Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lore cast, the show that explores the background of Tolkien's amazing world from the very beginning. I'm sure it wouldn't surprise anybody to say something like,

J.R.R. Tolkien is a master storyteller.

We've all been talking about his stories for quite a while now on this show, and I would

have to imagine that most of you would agree with that, if not all of you, and for many different

reasons.

The reasons that you hear most often include things like his ability to design a world with a rich and interesting history,

or his ability to create languages and cultures and whole entire civilizations that seemingly

rise and fall, the way that he works in the mystical and the magical, the fantastic, and the fairy, into

the real and the mundane.

But one of the things you don't hear as often is his ability to simply tell a story in a way

that guides the reader through the story comfortably with little glimpses

of foreshadowing character development and the small plot points that anticipate the bigger picture.

My point is that we hear so often about the broad brush strokes, the big images and the big

ideas that influenced writers continually through today.

But we don't hear as much about the small details.

And in the second chapter of The Hobbit, at least at the beginning of this chapter, it is all about these small details.

It's all about continuing the development of these characters who were just introduced, giving us a glimpse into who they are, how they're beginning to change, and then on top of that, an

understanding of what this adventure is going to be like.

He hints at all of these things, and he brings our perspective zoomed in to these little

details in order to enrich a much bigger story.

So let's get into it. Chapter 2 Roast Mutton. So you might be wondering, what is mutton? M-U-T-T-O-N. It is the flesh of a lamb that's at least three years old.

Anything younger than that would be considered a sheep.

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