The One hundred and fifty-seventh Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Oct 6/11, 2006. The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (Opens in a new window) is published.
Oct 8, 1937. C.S. Lewis (Opens in a new window) reviews The Hobbit (Opens in a new window) in The Times.
Oct 9, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 141 (Opens in a new window), about the problems with maps for The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window).
Oct 10, 1936. Stanley Unwin (Opens in a new window) reads the typescript of The Hobbit.
Oct 11, 1918. Tolkien writes Letter 103 (Opens in a new window), with first impressions of Merton College (Opens in a new window).
Oct 12, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 84 (Opens in a new window), on his trouble while writing The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window), Leaf by Niggle (Opens in a new window).

• Third Age, 3018. The camp under Weathertop is raided at night, and Frodo (Opens in a new window) is attacked by the Witch-king (Opens in a new window) who attempts to hit his heart with a Morgul blade that will make him a wraith. Frodo wears the Ring and is wounded on the shoulder. [Oct 6]

John Garth has Lord of the ring road — JRR Tolkien’s war against the motor ca (Opens in a new window)r [The Times; paywall. A slight variant of this is available at Steady (Opens in a new window) should you be interested in supporting his work.]

See also the review with TolkienGuide (Opens in a new window) and their interview with Richard Ovenden (Opens in a new window) [Youtube], the Bodley’s Librarian (Opens in a new window) [Wikipedia]. There is also a piece with the Torygraph that -imho- is not worth your time.

I was today years old (Opens in a new window) when I finally realised that Schrödinger’s Cat (Opens in a new window) lived only two doors down from the Tolkiens in Oxford (Opens in a new window). Could Tevildo (Opens in a new window) please say something about this?
And P.S. This is written tongue-in-cheek!

Events & Shows

The German Tolkien Society’s seminar is Tolkien’s Works on the Book Market (Opens in a new window) [Oct 31- Nov 2; hybrid, online registration free]

The Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights (Opens in a new window), Ohio, USA is staging The Hobbit [Dec 4 - Jan 4]

The Hobbit will aso be playing at St Margaret of Scotland (Opens in a new window), Michigan, USA [Nov 14-16; Broadway World]

Hobbit Halloween (Opens in a new window) will be happening at Tillis’ Boardgaming Café in Jena [Oct 31; Facebook]

Do register for the Prancing Pony Podcast Moot (Opens in a new window)at Dallas Fort Worth Airport, USA [Dec 18-21; hybrid]

The Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches (Opens in a new window) (yes, Florida, USA) is doing Legends, Laughter, and Lightning aka film scores, including LotR [Oct 19, tickets (Opens in a new window)]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

doubtfulsea has The Voices in His Head (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “I Can’t Be Their Ring-bearer. Not Without Mr. Frodo.” The Orcs of Cirith Ungol Take Frodo’s Body and Sam Decides to Follow Them (Opens in a new window).

The Journal of Tolkien Research has added three more papers to its vol. 22, issue 22: Proceedings of the Tolkien 2019 Conference (2025), edited by Will Sherwood (Opens in a new window); The Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien’s Demonized Creatures (2025), by Robert T. Tally, Jr. (Opens in a new window), and "Cold Words, Heartless and Miserable": Tolkien's Approach to Supernatural Horror (Opens in a new window).

Robin Reid has the CFP for Music, Dance, and Theatre In Fantasy Worlds (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Merchandise & Franchise

Amazon's Rings of Power filming at scenic coastline (Opens in a new window) [BBC; see also TORn (Opens in a new window)]

Amazon TV Trapped in ‘Lord of the Rings’ Nightmare, Exec Palace Intrigue (Opens in a new window) [Ankler (Opens in a new window)]

The first film trilogy made it a legend, now… Sir Peter Jackson to force closure of popular Chocolate Fish Café (Opens in a new window) [RNZ]

Tolkien scholar Dr. Helmut Pesch has been working long on the revised second edition of his bestseller, Das Große Elbisch-Buch (‘The Great Book on the Elvish Languages’). Published on Oct 31st (Opens in a new window), its 976 pages make it unique worldwide on Tolkien’s invented languages. [Luebbe; in German]

Inter alia

Dimitra Fimi has Terry Pratchett, Magpies, and Folklore (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin Explored in New Exhibition and Book (Opens in a new window) [Fine Books Magazine]

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Preps for Closure (Opens in a new window) [Flying]

Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN has a trailer. (Opens in a new window) [Youtube]

Legendary film poster artist Renato Casaro has died (Opens in a new window). [Deadline]

In this post with Michael Whelan’s art you (Opens in a new window) might find a Gollum somewhere. [Substack]

The Algorithmic Archive (Opens in a new window): a project overview [Bodleian Libraries; please note the Mellon Foundation (Opens in a new window) has nothing to do with Tolkien!]

‘Steven Universe’ Creator Rebecca Sugar To Helm ‘Moomin’ Animated Feature For Annapurna (Opens in a new window) [Cartoon Brew]

Go through the amazing Voyager at 50 online exhibition (Opens in a new window). [Digital Heritage Lab, Liverpool]

There may finally be an explanation (Opens in a new window) for Will-o’-the-wisps. [PNAS; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.]

One of the things you may notice when visiting Oxford: Checking out: The varying performance of high streets across the country (Opens in a new window). [Centre for Cities]

Dungeons & Dragons: The First 50 Years of Storytelling (Opens in a new window) is a major piece with Arts & Culture at Google.

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs (Opens in a new window) [404 Media]

Ansible 459 has been published (Opens in a new window).

xkcd (again) cutting to the (proverbial) quick.

Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?

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If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
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Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

As this is 2025 I would like to note that this newsletter is 100% human-made, curated by me, Marcel R. Bülles. This also holds true for everything I write with my blog and here at Steady. Also, the minimum time of curating this newsletter ranges from 8-12 hours every week. Please consider supporting me so I can continue offering the Roving Ranger - thank you.