get Frodo to like see his side. He's like, Oh, you know, where, where me and you are together, maybe we'll find wisdom in Boromir's mind. But I feel like everyone is doing that to some extent. And then he says, ah, the ring said Boromir, his eyes lighting the ring.

[01:26:28] It is, is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small thing, so small thing. And I've seen it only for an instant in the council of the world. I'm like, I not have a sight of it again. It's like so interesting. You just know. Yeah, I know. Yeah. I feel like Frodo did a pretty good job, like resisting and being old here. Yep. Yeah. I agree. Much better than the movies. Cause in the movies, he's just like a victim. Like he's like, yeah, you're right. Like a bystander.

[01:26:54] Like Boromir pounces on him and Frodo puts the ring on before he even gets a chance to pounce on, which I kind of like more. It seems like Frodo is a bit more active. I think it's great. I also liked that in the movies, I'm pretty sure it was as if Frodo was attacking Boromir back when he was invisible. But here Frodo didn't. And it was almost like Frodo put the ring on and just sprinted away.

[01:27:23] Wait, did he go away or up to the top? I forget if he was going down or up because he was going up maybe to look around and see the eye. But either way, it said something like Boromir crying and saying, come back. I'm sorry. But by that point, Frodo was so far gone, he didn't even hear it. Yeah. So again, just different from the movies where it almost implied, I think, that he was still there and like hitting him with a stick or something. Yeah. Beating him up while he's invisible. So just again, a character thing for Frodo. Yeah, for sure.

[01:27:52] My question in this part is like, I don't trust the snapback into like normal Boromir. That just feels like so quick to me that I was wondering like, where is like Boromir? Where does Boromir start? And like, where does the ring end or like the other way around? Because it felt like Boromir's story has been like kind of a slow burn up till this point that when he like was back to normal. He's like, oh, I'm sorry.

[01:28:21] It was like all the ring. I'm like, yeah, but how much of that was the ring? Like just this one part in the woods? Because like you kind of thought this before too. So I don't know. That was like, I didn't know. I trust that he's back to normal, but I still feel like his normal is kind of inclined to want the ring. So I don't know. Yeah. I didn't. That was. I always think it's interesting too. He went for like a cool down. Yeah. Yeah. Like walked around for like a half hour and like, you know, kind of chilled.

[01:28:50] So maybe this really was all him. Well, he's probably like, how do I explain this? Yeah. To everyone else? Like I just attacked him. I tried to get the ring. Yeah. I don't think that's going to go over well with everyone else. And then he doesn't explain the story well either. And isn't Aragorn like, is that all you have to say? Yeah. And he's like, yeah, that's it. And Sam knows that he hasn't like said everything yet either, which is how he kind of like comes to the conclusion that Frodo is running away.

[01:29:22] Ah, yeah. He's an interesting guy for me right now. And again, that's why I have questions on the power of the ring. Out of everyone in the fellowship, he seems like the most profitable, to be honest. None of the hobbits seem corruptible because none of them want power in any way. Aragorn is Aragorn. Sorry, Matt. Where are you? Wait a second. I'm just going to look at it. Legolas doesn't seem that corruptible. Gandalf not that corruptible. Boromir seems like the corruptible person. So, yeah.

[01:29:51] It's simultaneously remarkable that he's been uncorrupted by it for this long. And then also, you can see, I don't know if the ring is really doing all this or if it's him wanting this. And what the interplay between those two things. Exactly what you're saying. Because now he's like, never mind. I never want the ring. Let's not go back to Gondor. Like, I want a whole shift of everything. Yeah. After this point. And it's weird because you just don't know.

[01:30:19] And then in the woods, was he coming up with another plan to get the ring? Yeah. Or was he genuinely sorry when he went back? Did he expect to find Frodo already telling the story to everybody else and saying Boromir's bad? But he didn't seem too defensive. He felt humble. Yeah. I'm curious who the next most vulnerable person to the ring would be after Boromir. I'm tempted to say Aragorn. Yeah. I would probably say Aragorn. Just as a man. Yeah.

[01:30:47] And part of me thought maybe Gimli, but then I like thinking of him as being pure hearted in some way. I think Aragorn. Even though dwarves love gold. But yeah. Honestly. Aragorn seems pure to you, but he almost knows his own weakness. Right. He's more self-aware. You're right. Yep. But I think he's almost the same in the books. He knows like the weakness that resides in the heart of men. So I think he kind of resists that for as much as he can. But I like this when he puts on the ring and he's about to take it off.

