The One hundred and fifty-ninth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Oct 20, 2003. Tolkien and the Great War (Opens in a new window) is published.
Oct 21, 1963. Tolkien writes a letter to Mrs. Munby (Opens in a new window), in response to a number of questions posed by her son Stephen about The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window).
Oct 22, 1955. C.S. Lewis (Opens in a new window) wrote "The Dethronement of Power (Opens in a new window)", a review of The Two Towers (Opens in a new window) and The Return of the King (Opens in a new window) published in Time and Tide (Opens in a new window).
Oct 23, 1937. Tolkien writes Letter 18 (Opens in a new window), thanking Stanley Unwin (Opens in a new window) for calling him a genius, adding that he would start writing on something soon. [my emphasis]
Oct 24, 1952. Tolkien writes Letter 135 (Opens in a new window), on the cost of printing The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window), his current work, & the British atomic bomb.
Oct 25, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 87 (Opens in a new window), sending chapters of The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window), and commenting on a letter from an American boy.
Oct 26, 1966. Finding himself short of a speech subject, Tolkien reads Smith of Wootton Major (Opens in a new window) to a room of about 800 people.

• Third Age, 3018. Frodo Baggins (Opens in a new window) awakes in Rivendell (Opens in a new window), recovered from his wound, and meets Gandalf (Opens in a new window). [Oct 24]

(Opens in a new window)

The Roving Ranger and the many other things I am doing are reader-supported publications. To receive additional posts and make it all happen, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Events & Shows

Please note: Tolkien 2027. Birmingham NEC 18-22 Aug 2027 [Tolkien Society]

The 13th International Tolkien Mailing Competition (Opens in a new window) is live [application by Nov 5; run by the Hungarian Tolkien Society]

Thistle’s Tale of Brandywine Magic and Mayhem (Opens in a new window) [TORn; on the first Brandywine Festival LARP by Burgschneider]

The Children’s Theater of Madison (Opens in a new window) will stage The Hobbit [Feb 7 -22, 2026; Wisconsin, USA]

The Rangers of the North (Opens in a new window) are meeting up [Oct 25, Manchester, UK; Bluesky, see also FB (Opens in a new window)]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

I did something involving Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, and Terry Pratchett.

Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull have Legacy and Faith (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “The Beacons of Gondor Are Alight, Calling for Aid. War is Kindled.” Gandalf Speaks of The Ancient Alliance of Gondor and Rohan. (Opens in a new window)

The members of the German smial Rheinhessen (Opens in a new window) have funded a public bookcase (Opens in a new window) in their village of Abenheim. [Facebook]

Tom Hillman has A sad tale of Milton Waldman, to whom Tolkien wrote a famous letter (Opens in a new window).

Miriam Ellias has The Grey Havens And Our Longing For Tolkien's Elves (Opens in a new window).

Roäc the Grey Haven Raven has A World Mental Health Day Reflection (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

doubtfulsea has It’s in Writing (1) (Opens in a new window).

Dimitra Fimi has Constructions of Childhood in Tolkien’s Legendarium (3): The hobbits as children. (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

TolkienLibrary.com (Opens in a new window) founder and collector, Pieter Collier, has moved to Norway (Opens in a new window).

Famed organist Anna Lapwood seems to have taken a liking to Lighting the Beacons (Opens in a new window)(Instagram; Howard Shore, RotK OST).

Artist couple Into Far Lands has just published a chronological map of Númenor (Opens in a new window), planning for Aman & Valinor. [reddit/TolkienArt]

Tolkien's Medievalism in Ruins (Opens in a new window) is out (see New Books in Literary Studies podcast).

Vincent Ferré has The Dynamics of Creation in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fiction: Peoples, Languages, and Imaginary Geography (Opens in a new window). [In French]

Kristine Larsen has A Plane, a Plaque, and a Prize: J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Medawar with the Journal of Tolkien Research (Opens in a new window).

American Tolkien Society Collection (Opens in a new window) now available for research.

The Journal of Inklings Studies (Volume 15, Issue 2, October 2025) has published another issue (Opens in a new window).

• Several items are free access, of particular interest is John Garth’s Revealed: Tolkien's 1939 Lecture on Fairy-stories (Opens in a new window). Carl Hostetter has offered corrections (Opens in a new window) [Facebook]

Matěj Čadil / The Road goes ever on

Merchandise & Franchise

Plans to reopen Tolkien and Lewis pub approved (Opens in a new window) [BBC]

Oxford Eagle and Child pub will be 'sensitively' restored (Opens in a new window) [Oxford Mail]

"Did You Ever Know That You're My Frodo?" (Opens in a new window) Bette Midler singing for Stephen Colbert [Youtube]

Another mobile game gone: Official Sunset Announcement: LoTR: Rise to War (Opens in a new window).

FAN EXPO HQ to Celebrate 25th Anniversary of The Lord of The Rings with 11-City Cast Reunion Tour in 2026 (Opens in a new window) [PR Newswire]

Inter alia

Cost Of ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Approaches $600 Million (Opens in a new window) [Forbes]

‘Inside George’s Brain’: The Audacious Effort to Bring the Star Wars Creator’s Museum Dream to Life (Opens in a new window) [Wall Street Journal]

Rare New US Bank Licence Issued by OCC for Erebor (Opens in a new window)[East & Partners]

How Hobbit-Inspired Startup Plans to Replace Silicon Valley Bank (Opens in a new window) [Wall Street Journal; see also Who is Palmer Luckey? Trending for launching a crypto-friendly bank approved by US regulators (Opens in a new window) [Economic Times]

Atari’s launching a new retro console for the holidays: its one-time console war rival (Opens in a new window)¹ [Polygon]

Legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan has passed away (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter; see his work with Instagram (Opens in a new window)]

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 Phantastik News (Opens in a new window) ↩