The One hundred and fifty-second Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Sept 1, 1917. Tolkien is working on The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel (Si apre in una nuova finestra) while in Brooklands Officers' Hospital (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Kingston upon Hull (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Sept 2, 1973. After visiting friends in Bournemouth (Si apre in una nuova finestra), J.R.R. Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) becomes ill and dies, at the age of eighty-one. He is buried next to his wife, Edith (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Sept 3, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 140b (Si apre in una nuova finestra), on ‘recording excerpts from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Si apre in una nuova finestra).’
Sept 4, 1954. Tolkien writes letter 200a (Si apre in una nuova finestra), on ‘visit from Ackerman (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Zimmerman (Si apre in una nuova finestra), adaptation of Lord of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra).’
Sept 5, 2005. A version of Smith of Wootton Major (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is released, edited by Verlyn Flieger (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
Sept 6, 1973. A requiem Mass for Tolkien is held in the Church of St Anthony of Padua in Headington (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Father Robert Murray (Si apre in una nuova finestra) assists.

• Third Age, 2. After the victory over Sauron (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and his stay in Gondor (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Isildur (Si apre in una nuova finestra) sets out for Arnor (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Sept 5]

Letters from J.R.R. Tolkien to Christopher Bretherton (Si apre in una nuova finestra) have recently been donated to the Bodleian Library.

The Gaelic Literature Awards 2025: Shortlists has A’ Hobat (Si apre in una nuova finestra) – J.R.R. Tolkien, translated by Moray Watson (Evertype) nominated.

The first five issues of Parma Eldalamberon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) have been made available online.¹

Did Tolkien know? 🤪 14th century ‘Oxford’s homicide rate was three to four times higher than that of London or York.’² See for yourself in Medieval Murder Maps (Si apre in una nuova finestra). (The High Street was really bad!)

‘If you read Tolkien and then Old English literature, Old English literature seems like primitive Tolkien. If you read Old English literature and then Tolkien, Tolkien seems like just watered-down Old English literature. The order in which you read is important.’³

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Events & Shows

Two free lectures coming up in Helsinki, Finland (Si apre in una nuova finestra): Oct 3 (Christian and pagan influences) & Oct 10 (Finnish language and the Kalevala.)

The Children’s Theater of Madison will be showing The Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Feb ‘26]

Hobbiton XXIX is happening Sept 12-14 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Gorizia, northern Italy]

The Hobbit is on The Greenhouse Theater Center (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Chicago, US [Feb ‘26 ff.]

A quick report (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the first Tolkien Festival in Malta, including the founding of a society.

The Richland County Inklings have Tolkien & Beowulf (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Mansfield, Ohio, US[Sep 20; Facebook event (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

The presentations given with the Mythopoeic Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra)’s Online Midsummer Seminar #4 are available online (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Your best option to visit Tolkienian spaces in Oxford are the Open Doors, happening September 13-14 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [programme as PDF (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

I would have loved to be at Oxonmoot this year (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Roving Ranger (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Youtube] - Roving Ranger (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Spotify]

Scholarship & Fandom

onthetrail with the Tolkien Guide has collected Tolkien journals, blogs, societies, and podcasts (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [I am happy to say the Roving Ranger is named in it!]

TolkienGuide also has Paul Corfield Godfrey and Simon Crosby Buttle talk Operatic Lord of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[Youtube]

David Bratman has Tolkien Studies 21: an announcement (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Robin Reid has a Call for Papers: SWPCA Tolkien in Popular Culture Area (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Miriam Ellis has Tom, Goldberry, and a Different Kind of River Dance (Si apre in una nuova finestra) as well as The Hobbit, the Hill and the Wardrobe (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

ElderDays has a Variorum “Silmarillion”: One Day, Conceivably (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Eleanor Parker has The Real Middle Earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [via History Today, UK]⁴

Another archive (hopefully!) saved: Faerie: Tolkien Fanfiction is Moving to the AO3 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The ACLA 2026 conference in Montréal - Aesthetics and Politics of Magic in Literature and Media (Si apre in una nuova finestra)- has a CfP [Oct 2, 2025 deadline; Fabula.org] … referencing Tolkien.

In Deep Geek has What's so Special about Orthanc? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Youtube]⁵

Historian Bret Deveraux has quite a few things to say on Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - and it is always worth reading.

doubtfulsea has Return to Horrors? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [mentioning The Hobbit]

Renga in Blue has been continuing it’s Hobbit game related posts with… Ring Quest (1983) (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Ring Quest: Whispering Inside the Tree (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Ring Quest: A Rage of Loss and Suspicion Was in His Heart (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Ring Quest: Last Battle of the Oathbreakers (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Hot Take: The Abstraction of Science Fiction (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with the Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog offers this line:

Film and television are the primary access points for viewing and engaging with The Lord Of The Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Funnily enough, Ansible 458 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) notes (with the 40 million copies statement in the quote before in mind):

Tough luck on Dickenses and Tolkiens whose big sales are lost in the mists of prehistory. (in reaction to the Bookseller, Aug 28. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

The actor who played Gandalf in the quasi-legendary Russian 1985 TV version (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of The Hobbit, Ivan Krasko, has passed away.⁶ He was named a People's Artist of Russia in 1992 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Inklings Jahrbuch 41 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is freely available online; quite a few articles are in English.

Josef Madlener’s “Der Berggeist”: Not the “Origin of Gandalf” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Journal of Tolkien Research]; funnily enough there is this post with my Steady:

Fellow Tolkienian newsletter, Tolkien Gleanings, has a new URL and RSS feed (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Merchandise & Franchise

A triple for Howard Shore: ‘Lord of the Rings’ voted nation’s favourite film score in Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [UK, that is]

Simon Tolkien: Spanish Civil War Novels, Rings of Power & J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legac (Si apre in una nuova finestra)y [Youtube]

NPR did a survey in its “Books you love” series: What books shaped you in high school? Here's what you said (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [LotR mentioned]

Inter alia

To give you a prime example of posts I am NOT usually sharing because they are essentially clickbait - and quite frankly wrong on a number of points - is this one from WinterIsComing: 10 reasons why The Hunt for Gollum is the riskiest LOTR project yet (Si apre in una nuova finestra). lesigh

One of the posts I would always share: On the Necessary Uselessness of the Humanities (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Christopher Lockett [Substack]

Updated sales figures for Brandon Sanderson and Sarah J. Maas (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Wertzone]

Netflix Publishes Generative AI Use Guidelines: Here’s What Is/Isn’t Allowed (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Cartoon Brew]

You Don’t Actually Own That Movie You Just “Bought.” A New Class Action Lawsuit Targets Amazon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Hollywood Reporter]⁷

A detached former Mill House in need of renovation located near the coast, with reputed links to Tolkien's Two Towers. [No, there is no link. Do read Michael J Flowers’ work (Si apre in una nuova finestra)⁸ on this and Phil Mathison’s.]

This week’s oddity? “Jewellery shop raids in Thrissur (Si apre in una nuova finestra)”, India, were run under the codename Arkenstone. [New Indian Express]

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Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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.

1. h/t TolkienGuide (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

2. h/t Conversation (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

3. h/t Ansible 458 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Michael Dirda [see Reboantic Norns.] ↩

4. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #327 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

5. Transparency note I wrote the script to this; Robert did the editing. ↩

6. h/t Ansible 458 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

7. h/t File770 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

8. h/t to Michael making some fun points in the Tolkien Society Facebook group. ↩