[01:31:17] The two powers strove him for a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points. He arrived tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo. Neither the voice nor the eye. Free to choose. And with one remaining instant in which to do so, he took the ring of power or he took the ring off his finger. He was kneeling in the clear sunlight before the high seat. A black shadow seemed to pass like an arm above him and missed Ammonhen and groped out west, then faded.

[01:31:46] And all the sky was clean and blue and birds sang in every tree. And I guess. Birds. Birds. Birds. One of my questions too is what would happen if Frodo, if the ring took control of Frodo? Like what? Were we close to that in that moment? It felt like it. Seems like we're teetering.

[01:32:13] Like we're very close to like him falling off the edge and like the ring completely possessing Frodo. I thought very close. Very, very close. I'm trying to find the exact line so I can underline it or see where I underlined. I guess when he put the ring back on to go down to the boats, I was like, whoa, hold up. Yeah, that was wild. I feel like you just barely got out of this.

[01:32:42] Why are you putting this back on? Yeah. And then I thought, is this him being tempted? Like already thinking, no, no, I can handle it. I can put it back on. It's okay. But I'm like, I'm thinking the way it was worded. And he barely had the wherewithal to pull it off in a brief moment of strength, because if the ring took over, whether he would turn himself directly over to the eye that was seemingly

[01:33:07] looking for him or some kind of ring wraith, or if he would then be corrupted and go to minister and, you know, corrupt more men in the whole process or whatever. I don't know. But it seemed unwise. Yeah. According to everything that Galadriel has told him and Gandalf and everybody else. And it's interesting, too, because this whole chapter, this chunk of chapter, it seems like everyone is enduring some kind of test. Like Gandalf faces tests earlier. He's like facing his test currently fighting the Balrog, I guess.

[01:33:37] And then like all these other members are like facing some kind of trial or temptation. It's like how they overcome it or how they succumb to it. And people are using the word relapse in chat with like Boromir. Like he's like finished with this, but he could relapse. Oh, yeah. That's a good word. Yeah, it is a good word. Frodo seems like the same. Like he's maybe more in control of his ability to relapse than I guess Boromir would be.

[01:34:05] But it makes me respect hobbits, too. And maybe they really are less susceptible to this kind of stuff. But again, in this moment, Frodo seems like I would be so curious. I want like, you know, the book retold him Boromir's perspective. If Boromir got the ring and put it on, what would happen? Like would he immediately fall and become like a wraith? Because Frodo's putting this thing on. Hobbits are putting the ring on. Like have we seen anybody but a hobbit put the ring on?

[01:34:37] Did Tom Bombadil? That's right. That's right. He was like, he actually put it on and nothing happened, right? Totally pure person. Yeah, yeah. Nothing really happened. That was nuts. That's actually. Maybe he made the rings and that's why he can't. But after that, yeah, we haven't seen anyone. Yeah. I don't know. But Frodo. Or what happens to Boromir? Like say he lived because he failed his test, but then he kind of got to the point where like the ring escaped him. He couldn't put it on.

[01:35:06] But if it comes back to him, can you fail multiple times or? Yeah. One chance and that's it. I don't know. Because everybody's like, oh, phew, I passed the test. Like it's a once and done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's like, oh, I failed the test. I have to do that again. That's it. I failed it, but we're still living. Yeah. Frodo seems so torn. Never, never, verily, I come to you. Yeah. Take it off. Take it off. Fool, take it off. Take off the ring.

[01:35:36] But then two paragraphs later, he's like, let me put it on again to run down the path. I love this. This Sam moment is probably my favorite. That's maybe my favorite moment in this whole chunk. Sam passes hand over his eyes, brushing away the tears. Steady, Ganji. He said, think if you can. You can't fly across rivers and you can't jump waterfalls. I like that. He goes, you can't jump waterfalls. He's got no gear. He's got to get back to the boats. Back to the boats. Back to the boats, Sam.

[01:36:06] Like lightning. He's like hyping himself up here. He's figured out the riddle. He goes, of course it is, Sam answered. But not alone. I'm coming too. Or neither of us isn't going. I'll knock holes in all the boats first. Frodo actually laughed. Sudden warmth and gladness touched his heart. Leave one, he said. We need it. Or we'll need it. But you can't come like this without your gear or food or anything. So love Sam so much there. Such a good moment.

