The One hundred and fifty-ninth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Oct 20, 2003. Tolkien and the Great War (Abre numa nova janela) is published.
Oct 21, 1963. Tolkien writes a letter to Mrs. Munby (Abre numa nova janela), in response to a number of questions posed by her son Stephen about The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela).
Oct 22, 1955. C.S. Lewis (Abre numa nova janela) wrote "The Dethronement of Power (Abre numa nova janela)", a review of The Two Towers (Abre numa nova janela) and The Return of the King (Abre numa nova janela) published in Time and Tide (Abre numa nova janela).
Oct 23, 1937. Tolkien writes Letter 18 (Abre numa nova janela), thanking Stanley Unwin (Abre numa nova janela) for calling him a genius, adding that he would start writing on something soon. [my emphasis]
Oct 24, 1952. Tolkien writes Letter 135 (Abre numa nova janela), on the cost of printing The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela), his current work, & the British atomic bomb.
Oct 25, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 87 (Abre numa nova janela), sending chapters of The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela), and commenting on a letter from an American boy.
Oct 26, 1966. Finding himself short of a speech subject, Tolkien reads Smith of Wootton Major (Abre numa nova janela) to a room of about 800 people.

• Third Age, 3018. Frodo Baggins (Abre numa nova janela) awakes in Rivendell (Abre numa nova janela), recovered from his wound, and meets Gandalf (Abre numa nova janela). [Oct 24]

(Abre numa nova janela)

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Events & Shows

Please note: Tolkien 2027. Birmingham NEC 18-22 Aug 2027 [Tolkien Society]

The 13th International Tolkien Mailing Competition (Abre numa nova janela) is live [application by Nov 5; run by the Hungarian Tolkien Society]

Thistle’s Tale of Brandywine Magic and Mayhem (Abre numa nova janela) [TORn; on the first Brandywine Festival LARP by Burgschneider]

The Children’s Theater of Madison (Abre numa nova janela) will stage The Hobbit [Feb 7 -22, 2026; Wisconsin, USA]

The Rangers of the North (Abre numa nova janela) are meeting up [Oct 25, Manchester, UK; Bluesky, see also FB (Abre numa nova janela)]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Abre numa nova janela) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship & Fandom

I did something involving Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, and Terry Pratchett.

Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull have Legacy and Faith (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “The Beacons of Gondor Are Alight, Calling for Aid. War is Kindled.” Gandalf Speaks of The Ancient Alliance of Gondor and Rohan. (Abre numa nova janela)

The members of the German smial Rheinhessen (Abre numa nova janela) have funded a public bookcase (Abre numa nova janela) in their village of Abenheim. [Facebook]

Tom Hillman has A sad tale of Milton Waldman, to whom Tolkien wrote a famous letter (Abre numa nova janela).

Miriam Ellias has The Grey Havens And Our Longing For Tolkien's Elves (Abre numa nova janela).

Roäc the Grey Haven Raven has A World Mental Health Day Reflection (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

doubtfulsea has It’s in Writing (1) (Abre numa nova janela).

Dimitra Fimi has Constructions of Childhood in Tolkien’s Legendarium (3): The hobbits as children. (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

TolkienLibrary.com (Abre numa nova janela) founder and collector, Pieter Collier, has moved to Norway (Abre numa nova janela).

Famed organist Anna Lapwood seems to have taken a liking to Lighting the Beacons (Abre numa nova janela)(Instagram; Howard Shore, RotK OST).

Artist couple Into Far Lands has just published a chronological map of Númenor (Abre numa nova janela), planning for Aman & Valinor. [reddit/TolkienArt]

Tolkien's Medievalism in Ruins (Abre numa nova janela) is out (see New Books in Literary Studies podcast).

Vincent Ferré has The Dynamics of Creation in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fiction: Peoples, Languages, and Imaginary Geography (Abre numa nova janela). [In French]

Kristine Larsen has A Plane, a Plaque, and a Prize: J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Medawar with the Journal of Tolkien Research (Abre numa nova janela).

American Tolkien Society Collection (Abre numa nova janela) now available for research.

The Journal of Inklings Studies (Volume 15, Issue 2, October 2025) has published another issue (Abre numa nova janela).

• Several items are free access, of particular interest is John Garth’s Revealed: Tolkien's 1939 Lecture on Fairy-stories (Abre numa nova janela). Carl Hostetter has offered corrections (Abre numa nova janela) [Facebook]

Matěj Čadil / The Road goes ever on

Merchandise & Franchise

Plans to reopen Tolkien and Lewis pub approved (Abre numa nova janela) [BBC]

Oxford Eagle and Child pub will be 'sensitively' restored (Abre numa nova janela) [Oxford Mail]

"Did You Ever Know That You're My Frodo?" (Abre numa nova janela) Bette Midler singing for Stephen Colbert [Youtube]

Another mobile game gone: Official Sunset Announcement: LoTR: Rise to War (Abre numa nova janela).

FAN EXPO HQ to Celebrate 25th Anniversary of The Lord of The Rings with 11-City Cast Reunion Tour in 2026 (Abre numa nova janela) [PR Newswire]

Inter alia

Cost Of ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Approaches $600 Million (Abre numa nova janela) [Forbes]

‘Inside George’s Brain’: The Audacious Effort to Bring the Star Wars Creator’s Museum Dream to Life (Abre numa nova janela) [Wall Street Journal]

Rare New US Bank Licence Issued by OCC for Erebor (Abre numa nova janela)[East & Partners]

How Hobbit-Inspired Startup Plans to Replace Silicon Valley Bank (Abre numa nova janela) [Wall Street Journal; see also Who is Palmer Luckey? Trending for launching a crypto-friendly bank approved by US regulators (Abre numa nova janela) [Economic Times]

Atari’s launching a new retro console for the holidays: its one-time console war rival (Abre numa nova janela)¹ [Polygon]

Legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan has passed away (Abre numa nova janela) [Hollywood Reporter; see his work with Instagram (Abre numa nova janela)]

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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.

1. h/t Phantastik News (Abre numa nova janela) ↩