The One hundred and sixtieth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Oct 27, 1983. The Book of Lost Tales: Part One (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is published in the UK.
Oct 28, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 88 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), on gloom.
Oct 30, 1936. Rayner Unwin (Si apre in una nuova finestra), aged 10, writes a "Report on the Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)".
Oct 31, 1954. "The Hero Is a Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra)", a review by W.H. Auden (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of The Fellowship of the Ring (Si apre in una nuova finestra), is published.
Nov 1, 1979. Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is first published in the UK.
Nov 2, 1956. Tolkien writes Letter 193 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), on advice on "accents" for a BBC radio program.
Nov 3, 2016. The Bodleian Library (Si apre in una nuova finestra) presented the Bodley Medal (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to Christopher Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra), the Library's highest honour.

• Third Age, 3019. Battle of Bywater (Si apre in una nuova finestra); passing of Saruman (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and death of Gríma Wormtongue (Si apre in una nuova finestra); end of the War of the Ring (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Nov 3]

The Digital Tolkien Project has announced the HoMe Base (Si apre in una nuova finestra) today.

It is their “(…) hub for ongoing work on The History of Middle-earth. (Our)

goal is to provide a foundation for education and scholarship with an initial focus on metadata, search, data models, bibliography, and citation systems, with much more planned in the future!”¹

(Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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Events & Shows

The Sci-Fi & Action Exhibition 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at Moyse’s Hall Museum, Bury St Edmunds, UK, is offering, among others, ‘Lord of the Rings - legacy movie props, links to the historic collections, trails, and quizzes’ [Oct 25 ff.; see also BBC (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

The Wade Center has "an evening of music, poetry, and art inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Wendell Berry" (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Oct 28; free + livestream (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

Bree Crossroads has another edition out (13 pt. 2) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and kindly enough mentions the Roving Ranger - thank you! [Substack]

Marie Bretagnolle has An insight into putting together the PhD appendices – pictures galore (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

John Garth has Why I had to stop reading C.S. Lewis’s diary (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Steady, paywall]

A very young Tolkien fan can be seen in this Metro reel (Si apre in una nuova finestra)with Facebook in the cinema - obviously someone missed out it is school time the next morning. What we don’t do for an EE marathon ☺️

As I mentioned before I had the pleasure of doing something with Tove Jansson’s illustrations on The Hobbit recently - now someone sent me a link to this lovely, short video combining the Moomins and LotR (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (a reading by the exquisite Rob Inglis (Si apre in una nuova finestra).)

Did you know that Spokane, Washington, United States, has a Hobbit House for Halloween (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Facebook] - and you can see it on Youtube (Si apre in una nuova finestra)? One of its residents has also started writing about their amazing efforts with Stonewall News Northwest (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Outsize Influence of Wales on Fantasy, Music, and Movies (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Literary Hub; I do not agree on Wales = the Shire, but there you go!]

Artist Michael Taffe is offering The Geometry Of Creation - How to Draw Tolkien’s Numenorean Tile (Part 1) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Steady; paywall; see this sketch with Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to get an idea what he is teaching]

Tolkien Guide has Doomed To Die - an A-Z of Death in Tolkien - an interview with artist and author Tom Racine (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Youtube]

Lynn Forest-Hill has October – in all directions (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Co-Geeking has Grammatically Female Dwarves in Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Stephen C. Winter has “I am a Hobbit and No More Valiant Than I am a Man, Save Perhaps Now and Again By Necessity.” Pippin Declares Himself to The Guard at The Walls of The Pelennor (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

doubtfulsea has It’s in Writing (2:  I’st a Prologue, or a Poesie for a Ring?) (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

The Tolkien Fanfiction Survey 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is available now.²

Adam Roberts has Howard Shore, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (2001–03) (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack]

Merchandise & Franchise

Perfectly lovely: Does Sean Bean Know His Lines? (He doesn't) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Variety, Youtube]

MMO Burnout: Lord of the Rings Living Card Game is my gold standard for LOTR game adaptations (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Massively OP]

Reactions are coming in for the first Brandywine Festival, the Burgschneider-run LARP in Kentucky, and there seem to have been a number of issues, even though many participants truly enjoyed it (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [reddit; this one is titled Beware Brandywine Festival KY - Thoughts From Paid Ticket Holder. Please read all reviews mentioned there to get your own view on this. A main criticism seems to have been: There were TWO full-time staff members to control THE ENTIRE GAME (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for a total of ~1,200 players.] See also the reaction with TORn (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Good to see at least one other videogame gets an expansion: Return to Moria (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Youtube; trailer for Durin’s Folk]

Estate of Play: The authors making millions years after their death (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [RTÉ]

Inter alia

It is rather sad to see the Vaults & Garden Café (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Oxford close - let’s hope they will be able to reopen in another space (no thanks to the University church.)

Worth reading: AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism (Si apre in una nuova finestra)³ [New Socialist]

Netflix Strikes Deal To Develop ‘Catan’ Game Into Film And Television Projects (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Forbes; please note Pete Fenlon is involved, formerly of Iron Crown Enterprises (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Meet 'The Singing Hobbit' (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Waikato's new comedy star [Waikato Times; official website (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Warner Bros. Discovery — valued at $50 billion — puts itself up for sale with Paramount circling (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Independent; press release (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Warner Bros. Keeps Taking a Beating That the Joker Would Be Proud Of (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Hollywood Reporter]

The 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has been announced.

The maps of Ursula K Le Guin reveal a fascinating insight into world-building in fantasy fiction (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Conversation]

The Caithness Broch Project is planning on building… a broch (Si apre in una nuova finestra)! [Thanks to Guèdelon!]

Is it a critical mineral or a Tolkien invention? Take the Guardian’s nerdiest quiz yet (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [No, it is not 😅]

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction now has a Substack (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - for a reason.

What is the scariest book? 10 horror authors pick the most terrifying stories ever (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [USA Today]

Lord of the Racists? UK University Course Claims Tolkien Demonised People of Colour in Fantasy Classic (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [International Business Times]

Existential Comics doing it again.⁴

[Having said this, xkcd’s Emperor Palpatine (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is rather exquisite, too!]

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If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
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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 Jennie Starstuff at the DTP Discord (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

2. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #350 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

3. h/t Jenny Dolfen (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Bluesky] ↩

4. h/t Troels Forchhammer ↩