The Ninety-third Roving Ranger

Life and Works

November 24, 1964. Robert Graves (Opens in a new window) introduces J.R.R. Tolkien (Opens in a new window) to Ava Gardner (Opens in a new window).
November 24, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 90 (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window).
November 27, 1914. Tolkien reads The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star (Opens in a new window) at a poorly attended meeting of Exeter College (Opens in a new window)'s Essay Club.
November 29, 1971. Edith Tolkien (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window)".
December 1, 1913. Tolkien is elected president of the Stapledon Society (Opens in a new window), a student body at Exeter College (Opens in a new window) (i.e. the JCR).
December 2, 1945. Tolkien submits The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (Opens in a new window) for publication.
December 3, 1916. G.B. Smith (Opens in a new window), one of the T.C.B.S. (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window) to Pauline Baynes (Opens in a new window).
December 8, 1956. Tolkien writes a letter to Anthony Roberts (Opens in a new window) (available (Opens in a new window) with the Tolkien Society Facebook group).

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

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 (Opens in a new window).

The UK Bookseller lauds our favourite genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy: genre on course for a record year (Opens in a new window).

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

Tolkien’s letter to Naomi Mitchison (Opens in a new window) is set to cost GBP 30-50k+. [Christie’s]

The University College London has found some Tolkien correspondence (Opens in a new window) with folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs as part of the Folklore Society Archive.

Events & Shows

Christmas with C.S. Lewis (Opens in a new window) is on in the next couple of weeks in the US. [trailer (Opens in a new window) @ 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 (Opens in a new window) [Eurogamer].

The New Berlin Library (Opens in a new window) in Wisconsin has a Hobbit Party (Opens in a new window) on Dec 14 in mind.

The Peruvian Tolkien Society (Opens in a new window) have Perumoot in Lima (Opens in a new window) as well as readings of the Letters from Father Christmas (Opens in a new window) planned.

Scholarship and Fandom

Tom Hillman has been interviewed by the Tolkien Guide about his book Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring (Opens in a new window).

The Journal of Tolkien Research’ volume 17 (Opens in a new window) is available (issue 2, Tolkien's Animals).

Douglas A. Anderson has Off-trail Hobbit Illustrations: Michael Hague (Opens in a new window) and some off-trail Hobbit (Opens in a new window) illustrations.

Shawn E. Marchese, the Lord of the Mark of the Prancing Pony Podcast (Opens in a new window), has been interviewed (Opens in a new window) by Jeff LaSala. [TOR.com]

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

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 (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window). [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 (Opens in a new window) has been mentioned (Opens in a new window) in this article: The Most Divisive Fantasy Epic of the ‘70s Influenced the Greatest Modern Blockbuster (Opens in a new window) [Inverse; huge thanks go out to the Internet Archive (Opens in a new window) for this].

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

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 (Opens in a new window) is up for auction (Opens in a new window).

Embracer (Opens in a new window), owner of Middle-earth Enterprises (Opens in a new window), seem to be making decent money (Opens in a new window) off Tolkien. [Variety; see also Kotaku (Opens in a new window)]

Amazon is cutting jobs at its gaming division (Opens in a new window) but the MMOs will be left untouched. [Verge] Coincidentally, its Q3 total revenue soared to $143.1 billions. (Opens in a new window) [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” (Opens in a new window) [Deadline]

Good news for Hobbit foodies - the Hobbit Restaurant (Opens in a new window) in Orange, California is set to reopen Nov 28 (Opens in a new window).

An angry comment on Warner Bros. gaming and what the company has planned: Warner Bros. Is Pivoting To Live-Service A Decade Too Late (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window).

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

John Scalzi talks about Christopher Tolkien (Opens in a new window), in a sense.

You may have seen the Antidepressant drug or Tolkien? quiz recently - here is some background on it (Opens in a new window). [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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Tolkien-Discord (Opens in a new window)