The One hundred and fiftieth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

August 19, 1916. Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) and G.B. Smith (Abre numa nova janela) meet at Acheux.
August 20, 1981. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) is published.
August 22, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 79 (Abre numa nova janela).
August 24, 1966. Tolkien lends Rayner Unwin (Abre numa nova janela) a reading-copy of "The End of Bovadium (Abre numa nova janela)".
August 25, 1973. Tolkien writes a letter to Glyn Daniel (Abre numa nova janela).

Looking Back/Looking Forward: The History of the English Faculty Library (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogs at the Bodleian]

The Roving Ranger will be published every Monday at approximately 9 pm.
[I am at UTC+2 atm/ CEST].

This is a work in progress but here we are: The Roving Ranger with Spotify (Abre numa nova janela) and with Youtube (Abre numa nova janela).

Events & Shows

The Stratford Festival has announced its 2026 schedul (Abre numa nova janela)e, including The Hobbit [Stratford, Ontario, Canada; Youtube trailer (Abre numa nova janela)]

During the Wheaton College Family Weekend Open House on Nov 7-8 (Abre numa nova janela) there will be a Storytime at the Wade presentation on Painting Wonder: How Pauline Baynes Illustrated the Worlds of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela).

In a recent newsletter of the Cité internationale de la tapisserie Aubusson (Abre numa nova janela) - where the Tolkien Tapestries (Abre numa nova janela) (and two rugs!] werde made - it was noted that the Paris exhibition of their Tolkien-inspired work has drawn more than 50.000 visitors.¹

The Middle-earth CCG Worlds (Abre numa nova janela) happened last weekend in Montreal, Canada. [Council of Elrond]

Children’s Theater of Madison will be doing The Hobbit in February 2026 (Abre numa nova janela).

The Hobbit will be shown at the Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Heights, Ohio (Abre numa nova janela) [Dec ‘25-Jan26]

Alida Mau has a report of the Wynn Fonstad Middle-earth Map Exhibit At UW-Madison [TORn]

It is a pity but the revived Middle-earth Festival in Birmingham… has been cancelled (Abre numa nova janela) [Facebook]

Lord of the Rings Musical in Singapore - reviews: Straits Times (Abre numa nova janela) | Bakchormeeboy (Abre numa nova janela) | Time Out (Abre numa nova janela) | TatlerAsia (Abre numa nova janela).

• Despite forgettable songs, Lord Of The Rings musical immerses fans with stagecraft [Straits Times]

• By the end of the long night, you may leave sore from the journey, but also with your heart full, reminded of the hope and imagination that have made Middle-earth endure for generations, and still persist even today. [Bakchormeeboy]

• For Tolkien diehards, it’s an intriguing – if imperfect – addition to the legendarium. For everyone else, it’s like being dropped into Mordor without so much as a map. [Time Out]

• One musical to rule them all? Not quite, but still a fun quest. [TatlerAsia]

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

Stephen C. Winter has “Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!” What did Frodo Say in Shelob’s Lair? (Abre numa nova janela) as well as “None Could Rival Her, Shelob The Great, Last Child of Ungoliant to Trouble the Unhappy World.” We learn of the History of Shelob and Her Relationship with Sauron and with Gollum (Abre numa nova janela).

doubtfulsea has Runing Things (Abre numa nova janela).

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Tolkien's Silmarillion "Beasts", Dinosaurs, and the Prehistoric Past (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Douglas A. Anderson has Tolkien Society Award and Oxonmoot 2025 (Abre numa nova janela).

James J. Schultz has Romanticism in Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Nature and Domestic Life as a Force for Good (Abre numa nova janela) [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Robin Reid has "The Wife's Lament (Abre numa nova janela)" [Substack]

Giuseppe Pezzini has another book coming out: J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith: With Wind in our Ears. (Abre numa nova janela) [Tolkien Guide]

Tom Hillman has "The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth: Paintings Inspired by Tolkien's Legendarium" -- by Miriam Ellis (Abre numa nova janela) [Youtube]

Oronzo Cilli has Tolkien, Trains, and Two Discoveries: Meccano and Hornby (Abre numa nova janela) and British Communists: Michael H. R. Tolkien’s letters to the Evening Despatch (1944) and the Catholic Herald (1948) (Abre numa nova janela).

