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

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

Birmingham Heritage Week 2025 is happening… this week (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

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

Roving Ranger (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Youtube] - Roving Ranger (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Spotify]

Scholarship & Fandom

A webinar on J.R.R. Tolkien, Myth and Modernism is happening Sept 10 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Andrew Lazo; free to register]

Tolkien Notes 22 is out, with an emphasis on The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

Renga in Blue has finished an absolutely mesmerizing walk-through: Ring Quest: The Fiery Ruin of Hill and Sky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

The University Parks parkrun (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Oxford mentions 10 Tolkien Society members (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) giving their best - congratulations!

doubtfulsea has Horse, Two (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Thoughts on Tolkien has Eowyn, Elven-fair (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Merchandise & Franchise

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

Tales of the Shire is getting patches (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Nintendo Life]

Fate of the Fellowship inventor Matt Leacock talks about the game’s success and visiting Hobbiton in NZ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

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

Lord of the Rings composers nominated for World Soundtrack Award (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)s.³

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

Inter alia

The 25 best fictional robots (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) – according to New Scientist.⁴

Scarborough Beach Park has a whimsical… Gollum door (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)? [Brisbane, Australia]

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

LibraryThing (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

• 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). You can have your own little library online, too!

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Do use my invite link (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and start with three months fee-free.
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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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), or Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Threads (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Mastodon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for making me aware of this. ↩

2. Mentioned in this TORn piece (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

3. h/t TORn (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

4. h/t File770 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