[01:36:39] Yeah, he's just so full of hope. And he's even throughout all this, he's like, and I'm coming with you. I'm coming with you. No, not alone. And then at the end, Frodo says, I don't suppose we shall see them again. And Sam chimes in quickly. Yet we may, Mr. Frodo, we may. So he's like always giving that little bit of hope. And Frodo needs that desperately. Yeah. Someone's asking us on chat, who is the voice telling Frodo to take the ring? Hmm. I heard it in his own voice in his head.

[01:37:09] Yeah, I thought that was like his own. Yeah, me too. Interesting. Interesting. I gotta reread that. Sauron's voice. Hmm. Well, it does say he heard himself crying out, never, never. Or was it? Verily, I come. I come to you. So it almost, I read that as like he was saying both of them, but maybe he was saying never, never.

[01:37:38] But then he was hearing this other side of himself or Sauron or something else. No, it must be the ring in him saying, I come to you. Like a call back to Sauron. Or Sauron saying I'm coming to you because he's like looking everywhere. Well, yeah, that's like feels weird. So like it, could it be him? I feel like it would have to be the ring. Like I come to you, meaning like I'm coming back to you, Sauron, like reaching out through the ring void to speak to its master.

[01:38:06] And then Frodo says again, there came to his mind another thought. Take it off. Take it off. Then as a flash from some other point of power, there came to his mind another thought. Ooh, okay. That's interesting. Gandalf. That to me is like. Another point of power? You think Gandalf's up in Frodo's mind right now? Oh, man. That'd be sick. And Galadriel? Yeah, I was like Galadriel? That actually makes sense. That's kind of crazy. In Frodo's mind, Galadriel would make a lot of sense.

[01:38:35] And Gandalf does say fool. Because that made me think of like fool of a took. And then, yeah. But I was just thinking Galadriel because she mentioned that you can see other ring people when you have the ring on. So when, and she was very aware of every time he put the ring on. So as soon as he put the ring on, she might've been able to like see him. And say something like scream something across. Yeah, like a little bit. The same as the ring wraiths can, but her for good.

[01:39:05] Interesting. That's just, I, yeah. Another point of power? That just like puts the ring realm in a weird place. So. Suddenly he was aware of himself again, Frodo. Neither the voice nor the eye. The two powers strove in him. I took that to mean. His like the duality within him of desire for. Yeah. Good or evil maybe. But then I'm like, wait, two powers could be Sauron versus Galadriel. Galadriel versus Gandalf. I don't know, maybe.

[01:39:37] But I guess. Interesting. Sauron doesn't have a ring. So he's more limited in his power, I guess. Frodo, neither the voice nor the eye. Free to choose. So the voice isn't. The voice is capitalized. Also, why? What makes a word be capitalized? He does seem to capitalize a few bonus words here. This is the thing. I forget who I didn't write it down.

[01:40:03] But in this set of chapters, it was like somebody had to command something with a capital C. And I remember being like, what is that? I noticed that too. But then Gandalf commanded, like he sent a word of command to the Balrog when it was like at the gate. So I was like, is that like some certain spell thing? I didn't go back and look at that, but capital letters. I need Andy Serkis to say capital letter command. Capital C.

[01:40:33] You guys have anything else in this chapter? No, I don't think so. I just I turned this page. Definitely not expecting it to be over because I'm knowing how much more is in the movie. Yeah. And then I was like, oh, whoa, that's it. Okay. Whoa. So yeah, nothing else. I was expecting like some kind of maybe mini battle that was going to happen. Yeah. I thought nothing. Because I, yeah, I thought we were going to see. Crazy. The fellowship just ends. Yeah. But it still felt like a nice ending. Yeah.

[01:41:01] And very much like I want to read to the next chapter. Yep. Definitely. Definitely. This made it feel a lot more like this is one big book. Yeah. That we're just used to seeing in three. But yeah, as far as making movies, I get why you need a little more drama in the end. Yeah, for sure. Buy yourself some time. Are these all published like at the same time? Are they how much? I was wondering that too. Good question. How much time in between? The suspense. I know.

[01:41:31] You read this. You're just waiting for the next one. Cool. Next chapter. Don't go ahead. All right. Let's do favorites. Give me your favorite moment. And then favorite character or who wins a basket of mushrooms. And then who is the hot dolly?

[01:42:02] Jen can just say ditto at the end for all of our favorites. Who's going first? I'll say favorite moment is and maybe my favorite moment in the whole book too. It was probably just my absolute favorite is Sam running back. Like I love that in the movie. It's one of my favorite moments in the movies. And the book just was like even better. It was like their conversation that they had. How Sam figured everything out.

