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Hi Team! I grew up with the Rankin and Bass cartoons (including the read-a-long cassette books :)) before first reading the LOTR in the early 90’s. I have a Ph.D. In physics (hence the ‘Evil Dr.’) and love working with datasets. Perhaps some of you have seen the projections I periodically...

@Anthony Lawther , nice data :) My analysis is less granular than yours, focusing on pages and chapters rather than word count. If I use your estimate (which seems reasonable) that we will finish CoE after ~65 sessions and use our average pace over the last 3 chapters (~0.48 pages/week) then I...

I find it interesting that Elrond suggested that maybe he should have summoned Tom Bombadil to their council. It's not like everyone was there by invitation and Bombadil was neglected. No one was invited/summoned, as was pointed out at the beginning of the meeting. Why then would Elrond have...

@Anthony Lawther My estimate based on pages is in pretty good agreement with your word-based method. We made it through Many Meetings at a pace of 0.65 pages/class. With 32 pates in the Council of Elrond, we should finish in 49 classes at the same rate.

Personally, I don’t think Bilbo’s poem projects like an active force on listeners as the elves’ does. I see the symmetry with the Earendil comment and I can see the perspective (as discussed in class) about Bilbo’s poem acting as a lifeline to pull Frodo back from the enchanted state. However...

We are still discussing Frodo and Gandalf’s conversation when he wakes up in Rivendell. We are months away from discussing the Gandalf/Saruman encounter

Forgive the lengthy post, but last week’s class was a real epiphany for me and I got a bit excited. I wanted to organize my thoughts and get feedback from the group. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the nature of the Rings of Power than I previously had. I have a working...

I agree, Matt. I would guess that if the calaquendi live at once in both worlds, Gandalf certainly does as well and can probably discern aspects of both sides.

I'm going out on a limb here and assuming that we will finish book 1 during the upcoming lecture, #93. With that, I have some fun data and plots for those who are nerdy like me :) In the beginning, way back in Jan of 2017, we started out at an irresponsible pace of 7 pages per week, as shown...

Nobody expects the Nazgul Inquisition!

I've never thought of that either! I tend to agree that it seems like it would have been Gandalf or Elrond. Elrond was tending him for days and could easily have taken care of the ring.

Last week we discussed the attack under Weather Top. This week I also happened to be listening to the episode in The Return of the Shadow podcast covering this same section (evidently I can't get enough of Corey's voice). It is clear that many of Tolkien's themes and descriptions have remained...

Okay, I evidently have too much time on my hands because I've been looking at the data for how much time we've been spending on each chapter. Our pace has been slowing and we are down to about 1.3 pages per week. With 17 pages left in Book 1, I'm going on record with my official prediction...

Good point. I wonder how Aragorn knows what it is. In fact, this raises a slew of questions. Have the Nazgul used them before? Do we know of any wraiths created by Morgul blades? Do they have other purposes besides wraithification?

I am new the forum and excited to be joining! I am all caught up now, having just binged all 64 episodes of the Exploring the Lord of the Rings podcasts over the last 3 or 4 weeks. Recently, we discussed the attack by the Nazgul on the house at Crickhollow. (This, by the way, totally blew my...