The One hundred and fiftieth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

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

Looking Back/Looking Forward: The History of the English Faculty Library (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window) and with Youtube (Opens in a new window).

Events & Shows

The Stratford Festival has announced its 2026 schedul (Opens in a new window)e, including The Hobbit [Stratford, Ontario, Canada; Youtube trailer (Opens in a new window)]

During the Wheaton College Family Weekend Open House on Nov 7-8 (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window).

In a recent newsletter of the Cité internationale de la tapisserie Aubusson (Opens in a new window) - where the Tolkien Tapestries (Opens in a new window) (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 (Opens in a new window) happened last weekend in Montreal, Canada. [Council of Elrond]

Children’s Theater of Madison will be doing The Hobbit in February 2026 (Opens in a new window).

The Hobbit will be shown at the Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Heights, Ohio (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window) [Facebook]

Lord of the Rings Musical in Singapore - reviews: Straits Times (Opens in a new window) | Bakchormeeboy (Opens in a new window) | Time Out (Opens in a new window) | TatlerAsia (Opens in a new window).

• 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 (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

Stephen C. Winter has “Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!” What did Frodo Say in Shelob’s Lair? (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window).

doubtfulsea has Runing Things (Opens in a new window).

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Tolkien's Silmarillion "Beasts", Dinosaurs, and the Prehistoric Past (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Douglas A. Anderson has Tolkien Society Award and Oxonmoot 2025 (Opens in a new window).

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

Robin Reid has "The Wife's Lament (Opens in a new window)" [Substack]

Giuseppe Pezzini has another book coming out: J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith: With Wind in our Ears. (Opens in a new window) [Tolkien Guide]

Tom Hillman has "The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth: Paintings Inspired by Tolkien's Legendarium" -- by Miriam Ellis (Opens in a new window) [Youtube]

Oronzo Cilli has Tolkien, Trains, and Two Discoveries: Meccano and Hornby (Opens in a new window) and British Communists: Michael H. R. Tolkien’s letters to the Evening Despatch (1944) and the Catholic Herald (1948) (Opens in a new window).

One of the speakers at the New York Tolkien Conference (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) - by Terry Pratchett. [Ansible]

Here is a 12-mile Middle Earth Hexmap (Opens in a new window).²

Merchandise & Franchise

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

• Hobbit Harvest Celebration and Afternoon Tea (Opens in a new window) [Sept 20; San Jose, CA, USA; Eventbrite]

• Hobbit Festival (Opens in a new window) [Sept 13; Valencia, PA (close to Pittburgh), USA; Eventbrite]

• The Party of Special Magnificence (Opens in a new window) [Sept 22; Anderson, SC, USA]

• Paints and Pints HOBBIT DAY at Nun Chuck's Brewing! (Opens in a new window) [Sept 21; Lynnwood, WA, USA; Eventbrite]

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

10 Highest-Grossing Screenwriters Of All Time, Ranked (Opens in a new window) [Slash Film; both Boyens and Walsh are on it]

The Hero Complex Gallery had a SDCC release for this beauty by Stephen Andrade (Opens in a new window):

“We were doing back to back 100 hour weeks… the last days of Hobbit 3 we did 146 hours. (Opens in a new window)” [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? (Opens in a new window) [Mass Live]

Ian McKellen Reveals Gandalf & Frodo Will Feature In Andy Serkis’ New ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Films (Opens in a new window) [Deadline]

Inter alia

The Oxford Sausage has a splendid post on map making in Oxford (Opens in a new window), contemporary to Tolkien.

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

One Piece: Season 2 with Netflix has a trailer (Opens in a new window).

The HUGO Awards have been announced (Opens in a new window). [File770]

Will Sherwood has Romantic Transformations, Part 1: Romantic Authorship in Ex Machina (2015) (Opens in a new window).

A bright new chapter for Hobbit Preschool and Child Care Centre (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window) to download, now that UConn has shuttered the Medieval Studies Program (Opens in a new window). Please note: Tolkien makes an appearance.

Elizabeth Bear (Opens in a new window) has The Cozy/Grimdark/Heroic Fantasy Sine Wave and a bunch of stuff about villains (Opens in a new window). Please note: Tolkien makes an appearance.

Schumer Mocked for Mentioning Imaginary Couple Hundreds of Times (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window)]

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If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
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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. 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 (Opens in a new window).] ↩

2. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #323 (Opens in a new window). ↩