Favorite Chapter of Lord of the Rings

[WarBringer]

My favorite chapters are both from The Fellowship:

Strider- The meeting with Strider/Aragorn is by far my most memorable moment of the LOTR series. I remember thinking to myself-"This guy might be trouble", and I even worried that he would result in the death of one of the characters, or lead the hobbits astray and/or slaughter them. Tolkein's description is flawless, and few chapters have ever transported me to a place better than "Strider"

The Bridge of Khazad-Dum- Who among us can resist the allure of the herioc last stand against pure evil? The defeat of a host of goblins by a handful of brave warriors, The flight of the Fellowship, chased all the while by the goblins and one of the most evil beings of all time, and of course, Gandalf turning alone, leaning upon his staff in weariness, knowing that his doom (or his blessing?) is before him.

To me, these chapters are Tolkein's greatest achievment in the trilogy.

[Kitanna]

I love A Long Expected Party. It's just Hobbits, being Hobbits before evil touches their borders.

From TTT my favorite chapter is The King in the Golden Hall. It's the introduction of King Theoden who is one of my favorite characters. It is also the chapter where Gandalf heals him from Saruman's spell.

In ROTK it's The Grey Havens. I'm reduced to tears in this chapter. It's finally over and Frodo leaves Middle Earth with Gandalf. Also Frodo finally must leave Sam and it's both a sweet parting and a sad one. Then Sam returns home and the book ends with "Well, I'm back."

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Joining this, since I've always viewed several
chapters as especially crucial and/or absorbing:

The Shadow Of The Past and
The Council Of Elrond
Perhaps as a former history major, I see these
two chapters as crucial "grabbers" for a reader.
Either they draw you into the story and world,
or, like several relatives of mine who like scifi,
they lose interest.

For a particular personal reason, Flight To The Ford
Until this chapter, and even after first reading The Hobbit,
I believe I still imagined elves as leprechaunish little people until this passage:

"You shall ride my horse," said Glorfindel, "I will shorten the stirrups up to the saddle-skirts, and you must sit as tight as you can. But you need not fear: my horse will not let any rider fall that I command him to bear."

Upon reading this I believe my reasoning went: since hobbits are half the size of men, and Glorfindel has to shorten the stirrups for Frodo to ride, therefore elves must approximate men in size. (quite a revelation, and as the tale went on, made
Tolkien's concept of elves far more interesting and complex then the traditional one. (Personally, I tend to think of men and elves [in American football terms]
with elves more as wide recievers in build and men as fullbacks).

And perhaps the best chapter: The Ride Of The Rohirrim
with the marvelous prose poetry of the last two pages of the chapter, which
demand to be read aloud, at least from the part beginning:

Now silently the host of Rohan moved forward into the field of Gondor, pouring in slowly and steadily, like the rising tide through breaches in a dike that men have thought secure.

And it's why I find PJs movie
depiction of the charge as more flawed then most (especially it not beginning
in dark and stealthily).