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I really enjoyed the discussion in this week's lesson about the following quote: "Look not too far ahead! But go now with good hearts!" When I looked at the quote this week, I couldn't help but look ahead to Sam in "The Black Gate is Closed", where the narrator says of him, "and after all he...

I had hoped to ask this during class, but I wasn't able to join live this week: When Sam describes his supply of pipe-weed as "but not near enough, I'll warrant", I assume that he is being pessimistic. However, I am not sure exactly for what reason he thinks it won't be enough. Does he think...

Thank you for the replies! Yes, now that I am reading "A Short Cut to Mushrooms", it is clear that they started out from location B. I am absolutely shocked at how much I was missing by not having this map. I feel like I am understanding these chapters for the first time. It is also...

I have been carefully re-reading Three is Company, and for the first time ever I own a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring that contains a detailed map of part of the Shire, so I have been following the hobbits' path very closely - but now I've gotten stuck. After the hobbits meet up with the...

During this week's discussion of the Ringwraiths as empty vessels that are filled with Sauron's will, I was immediately reminded of Gandalf's thoughts regarding Frodo in "Many Meetings": "He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can." What is this light with...

Congratulations on catching up, though you are now stuck waiting for a new lesson each week like the rest of us! I was still in high school when the first two films were released, and had only read LOTR a couple of times at that point. Ever since then I have slowly tried to read the books...

Throughout this chapter, I keep struggling to picture what this council looks like. Specifically, I am thinking about these three things: 1. What does the "porch where Frodo had found his friends the evening before" look like? Is it entirely open? Does it have a roof? We get a description...

In episode 129, one possible reading regarding Boromir's exclamation of "Isildur took it! That is tidings indeed," was that Boromir was immediately thinking about it as good news -- a chance to find and use the ring now. While I agree that this reading works well with Elrond's response, I...

All of Bilbo's words and actions in this scene seem totally consistent with an old, retired man. However, there is, as far as I can tell, zero reference to how old Bilbo actually looks - not even something as simple as, he "looked older and more careworn", like we got when Frodo saw Gandalf in...

Watching the most recent class (112), I had so many questions that I wish I could have joined in live. Sadly, as I live in Japan I am always at work during lessons. During the lesson, it was briefly mentioned that Gandalf and Elrond probably wouldn't have wanted Bilbo to send any messages to...

A couple of years ago I though it would be fun to try making a children's book. I wrote the text for it pretty quickly, but still haven't got around to the illustrations. I figured there would be four lines per page, and the illustrations would become more vivid and colorful as the main...

Yes, I believe I raised the question of Bilbo's "last letter" a long time ago in the forum. I think the meaning of "last" is questionable. Does it mean "final" or does it mean "most recent"? If it means most recent, why would it be the letter he left at Bag End? Did Bilbo make a habit of...

This is a small comment regarding the discussion from the previous lesson. I found the different ideas regarding why Gandalf suddenly looks at Frodo very interesting, particularly the claim that Gandalf may have had a knee-jerk reaction to the Gollum-like "we". However, I do feel that one of...

You raise an interesting point about the end of Beren and Luthien's story. It is told from a different perspective and in much less detail than that of Aragorn and Arwen, so it is hard for us to know what the end of their lives was like. However, I think the idea was raised in one of the other...

Something that you brought up about this line during episode 73 struck me as very interesting. I had forgotten the fact that Beren would have had no way of knowing her name, and therefore must have been inspired to call her this based purely on his experience of seeing her. It made me think...

I was hoping we would get to this line in the last class, and we got so close! I'm never able to tune in live, so I thought I would post this question and hope you can cover it in the next lesson. It is the biggest question I have about this chapter. When Strider says, "Bilbo must have...

Hi! I've been loving this course and the Mythgard Academy classes for the past couple of years, though I only joined the forum recently. There was one small thing I noticed in episode 66 regarding the interpretation of a line about Aragorn. As the group enters the Midgewater Marshes, the...

One thing to note is that Maggot is not sure if the rider was laughing or not: "It might have been laughing, and it might not," but my guess is that you are right. One quote from the beginning of chapter 11 suggests this: "Let the little people blow! Sauron would deal with them later...

Hello, first-time poster here. I have a question that I don't think was covered in the course, stemming from Chapter 2 of Book 1. Early on in the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo, after Gandalf describes Bilbo's account of the strange behavior of the ring, Frodo says, "'Yes, he warned...