The Ninety-third Roving Ranger

Life and Works

November 24, 1964. Robert Graves (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) introduces J.R.R. Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to Ava Gardner (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
November 24, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 90 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to Christopher on an Inklings pub night out.

The result was a most amusing and highly contentious evening, on which (had an outsider eavesdropped) he would have thought it a meeting of fell enemies hurling deadly insults before drawing their guns. #Letter90

November 25, 1936. Tolkien delivers Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
November 27, 1914. Tolkien reads The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) at a poorly attended meeting of Exeter College (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s Essay Club.
November 29, 1971. Edith Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) dies after a short but severe illness attributed to an inflamed gall-bladder.
November 30, 1966. Tolkien conducts an interview, published as "The Man Who Understands Hobbits (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)".
December 1, 1913. Tolkien is elected president of the Stapledon Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a student body at Exeter College (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (i.e. the JCR).
December 2, 1945. Tolkien submits The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for publication.
December 3, 1916. G.B. Smith (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), one of the T.C.B.S. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), dies of gas-gangrene in his wounds, sustained 4 days earlier.

“My chief consolation is that if I am scuppered tonight there will still be left a member [of our School group] to voice what I dreamed and what we all agreed upon. For the death of one of its members cannot, I am determined, dissolve [the group]. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four! May God bless you my dear John Ronald and may you say things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them if such be my lot." Garth, Tolkien & the Great War, p. 118.

December 6, 1961. Tolkien writes Letter 235 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to Pauline Baynes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
December 8, 1956. Tolkien writes a letter to Anthony Roberts (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (available (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with the Tolkien Society Facebook group).

The revised edition of Letters (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has been published and notes and reviews are coming in: John D. Rateliff (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Word on Fire (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (Holly Ordway | David Bratman (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

One of the early books on Tolkien’s writings, Randel Helm’s Tolkien’s World, was returned to a UK library - 16,683 days overdue (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The UK Bookseller lauds our favourite genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy: genre on course for a record year (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

If you happen to be in Lagos, Nigeria, do get yourself a copy of The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [support (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) your local (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) bookstore (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)!]

Tolkien’s letter to Naomi Mitchison (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is set to cost GBP 30-50k+. [Christie’s]

The University College London has found some Tolkien correspondence (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs as part of the Folklore Society Archive.

Events & Shows

Christmas with C.S. Lewis (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is on in the next couple of weeks in the US. [trailer (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) @ Youtube]

A review of the Fantasy: Realms of the Imagination exhibition: The British Library's new fantasy exhibition opened my eyes to how important fantasy is (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Eurogamer].

The New Berlin Library (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Wisconsin has a Hobbit Party (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on Dec 14 in mind.

The Peruvian Tolkien Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) have Perumoot in Lima (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as well as readings of the Letters from Father Christmas (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) planned.

Scholarship and Fandom

Tom Hillman has been interviewed by the Tolkien Guide about his book Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Journal of Tolkien Research’ volume 17 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is available (issue 2, Tolkien's Animals).

Douglas A. Anderson has Off-trail Hobbit Illustrations: Michael Hague (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and some off-trail Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) illustrations.

Shawn E. Marchese, the Lord of the Mark of the Prancing Pony Podcast (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), has been interviewed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by Jeff LaSala. [TOR.com]

I have two new posts (coming up) with my “Tolkien Travel Posters” series - this time it is Beverly Arce (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [thetolkienist.com (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Funnily enough, there is a very indirect connection from J.R.R. Tolkien to former Arkansas Governor Mick Huckabee: The latest AI copyright lawsuit involves Mike Huckabee and his books (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [The Verge] I have been working on this for some time and will publish it via thetolkienist.com.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the Tolkien exhibition (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Reuters]

Franchise and Merchandise

I am immensely proud to say that the website I was effectively running on my own for the German Tolkien Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has been mentioned (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in this article: The Most Divisive Fantasy Epic of the ‘70s Influenced the Greatest Modern Blockbuster (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Inverse; huge thanks go out to the Internet Archive (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for this].

Roleplaying publisher Free League Gaming (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is making The One Ring and LotR RPG 5E fans happy with new publications (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

If you are thinking about making a proper investment why not go for a Tolkien letter? Their value has been rising steadily and another one (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is up for auction (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Embracer (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), owner of Middle-earth Enterprises (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), seem to be making decent money (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) off Tolkien. [Variety; see also Kotaku (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Amazon is cutting jobs at its gaming division (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) but the MMOs will be left untouched. [Verge] Coincidentally, its Q3 total revenue soared to $143.1 billions. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Hollywood Reporter]

People in New Zealand might possibly smile knowingly at this: Amazon Warns Of Threat To UK Status As Hollywood Rival; Says Shoots Can Be Relocated At “Short Notice” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Deadline]

Good news for Hobbit foodies - the Hobbit Restaurant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Orange, California is set to reopen Nov 28 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

An angry comment on Warner Bros. gaming and what the company has planned: Warner Bros. Is Pivoting To Live-Service A Decade Too Late (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [The Gamer]

Players are willing to forgive all of Shadows of Mordor’s heinous crimes against Tolkien because it’s so d*rn fun to play, but the CEO sees it as a failure because nobody’s still buying it nine years after release.

Inter alia & Back in the day

Michael Whelan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), one of the best and most successful fantasy and science fiction artist of all times, recently shared his version of Gollum via Xitter.

Later on he also shared a number of images he did of Frodo & Sam at Mount Doom (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Some contradictory statements on ‘Fantastic Beasts’: “Director David Yates says studio has franchise on ‘a pause’ after third film (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)”. [LA Times]

John Scalzi talks about Christopher Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), in a sense.

You may have seen the Antidepressant drug or Tolkien? quiz recently - here is some background on it (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [thetolkienist.com]

According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's, the bookshop of my personal trust.

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) : Tolkien-Discord (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)