The One hundred and fifty-third Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Sept 9, 1954. Tolkien writes a letter to the Rector of the University of Liège (Abre numa nova janela).
Sept 10, 1957. Tolkien wins the International Fantasy Award (Abre numa nova janela).
Sept 11, 1918. Tolkien is transferred to Savoy Convalescent Hospital, Blackpool, west coast of England.
Sept 13, 1951. Third day of the Congrès Internationale de Philologie Moderne (Abre numa nova janela) [PDF] at the University of Liège (Abre numa nova janela), a conference in which Tolkien delivers the paper "Middle English 'Losenger' (Abre numa nova janela)".
Sept 14, 1950. Tolkien writes Letter 130 (Abre numa nova janela), on Riddles in the Dark (Abre numa nova janela).

Yes, the pub mentioned is THE pub: Larry Ellison Is Spending Billions to Reshape Oxford and His Own Legacy (Abre numa nova janela). [Wall Street Journal; paywall]

If you would like to know how the only actor in the films to have met the Professor remembers this meeting in THIS pub - have a look at Wogan: Now and Then (Abre numa nova janela) [originally shown: Jan 24, 2006; Youtube]

Birmingham Heritage Week 2025 is happening… this week (Abre numa nova janela).

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Here are seven reasons why - could you please pass this on to people you know who would appreciate this newsletter? Thank you very much.

Events & Shows

Robin Reid has more on Tolkien Society's Seminar 2025 (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

Fans of the old CCG and the LCG, i.e. card games, will be able to register for Lure of Middle-earth 2026 (Abre numa nova janela) starting Sept 19.

Verlyn Flieger will give an online course called The British Invasion: The Impact of The Lord of the Rings and the Beatles. (Abre numa nova janela) [Feb 1, 2026]

Roving Ranger (Abre numa nova janela) [Youtube] - Roving Ranger (Abre numa nova janela) [Spotify]

Scholarship & Fandom

A webinar on J.R.R. Tolkien, Myth and Modernism is happening Sept 10 (Abre numa nova janela) [Andrew Lazo; free to register]

Tolkien Notes 22 is out, with an emphasis on The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela).

Karen Wynn Fonstad's materials (Atlas of Middle-earth etc.) have found a home at UW-Milwaukee¹, in the American Geographical Society Library (Abre numa nova janela).²

Renga in Blue has finished an absolutely mesmerizing walk-through: Ring Quest: The Fiery Ruin of Hill and Sky (Abre numa nova janela).

The Northvegr Journal (Abre numa nova janela) has started a ten piece series titled Northern Pride: A Survivor’s Guide to Glorious Defeat (Abre numa nova janela), subtitled: 10 posts exploring the spirit of doomed courage from the Vikings to Tolkien—and why it still matters. [Substack]

The award-winning The Rest is History (Abre numa nova janela) podcast has recently published an episode on The Hobbit - paywalled to its subscribers (Abre numa nova janela). [Apple Podcasts]

The University Parks parkrun (Abre numa nova janela) in Oxford mentions 10 Tolkien Society members (Abre numa nova janela) giving their best - congratulations!

doubtfulsea has Horse, Two (Abre numa nova janela).

Thoughts on Tolkien has Eowyn, Elven-fair (Abre numa nova janela).

Merchandise & Franchise

You might be interested in supporting this documentary that is happening on Kickstarter right now called Fantasy Rising (Abre numa nova janela). [Given that Dimitra Fimi is in it I am sharing it here.]

Tales of the Shire is getting patches (Abre numa nova janela). [Nintendo Life]

Fate of the Fellowship inventor Matt Leacock talks about the game’s success and visiting Hobbiton in NZ (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

Andy Serkis Says ‘I Can’t Escape’ Gollum Before Flying to New Zealand to Begin New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie (Abre numa nova janela). [Variety]

Lord of the Rings composers nominated for World Soundtrack Award (Abre numa nova janela)s.³

LotRO: An outlook on the next expansion (Abre numa nova janela) [Massively OP] and a free redeem code for many quests (Abre numa nova janela).

Inter alia

The 25 best fictional robots (Abre numa nova janela) – according to New Scientist.⁴

Scarborough Beach Park has a whimsical… Gollum door (Abre numa nova janela)? [Brisbane, Australia]

Neo-fascist tech bros (Thiel (Abre numa nova janela); Andreessen (Abre numa nova janela)) continue to abuse Tolkien’s invented languages, with Saronic Technologies applying for planning permissions (Abre numa nova janela) to build a massive shipyard for autonomous vessels (aka drones) in California.

LibraryThing (Abre numa nova janela), one of the best bookish sites on the net - particularly because it is one of the few not-enshittified sites - is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. If you haven’t heard of it yet, do have a look at the latest newsletter (Abre numa nova janela).

• Please note: it is particularly awesome for its free, small library service that I have been using for quite some time. See the Tolkienist’s Library (Abre numa nova janela). You can have your own little library online, too!

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.
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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.

1. h/t to Sarah C. Schaefer (Abre numa nova janela) for making me aware of this. ↩

2. Mentioned in this TORn piece (Abre numa nova janela). ↩

3. h/t TORn (Abre numa nova janela). ↩

4. h/t File770 (Abre numa nova janela). ↩