[01:42:29] Like the backstory behind what was going on in Sam's mind was just so fun to see. Like I read that this afternoon and I was like it was just so fun. I'm going to be that annoying person in movies. That's like you guys don't see Sam in this whole equation right now? Well let me tell you. Let me tell you where he is. Let me tell you what he's thinking. Let me tell you when he goes back. The whole conversation that happens. So that was probably my favorite moment.

[01:42:56] I really like the very beginning Frodo singing his song. That to me was a good moment. Oh the Gandalf morning. Yeah. And then Aragorn's Hot Tamale. Whoa nice. Nice. And favorite character. I kind of want to say Gimli. Nice. Yeah he's great. I love Gimli and Legolas's friendship.

[01:43:25] And yeah. I feel like they weren't like the main characters but they got some good airtime. I'm going Gimli for Hot Tamale for the end. That's a good choice. Yeah same. That was so good. You're going to say Gimli for Hot Tamale? Yeah. Getting teared up. He's got away with words. He does. And I just think he did it brilliantly. Yeah. He's much more like honorable and stout in the books than in the movies. Yeah. In the movies he's a little clumsy like you know tripping over things. Yeah. Kind of comic relief and stuff. But yeah he's noble.

[01:43:55] He's great. So yeah that was Hot Tamale for me. Favorite moment is a little tougher but I did love departing Glathalorian. But then I just feel like it was all great. And all the time on the river like making progress. I loved seeing that it was like 10 days of just like movement. They're making progress towards Mordor. They're like on the move. I enjoyed that. It felt like we were going places. Basket of mushrooms.

[01:44:25] I think it's going to go to Aragorn. Yeah. I think he felt the pressure of trying to fill Gandalf's shoes which is a tough task. And then we saw at least twice he felt really kingly. Like when he was first given. I don't know it wasn't the sheath. It was given the stone. Yeah. So then he really and then going by the Argonath. Again like becoming more than just a ranger. Yeah. That was cool seeing that.

[01:44:55] Also we have a recommendation. We need to change the basket of mushrooms because we have so many better gifts in the next chapter. Nice. Three hairs. But it has three hairs. General gift. Who gets the okay. One hair for you. He gets the light of Lindale. Yeah. Who gets the light of Lindale? Yeah. I'm down for that change. I would probably say my favorite at the moment is still Boromir. I still kind of love him. Galadriel's getting nothing in these chapters though. That's kind of crazy.

[01:45:23] Someone has to do something for her. I know. She is. She could be my hot tamale. You know especially if she was that voice in Frodo's head there. Seriously. Then that really bumps her. Yeah. Yeah. We'll find out next time if she knows the voice. What of those gifts could be for anybody though? It's like I don't know. I feel like. I don't know. The light of a Lindale is a pretty good one. But even the chain. Oh wait.

[01:45:53] Was it Frodo's little vest? Is that the Mithril? Yeah. Is that Elven or that's dwarves? I feel like it's both. Yeah. Okay. And I don't know why. I don't. The Mithril Elven Forge I think? Because the elves were like no one else wears this besides elves. Right. So I feel like the elves don't give gifts to people. They're very. Hmm. Which makes all of these gifts even more powerful. That's all I'm saying. Hmm.

[01:46:19] And it did say that their cloaks wouldn't block blade or arrow or something. But there's got to be some magic to these things. Yeah. Right? At least something. I don't know what it is but. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. It'll be fun to see that. But thanks for joining us on our journey of the scholarship of the first time readers. See ya. See ya. See ya later. Thanks guys.

[01:47:01] Josh our friend from high school. His dad reads it every year. Oh really? At least nearly. And so I've been wanting to read it for a long time. Even hearing him talk so positively about it. I'm like how do we read it every year? Now I see it. I get it. Is he like a. Is he in all the lore and everything? I was going to ask him. I was going to ask him. I actually saw him and was going to ask him about it. We got caught up in other things. But I'm going to ask him a little more specifics. Nice. Like Tom Bombadil. Yeah. Yeah. But I just want to like pick his brain on some of these things.

[01:47:30] Like how do you view it? After reading it a lot of times do you focus on different themes? Just walk by him. What was the voice in front of his head? Yeah. Right. He was like oh let's talk about that. Let me tell ya. Cause even I think you'll discover a lot in a second read this quick. Like you'll find new things that you're focusing on and new characters will jump out.