The One hundred and sixty-fourth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Nov 24, 1964. Robert Graves, Oxford (Opens in a new window)'s Professor of Poetry, introduces Tolkien to Ava Gardner (Opens in a new window). 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 (Opens in a new window)" to the British Academy (Opens in a new window).
Nov 26, 1963. Tolkien, James Dundas-Grant (Opens in a new window), Robert Havard (Opens in a new window), Owen Barfield (Opens in a new window) and Christopher Tolkien attend the funeral of C.S. Lewis (Opens in a new window).
Nov 27, 1914. Tolkien reads The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star (Opens in a new window) at a poorly attended meeting of Exeter College (Opens in a new window)'s Essay Club.
Nov 29, 1971. Edith Tolkien (Opens in a new window) dies after a short but severe illness attributed to an inflamed gall-bladder.
Nov 30, 1972. Tolkien writes Letter 345 (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window).

The Bovadium Fragments, a review (Opens in a new window), if you want it.

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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 (Opens in a new window) | YT (Opens in a new window) | RSS feed (Opens in a new window)]

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 (Opens in a new window).

The Prancing Pony Podcast Moot will happen Dec 18-21 (Opens in a new window).

The Dutch Tolkien Society Unquendor will have its AGM and Joelfest on Dec 20 (Opens in a new window).

Middle Earth After Dark: A Lord of the Rings Burlesque and Trivia Event (Opens in a new window)[Atlanta, GA, USA]

Review: THE GREATEST FANTASY TRILOGY at Alma Tavern Theatre (Opens in a new window) [Stage Talk]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

November 25 sees the publication of Númenor, The Mighty and Frail (Peter Roe Series XXV) (Opens in a new window) [Blackwell’s]

Michael Drout’s The Tower and the Ruin (Opens in a new window) will be available Dec 2. [Blackwell’s]

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

Lev Grossman (Opens in a new window) has That Other American Tolkien (Opens in a new window). [Substack; he is probably single-handedly responsible for GRRM being considered the American Tolkien (Opens in a new window)]

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Fathers and Sons Time-traveling (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Hither Shore 21 (Opens in a new window) has been published, the German Tolkien Society’s academic journal (the topic is Tolkien and his Editors (Opens in a new window).)

Andrew Higgins has World Building and Language Invention In Focus. (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window). [open access]

Thoughts on Tolkien (Opens in a new window) has provided a list of holiday sales including Tolkien scholarship. [reddit]

Miriam Ellis has Sam, Rose and the Complete Gamgee Family at Bag (Opens in a new window)End as well as Meeting Hobbits in the Elder Days and the Mystery of Untranslated Texts. (Opens in a new window)

The Inklings Quarterly is out now: Discovering Charles Williams, Tolkien for Medical Humanities, a Hobbit Dinner & Reading Marathon (Opens in a new window). [Inklings Project]

doubtfulsea has On the Road(s) Again (Opens in a new window).

Merchandise & Franchise

J.R.R Tolkien auction: Treasure trove to sell for thousands (Opens in a new window) [Oxford Mail]

Please note This auction is being viewed critically over at the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).

PSA: Lord of the Rings Online extends its free questing coupon for a couple more weeks (Opens in a new window) [Massively OP]

This year’s Thea Awards (Opens in a new window) have been given out and Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, in New Zealand has won for Outstanding Achievement, Attraction, Limited Budget (Opens in a new window).

The Hobbit: There And Back Again Board Game Review (Opens in a new window) [IGN]

Netflix Promises to Keep Warner Bros. Movies in Theaters if It Wins Deal to Buy Company (Opens in a new window) [Variety]

Inside the Hobbit group chat Dominic Monaghan shares with his ‘Lord of the Rings’ co-stars (Opens in a new window) [New York Post]

Inter alia

Jeff LaSala has Frankenstein’s Monster Has Not a Stitch On! (Opens in a new window)

Alan Moore in conversation with Stewart Lee [Youtube]

Fantasy novels predicted to shape the next wave of baby names (Opens in a new window) [Yahoo, UK]

Modiphius announces Terry Pratchett Discworld board games and RPG Kickstarter for 2026 (Opens in a new window) [Tabletop Gaming UK]

The rise of generative AI has positioned the UK publishing sector on the brink of irreversible change. (Opens in a new window) [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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Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

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.