The One hundred and sixty-fourth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Nov 24, 1964. Robert Graves, Oxford (Abre numa nova janela)'s Professor of Poetry, introduces Tolkien to Ava Gardner (Abre numa nova janela). They had never heard of one another, and both did not know why the other was famous.
Nov 25, 1936. Tolkien delivers the lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (Abre numa nova janela)" to the British Academy (Abre numa nova janela).
Nov 26, 1963. Tolkien, James Dundas-Grant (Abre numa nova janela), Robert Havard (Abre numa nova janela), Owen Barfield (Abre numa nova janela) and Christopher Tolkien attend the funeral of C.S. Lewis (Abre numa nova janela).
Nov 27, 1914. Tolkien reads The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star (Abre numa nova janela) at a poorly attended meeting of Exeter College (Abre numa nova janela)'s Essay Club.
Nov 29, 1971. Edith Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) dies after a short but severe illness attributed to an inflamed gall-bladder.
Nov 30, 1972. Tolkien writes Letter 345 (Abre numa nova janela), on objections to noble names for cattle with other suggestions.
Dec 1, 1913. Tolkien is elected president of the Stapledon Society, a student body at Exeter College (Abre numa nova janela).

The Bovadium Fragments, a review (Abre numa nova janela), if you want it.

(Abre numa nova janela)

The Roving Ranger and my other projects are reader-supported publications. To make them happen, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Abre numa nova janela) | YT (Abre numa nova janela) | RSS feed (Abre numa nova janela)]

Events & Shows

Fantasy’s Present Pasts, the inaugural European Conference on the Fantastic, takes place in Glasgow June 23-25, 2026. The Call for Papers is open until Dec 12 (Abre numa nova janela).

The Prancing Pony Podcast Moot will happen Dec 18-21 (Abre numa nova janela).

The Dutch Tolkien Society Unquendor will have its AGM and Joelfest on Dec 20 (Abre numa nova janela).

Middle Earth After Dark: A Lord of the Rings Burlesque and Trivia Event (Abre numa nova janela)[Atlanta, GA, USA]

Review: THE GREATEST FANTASY TRILOGY at Alma Tavern Theatre (Abre numa nova janela) [Stage Talk]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

November 25 sees the publication of Númenor, The Mighty and Frail (Peter Roe Series XXV) (Abre numa nova janela) [Blackwell’s]

Michael Drout’s The Tower and the Ruin (Abre numa nova janela) will be available Dec 2. [Blackwell’s]

I have tried to get rid of a traumatic musical experience with this one:

Lev Grossman (Abre numa nova janela) has That Other American Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack; he is probably single-handedly responsible for GRRM being considered the American Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela)]

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Fathers and Sons Time-traveling (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

Hither Shore 21 (Abre numa nova janela) has been published, the German Tolkien Society’s academic journal (the topic is Tolkien and his Editors (Abre numa nova janela).)

Andrew Higgins has World Building and Language Invention In Focus. (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

The current issue of the Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature (SELIM) has Imitative Translations of Beowulf: Tolkien, Lehmann, and McCully (Abre numa nova janela). [open access]

Thoughts on Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) has provided a list of holiday sales including Tolkien scholarship. [reddit]

Miriam Ellis has Sam, Rose and the Complete Gamgee Family at Bag (Abre numa nova janela)End as well as Meeting Hobbits in the Elder Days and the Mystery of Untranslated Texts. (Abre numa nova janela)

The Inklings Quarterly is out now: Discovering Charles Williams, Tolkien for Medical Humanities, a Hobbit Dinner & Reading Marathon (Abre numa nova janela). [Inklings Project]

doubtfulsea has On the Road(s) Again (Abre numa nova janela).

Merchandise & Franchise

J.R.R Tolkien auction: Treasure trove to sell for thousands (Abre numa nova janela) [Oxford Mail]

Please note This auction is being viewed critically over at the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela).

PSA: Lord of the Rings Online extends its free questing coupon for a couple more weeks (Abre numa nova janela) [Massively OP]

This year’s Thea Awards (Abre numa nova janela) have been given out and Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, in New Zealand has won for Outstanding Achievement, Attraction, Limited Budget (Abre numa nova janela).

The Hobbit: There And Back Again Board Game Review (Abre numa nova janela) [IGN]

Netflix Promises to Keep Warner Bros. Movies in Theaters if It Wins Deal to Buy Company (Abre numa nova janela) [Variety]

Inside the Hobbit group chat Dominic Monaghan shares with his ‘Lord of the Rings’ co-stars (Abre numa nova janela) [New York Post]

Inter alia

Jeff LaSala has Frankenstein’s Monster Has Not a Stitch On! (Abre numa nova janela)

Alan Moore in conversation with Stewart Lee [Youtube]

Fantasy novels predicted to shape the next wave of baby names (Abre numa nova janela) [Yahoo, UK]

Modiphius announces Terry Pratchett Discworld board games and RPG Kickstarter for 2026 (Abre numa nova janela) [Tabletop Gaming UK]

The rise of generative AI has positioned the UK publishing sector on the brink of irreversible change. (Abre numa nova janela) [University of Cambridge, UK]

Novelists fear their work will be displaced and their future ability to earn from writing will be entirely diminished… over half (51%) of published novelists agreed that AI is likely to displace their work entirely.

I case you were wondering where the Balrog wings have ended up…

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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.