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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is published.
Oct 8, 1937. C.S. Lewis (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) reviews The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in The Times.
Oct 9, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 141 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), about the problems with maps for The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Oct 10, 1936. Stanley Unwin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) reads the typescript of The Hobbit.
Oct 11, 1918. Tolkien writes Letter 103 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), with first impressions of Merton College (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Oct 12, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 84 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), on his trouble while writing The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Leaf by Niggle (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

• Third Age, 3018. The camp under Weathertop is raided at night, and Frodo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is attacked by the Witch-king (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)r [The Times; paywall. A slight variant of this is available at Steady (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) should you be interested in supporting his work.]

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

I was today years old (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) when I finally realised that Schrödinger’s Cat (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) lived only two doors down from the Tolkiens in Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Could Tevildo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Oct 31- Nov 2; hybrid, online registration free]

The Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Ohio, USA is staging The Hobbit [Dec 4 - Jan 4]

The Hobbit will aso be playing at St Margaret of Scotland (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Michigan, USA [Nov 14-16; Broadway World]

Hobbit Halloween (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will be happening at Tillis’ Boardgaming Café in Jena [Oct 31; Facebook]

Do register for the Prancing Pony Podcast Moot (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)at Dallas Fort Worth Airport, USA [Dec 18-21; hybrid]

The Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (yes, Florida, USA) is doing Legends, Laughter, and Lightning aka film scores, including LotR [Oct 19, tickets (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

doubtfulsea has The Voices in His Head (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); The Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien’s Demonized Creatures (2025), by Robert T. Tally, Jr. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and "Cold Words, Heartless and Miserable": Tolkien's Approach to Supernatural Horror (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Robin Reid has the CFP for Music, Dance, and Theatre In Fantasy Worlds (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

Merchandise & Franchise

Amazon's Rings of Power filming at scenic coastline (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [BBC; see also TORn (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Amazon TV Trapped in ‘Lord of the Rings’ Nightmare, Exec Palace Intrigue (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Ankler (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

The first film trilogy made it a legend, now… Sir Peter Jackson to force closure of popular Chocolate Fish Café (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin Explored in New Exhibition and Book (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Fine Books Magazine]

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Preps for Closure (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Flying]

Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN has a trailer. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Youtube]

Legendary film poster artist Renato Casaro has died (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Deadline]

In this post with Michael Whelan’s art you (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) might find a Gollum somewhere. [Substack]

The Algorithmic Archive (Öffnet in neuem Fenster): a project overview [Bodleian Libraries; please note the Mellon Foundation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has nothing to do with Tolkien!]

‘Steven Universe’ Creator Rebecca Sugar To Helm ‘Moomin’ Animated Feature For Annapurna (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Cartoon Brew]

Go through the amazing Voyager at 50 online exhibition (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Digital Heritage Lab, Liverpool]

There may finally be an explanation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Centre for Cities]

Dungeons & Dragons: The First 50 Years of Storytelling (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is a major piece with Arts & Culture at Google.

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [404 Media]

Ansible 459 has been published (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

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