The One hundred and fifty-seventh Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Oct 6/11, 2006. The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (Abre numa nova janela) is published.
Oct 8, 1937. C.S. Lewis (Abre numa nova janela) reviews The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) in The Times.
Oct 9, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 141 (Abre numa nova janela), about the problems with maps for The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela).
Oct 10, 1936. Stanley Unwin (Abre numa nova janela) reads the typescript of The Hobbit.
Oct 11, 1918. Tolkien writes Letter 103 (Abre numa nova janela), with first impressions of Merton College (Abre numa nova janela).
Oct 12, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 84 (Abre numa nova janela), on his trouble while writing The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela), Leaf by Niggle (Abre numa nova janela).

• Third Age, 3018. The camp under Weathertop is raided at night, and Frodo (Abre numa nova janela) is attacked by the Witch-king (Abre numa nova janela) who attempts to hit his heart with a Morgul blade that will make him a wraith. Frodo wears the Ring and is wounded on the shoulder. [Oct 6]

John Garth has Lord of the ring road — JRR Tolkien’s war against the motor ca (Abre numa nova janela)r [The Times; paywall. A slight variant of this is available at Steady (Abre numa nova janela) should you be interested in supporting his work.]

See also the review with TolkienGuide (Abre numa nova janela) and their interview with Richard Ovenden (Abre numa nova janela) [Youtube], the Bodley’s Librarian (Abre numa nova janela) [Wikipedia]. There is also a piece with the Torygraph that -imho- is not worth your time.

I was today years old (Abre numa nova janela) when I finally realised that Schrödinger’s Cat (Abre numa nova janela) lived only two doors down from the Tolkiens in Oxford (Abre numa nova janela). Could Tevildo (Abre numa nova janela) please say something about this?
And P.S. This is written tongue-in-cheek!

Events & Shows

The German Tolkien Society’s seminar is Tolkien’s Works on the Book Market (Abre numa nova janela) [Oct 31- Nov 2; hybrid, online registration free]

The Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights (Abre numa nova janela), Ohio, USA is staging The Hobbit [Dec 4 - Jan 4]

The Hobbit will aso be playing at St Margaret of Scotland (Abre numa nova janela), Michigan, USA [Nov 14-16; Broadway World]

Hobbit Halloween (Abre numa nova janela) will be happening at Tillis’ Boardgaming Café in Jena [Oct 31; Facebook]

Do register for the Prancing Pony Podcast Moot (Abre numa nova janela)at Dallas Fort Worth Airport, USA [Dec 18-21; hybrid]

The Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches (Abre numa nova janela) (yes, Florida, USA) is doing Legends, Laughter, and Lightning aka film scores, including LotR [Oct 19, tickets (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

doubtfulsea has The Voices in His Head (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “I Can’t Be Their Ring-bearer. Not Without Mr. Frodo.” The Orcs of Cirith Ungol Take Frodo’s Body and Sam Decides to Follow Them (Abre numa nova janela).

The Journal of Tolkien Research has added three more papers to its vol. 22, issue 22: Proceedings of the Tolkien 2019 Conference (2025), edited by Will Sherwood (Abre numa nova janela); The Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien’s Demonized Creatures (2025), by Robert T. Tally, Jr. (Abre numa nova janela), and "Cold Words, Heartless and Miserable": Tolkien's Approach to Supernatural Horror (Abre numa nova janela).

Robin Reid has the CFP for Music, Dance, and Theatre In Fantasy Worlds (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

Merchandise & Franchise

Amazon's Rings of Power filming at scenic coastline (Abre numa nova janela) [BBC; see also TORn (Abre numa nova janela)]

Amazon TV Trapped in ‘Lord of the Rings’ Nightmare, Exec Palace Intrigue (Abre numa nova janela) [Ankler (Abre numa nova janela)]

The first film trilogy made it a legend, now… Sir Peter Jackson to force closure of popular Chocolate Fish Café (Abre numa nova janela) [RNZ]

Tolkien scholar Dr. Helmut Pesch has been working long on the revised second edition of his bestseller, Das Große Elbisch-Buch (‘The Great Book on the Elvish Languages’). Published on Oct 31st (Abre numa nova janela), its 976 pages make it unique worldwide on Tolkien’s invented languages. [Luebbe; in German]

Inter alia

Dimitra Fimi has Terry Pratchett, Magpies, and Folklore (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin Explored in New Exhibition and Book (Abre numa nova janela) [Fine Books Magazine]

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Preps for Closure (Abre numa nova janela) [Flying]

Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN has a trailer. (Abre numa nova janela) [Youtube]

Legendary film poster artist Renato Casaro has died (Abre numa nova janela). [Deadline]

In this post with Michael Whelan’s art you (Abre numa nova janela) might find a Gollum somewhere. [Substack]

The Algorithmic Archive (Abre numa nova janela): a project overview [Bodleian Libraries; please note the Mellon Foundation (Abre numa nova janela) has nothing to do with Tolkien!]

‘Steven Universe’ Creator Rebecca Sugar To Helm ‘Moomin’ Animated Feature For Annapurna (Abre numa nova janela) [Cartoon Brew]

Go through the amazing Voyager at 50 online exhibition (Abre numa nova janela). [Digital Heritage Lab, Liverpool]

There may finally be an explanation (Abre numa nova janela) for Will-o’-the-wisps. [PNAS; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.]

One of the things you may notice when visiting Oxford: Checking out: The varying performance of high streets across the country (Abre numa nova janela). [Centre for Cities]

Dungeons & Dragons: The First 50 Years of Storytelling (Abre numa nova janela) is a major piece with Arts & Culture at Google.

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs (Abre numa nova janela) [404 Media]

Ansible 459 has been published (Abre numa nova janela).

xkcd (again) cutting to the (proverbial) quick.

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.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]

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.