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 (Opens in a new window).
Sept 10, 1957. Tolkien wins the International Fantasy Award (Opens in a new window).
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 (Opens in a new window) [PDF] at the University of Liège (Opens in a new window), a conference in which Tolkien delivers the paper "Middle English 'Losenger' (Opens in a new window)".
Sept 14, 1950. Tolkien writes Letter 130 (Opens in a new window), on Riddles in the Dark (Opens in a new window).

Yes, the pub mentioned is THE pub: Larry Ellison Is Spending Billions to Reshape Oxford and His Own Legacy (Opens in a new window). [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 (Opens in a new window) [originally shown: Jan 24, 2006; Youtube]

Birmingham Heritage Week 2025 is happening… this week (Opens in a new window).

I would love you to help me get this newsletter to more than 1,000 subscribers

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 (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Fans of the old CCG and the LCG, i.e. card games, will be able to register for Lure of Middle-earth 2026 (Opens in a new window) 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. (Opens in a new window) [Feb 1, 2026]

Roving Ranger (Opens in a new window) [Youtube] - Roving Ranger (Opens in a new window) [Spotify]

Scholarship & Fandom

A webinar on J.R.R. Tolkien, Myth and Modernism is happening Sept 10 (Opens in a new window) [Andrew Lazo; free to register]

Tolkien Notes 22 is out, with an emphasis on The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (Opens in a new window).

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

Renga in Blue has finished an absolutely mesmerizing walk-through: Ring Quest: The Fiery Ruin of Hill and Sky (Opens in a new window).

The Northvegr Journal (Opens in a new window) has started a ten piece series titled Northern Pride: A Survivor’s Guide to Glorious Defeat (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window) podcast has recently published an episode on The Hobbit - paywalled to its subscribers (Opens in a new window). [Apple Podcasts]

The University Parks parkrun (Opens in a new window) in Oxford mentions 10 Tolkien Society members (Opens in a new window) giving their best - congratulations!

doubtfulsea has Horse, Two (Opens in a new window).

Thoughts on Tolkien has Eowyn, Elven-fair (Opens in a new window).

Merchandise & Franchise

You might be interested in supporting this documentary that is happening on Kickstarter right now called Fantasy Rising (Opens in a new window). [Given that Dimitra Fimi is in it I am sharing it here.]

Tales of the Shire is getting patches (Opens in a new window). [Nintendo Life]

Fate of the Fellowship inventor Matt Leacock talks about the game’s success and visiting Hobbiton in NZ (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Andy Serkis Says ‘I Can’t Escape’ Gollum Before Flying to New Zealand to Begin New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie (Opens in a new window). [Variety]

Lord of the Rings composers nominated for World Soundtrack Award (Opens in a new window)s.³

LotRO: An outlook on the next expansion (Opens in a new window) [Massively OP] and a free redeem code for many quests (Opens in a new window).

Inter alia

The 25 best fictional robots (Opens in a new window) – according to New Scientist.⁴

Scarborough Beach Park has a whimsical… Gollum door (Opens in a new window)? [Brisbane, Australia]

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

LibraryThing (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window).

• 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 (Opens in a new window). You can have your own little library online, too!

Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?

Then do consider using Steady (Opens in a new window) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Opens in a new window), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Opens in a new window) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Threads (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window).

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.

1. h/t to Sarah C. Schaefer (Opens in a new window) for making me aware of this. ↩

2. Mentioned in this TORn piece (Opens in a new window). ↩

3. h/t TORn (Opens in a new window). ↩

4. h/t File770 (Opens in a new window). ↩