The One hundred and sixty-first Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Nov 3, 1913. Tolkien writes to Edith (Abre numa nova janela) about registering as a reader at the Bodleian Library.
Nov 4, 1961. Tolkien writes Letter 232 (Abre numa nova janela), on his aunt and the long-ago trip through Switzerland.
Nov 5, 1956. Tolkien writes a letter to Mr Britten (Abre numa nova janela), starting an exchange on questions about the Silmarillion etc.
Nov 6, 1969. Informal date of foundation of The Tolkien Society (Abre numa nova janela).
Nov 7, 1944. Tolkien starts writing Letter 89 (Abre numa nova janela), on religious matters, eucatastrophe, and local news.
Nov 8, 1971. Tolkien writes letter 330a (Abre numa nova janela), on unfinished works, and film rights.
Nov 9, 1933. Tolkien's poem "Errantry (Abre numa nova janela)" is published in The Oxford Magazine.
Nov 19, 1943. Tolkien writes Letter 51b (Abre numa nova janela), on work and visiting Charles Williams (Abre numa nova janela).

• Third Age, 2994. Balin (Abre numa nova janela), Lord of Moria (Abre numa nova janela), is killed by an Orc archer as he stood to watch in Mirrormere (Abre numa nova janela). [Nov 10]

(Abre numa nova janela)

The Roving Ranger and the many other things I am doing are reader-supported publications. To receive additional posts and make it all happen, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Events & Shows

Michael Tolkien will be speaking in Oxford about Eden, Fall, Exile and Beyond in the History of Middle Earth (Abre numa nova janela) [Dec 5]

Come write at the Lamb & Flag in Oxford (Abre numa nova janela) [Every Sunday in November; Instagram]

UK blues rock group Ten Years After (Abre numa nova janela) uploaded their song The Hobbit from a live concert in Helsinki (Abre numa nova janela) in 1969 [Youtube]

The Prancing Pony Podcast has put out a Call for Papers (Abre numa nova janela) - for both papers as well as activities and entertainments - for this year’s Moot. [Instagram]

My local regulars’ table - in Jena, Germany - celebrated another edition of Hobbit Halloween (Abre numa nova janela) (including Thuringwethil, Annatar, and other creatures of the night) [Instagram]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship & Fandom

I may have done something silly.

Too Many Books and Never Enough has Wonder and Imagination (Abre numa nova janela).

Tom Hillman has From a Gift in Death to the Gift of Death: Túrin and the Doom of Men (Abre numa nova janela).

Holly Ordway has The Doctor of the Church and the Maker of Middle-earth: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Newman Connections (Abre numa nova janela). [Word on Fire]

Miriam Ellis has Savoring the Hobbit Mushroom Habit (Abre numa nova janela).

Stratofanatic has Analyzing the Mistakes in Grokipedia's Entry for Alliterative Verse (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “Whatever Betide, You Have Come to the End of The Gondor That You Have Known.” Gandalf Enters the Gates of Minas Tirith and Declares Its Doom (Abre numa nova janela).

The Making of The Fellowship – Catching up with Cathedral of Bricks (Abre numa nova janela) [Brothers Brick, on a new LEGO build]

Kaitlyn’s (Tea with Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela)) book is up for pre-order: Into the Heart of Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela). [Ave Maria Press]

Merchandise & Franchise

New Immersive Soundscape Released For Silmarillion Audiobook (Abre numa nova janela) [TORn]

Irish harpist Joy Shannon unveils “Grey Havens” from new Tolkien-inspired album (Abre numa nova janela) [Moshville Times, UK; Ruth Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela), JRRT’s great-granddaughter, is providing backing vocals and can be seen in the video]

Olga Kann releases music video for “Echoes from the Barrow-Downs” (Abre numa nova janela) [Chaoszine]

Elijah Wood crashes Lord of the Rings-themed wedding held at the Shire: 'Oh my God' (Abre numa nova janela)[Entertainment Weekly]

Amazon Scales Back Gaming Ambitions Amid 14,000 Layoffs (Abre numa nova janela) [Kotaku; the planned LotR MMO might be cancelled] See also GamesRadar (Abre numa nova janela), Verge (Abre numa nova janela), and Reuters (Abre numa nova janela).

LotR:RoP is now free to stream with German television channel ZDFNeo (Abre numa nova janela) - in both English & German.

The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game Prerelease Events: Your Journey Continues Here! (Abre numa nova janela) [Office Dog Games]

Syzygy Forge Announces Licensing Partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises (Abre numa nova janela) [Youtube; don’t forget to look at the Shadow and Flame Pepper Bourbon Whiskey coming soon]

A German Army brigade stationed in Lithuania is promoting its ‘readiness’ with an unfortunate soundtrack and an impressive level of historical amnesia: the Nazgûl theme (Abre numa nova janela). [taz, in German]

Inter alia

If you ever wanted to know how collections should be properly stored - the Library of Birmingham’s Iron Room has you covered (Abre numa nova janela).

28 Years Later, One Star Wars Leak Confirms What Fans Have Wanted All Along (Abre numa nova janela) [Inverse; the original Star Wars might return to theatres in 2027]

We’re in a Book Affordability Crisis (Abre numa nova janela) [BookRiot]

Elon Musk Really Doesn't Get The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela) [Wired; one article free, otherwise paywall]

The right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings. But they don’t understand it. (Abre numa nova janela) [Yahoo; originally Vox]

Ansible 460 (Abre numa nova janela) has been published.

2025 World Fantasy Awards have been presented (Abre numa nova janela), the British Fantasy Awards (Abre numa nova janela) as well.[File770]

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

Then do consider using Steady (Abre numa nova janela) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Abre numa nova janela), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Abre numa nova janela) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) and start with three months fee-free.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]

According to German law I have to inform you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's (Abre numa nova janela), Bookshop.org (Abre numa nova janela), or Genialokal (Abre numa nova janela), the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Threads (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

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.