In the movie Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, was it just me, or did anyone else wonder who the heck had that ungodly task of sitting atop those mountains, waiting for years and years to light that signal fire? It’s not as if the fires took at least a few minutes to light either — they went up almost immediately after the previous one did! That means someone was sitting there….waiting. And waiting.

Captain: “You there! You’re on torch duty.”
Soldier: “Oh drat!”

I can just picture some ragged old hermit, sitting cold atop the mountain in the clouds, wiping away the crud from his eyes as he stares endlessly at the previous signal fire station miles away. Trying as hard as he can to keep the flame in the ignition torch he holds to stay alight against the howling, chilling winds. Poor bastard.