One of the speakers at the New York Tolkien Conference (Abre numa nova janela) could not participate - and has made her talk available: Songs of Power in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

For those of you who have never read this classic: Why Gandalf never married (Abre numa nova janela) - by Terry Pratchett. [Ansible]

Here is a 12-mile Middle Earth Hexmap (Abre numa nova janela).²

Merchandise & Franchise

More and more smaller and middle-sized companies are embracing the Middle-earth vibe.

• Hobbit Harvest Celebration and Afternoon Tea (Abre numa nova janela) [Sept 20; San Jose, CA, USA; Eventbrite]

• Hobbit Festival (Abre numa nova janela) [Sept 13; Valencia, PA (close to Pittburgh), USA; Eventbrite]

• The Party of Special Magnificence (Abre numa nova janela) [Sept 22; Anderson, SC, USA]

• Paints and Pints HOBBIT DAY at Nun Chuck's Brewing! (Abre numa nova janela) [Sept 21; Lynnwood, WA, USA; Eventbrite]

How The Fellowship of the Ring explains post-9/11 America (Abre numa nova janela) [Vox; paywall; free to read with MSN (Abre numa nova janela)] Alternatively read Tom Emanuel’s The Lord of the Rings in a Post-9/11 World (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

10 Highest-Grossing Screenwriters Of All Time, Ranked (Abre numa nova janela) [Slash Film; both Boyens and Walsh are on it]

The Hero Complex Gallery had a SDCC release for this beauty by Stephen Andrade (Abre numa nova janela):

“We were doing back to back 100 hour weeks… the last days of Hobbit 3 we did 146 hours. (Abre numa nova janela)” [Working Class Audio; Youtube; on working conditions with the Hobbit film trilogy]

Fantasy or fraud: Viral hobbit hotel startup in Mass. raises $300K — but is it real? (Abre numa nova janela) [Mass Live]

Ian McKellen Reveals Gandalf & Frodo Will Feature In Andy Serkis’ New ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Films (Abre numa nova janela) [Deadline]

Inter alia

The Oxford Sausage has a splendid post on map making in Oxford (Abre numa nova janela), contemporary to Tolkien.

After many years of a Tolkienian theme when landing in New Zealand: Wellington Airport unveils massive new sculpture in terminal (Abre numa nova janela). [Stuff NZ]

One Piece: Season 2 with Netflix has a trailer (Abre numa nova janela).

The HUGO Awards have been announced (Abre numa nova janela). [File770]

Will Sherwood has Romantic Transformations, Part 1: Romantic Authorship in Ex Machina (2015) (Abre numa nova janela).

A bright new chapter for Hobbit Preschool and Child Care Centre (Abre numa nova janela) [NSW, Australia]

Christopher Lockett has an exceptional piece combining Pratchett, Tolkien, Eco and the beauty that is Labyrinth: [Substack]

Author K.A. Laity has a collection of UConn Medieval Plays as PDF (Abre numa nova janela) to download, now that UConn has shuttered the Medieval Studies Program (Abre numa nova janela). Please note: Tolkien makes an appearance.

Elizabeth Bear (Abre numa nova janela) has The Cozy/Grimdark/Heroic Fantasy Sine Wave and a bunch of stuff about villains (Abre numa nova janela). Please note: Tolkien makes an appearance.

Schumer Mocked for Mentioning Imaginary Couple Hundreds of Times (Abre numa nova janela) [Daily Beast]

That is a J.R.R. Tolkien-level of gratuitous backstory, and I don’t say that lightly. John Oliver / Last Week Tonight [Youtube Shorts (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. Aug 11, 2025. “Félicitations au Collège des Bernardins pour la réussite de cette exposition qui a accueilli plus de 50 000 visiteurs.” [See also LinkedIn post (Abre numa nova janela).] ↩

2. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #323 (Abre numa nova janela). ↩