The Lord of the Rings Book Club: Book II

: In this book, we see the formation and departure of the Fellowship of the Ring. Finally, the quest has fully begun. While Frodo is willing to take the burden of the Ring onto himself, he acknowledges that he doesn’t even know where to begin in terms of getting it to Mordor. And Elrond understands that he cannot go alone. However, he doesn’t send him forth with a host of great warriors -- rather he sends him in a small group meant to represent all the peoples of Middle-Earth, a group formed largely around friendship! So we see the theme of Fellowship carrying through into Book II. The life-saving, life-giving virtue of friendship…

The Lord of the Rings Book Club: Book I

Sixty years after returning home to Bag End from his unexpected adventure, Bilbo Baggins has become a legend among hobbits. Though nearing his eleventy-first birthday, he has not aged visibly since he was fifty; his unexplained youth and wealth have become a popular topic of gossip throughout the Shire.

As the 22nd of September draws closer, all of Hobbiton is busy making preparations for a party of special magnificence: a combined birthday celebration for Bilbo and his nephew and heir, Frodo. As packages and parcels pour into Bag End, Gandalf the wizard also arrives in the Shire, though he comes with “far more difficult and dangerous” business than anyone realizes…

Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age (Silmarillion Study, Part 20)

"There at the last they looked upon death and defeat, and all their valour was in vain; for Sauron was too strong. Yet in that hour was put to the proof that which Mithrandir had spoken, and help came from the hands of the weak when the Wise faltered. For, as many songs have since sung, it was the Periannath, the Little People, dwellers in hillsides and meadows, that brought them deliverance."