The One hundred and seventieth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Events & Shows

The Forge of Friendship: J.R.R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis – Documentary Sneak Peek and Q&A (Opens in a new window) [Western Michigan University; Jan 23]

Lord of the Rings Marathon Screening at Magdalen, Oxford (Opens in a new window)¹ [Feb 7]

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has rescheduled one of their Tolkien Talks on Lichen and Rocks (Opens in a new window) to [Jan 24]

Nominations open for Tolkien Society Awards 2026 (Opens in a new window) [until Feb 1]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Opens in a new window) | YT (Opens in a new window) | RSS feed (Opens in a new window)]

Scholarship & Fandom

Available now: The Tolkien Books Database (Opens in a new window) [A Digital Tolkien Project]

Hall of Beorn has Discussion: The Downfall of Númenor – Part 5 (Opens in a new window).

Johan de Meij's Tolkien Symphonies: Symphony N°1 'The Lord Of The Rings' Vs. Symphony N°5 'Return To Middle-Earth' (Opens in a new window)[JWFan]

doubtfulsea has Through a glass… (Opens in a new window)

Miriam Ellis has Sitting with Sam beneath the Shire Mallorn (Opens in a new window) and Glimpsing the Days of the King on the Shores of Lake Evendim (Opens in a new window).

Find out about the “Tolkien Hypthesis” in Castles, Battlefields, and Continents: A Dataset of Maps from Literature (Opens in a new window) [Anthology of Computers and the Humanities, PDF]

Insect Damage, Tolkien, and a Book of… Cheese? (Opens in a new window) [Oxford Libraries Trainees]

Thoughts on Tolkien has Happy New Year! (Opens in a new window)

Stephen C. Winter has “For if We Fall, Who Shall Stand? And, Master Peregrin, Do You See Any Hope That We Shall Stand?” Beregond and Pippin on the Walls of Minas Tirith (Opens in a new window).

Abigail Nussbaum has The Great Tolkien Reread: The Shadow of the Past (Opens in a new window).²

Matej Cadil has From Valkyries to Ancient Egypt: What did the Crown of Gondor look like? (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Dimitra Fimi has A few gems from the Tolkien Family Album (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Vegetal Modes of Resistance: Arboreal Eco-Rebellion in The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window) [Humanities; MDPI]

Transformations of oral and written narratives : the interdisciplinary approach (Opens in a new window) [eds. Maciej Czeremski, Gregor Pobežin, Karol Zieliński; open access PDF; Tolkien features prominently and with Łukasz Neubauer’s ‘…Tolkien’s refashioning of the Völsung material in The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún…’]

Merchandise & Franchise

The Journey Continues with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers™ Trick-Taking Game (Opens in a new window) [Office Dog Games; see also Artist Spotlight with Elaine Ryan (Opens in a new window)]

Lord Of The Rings ‘Extended-Extended Edition’ Mithril Cut Doesn’t Exist, Says Peter Jackson (Opens in a new window) [Empire]

‘Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy Earns $5 Million in Box Office Presales for Theatrical Re-Release (Opens in a new window) [Variety]

LotRO sent out a letter to players (Opens in a new window) on upcoming plans.

Middle-earth Enterprises CEO Lee Guinchard has been named COO of the Embracer Group (Opens in a new window)[press release]

Inter alia

I made a Wallace & Gromit contraption in real life! (Opens in a new window) - Joseph's Machines³ [Youtube]

Betty Boop, Nancy Drew and the Maltese Falcon: Welcome to the Public Domain (Opens in a new window) [Internet Archive]

How to Radically Improve Your Attention (Opens in a new window) [New Books Newsletter - Substack]

As mentioned before in this newsletter, here are the incredibly nonsensical 90 secs with Tolkien in Fackham Hall (Opens in a new window) [Youtube]

David Bratman has ubiquitous comic strips (Opens in a new window) [Blogspot]

Curating a Show on My Ineffable Mother, Ursula K. Le Guin (Opens in a new window) [Hyperallergic]

Heavy Is the Crown: George R.R. Martin on His Triumphs and Torments (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter]

Record Profits, Record Output, Record Burnout: Inside Anime’s Quality Crisis (Opens in a new window) [Cartoon Brew]

Netflix is back as #1 in US streaming (Opens in a new window) [File770 (10)]

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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) - and 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 Tolkien Gleaning 374 (Opens in a new window). ↩

2. h/t File770 (Opens in a new window). ↩

3. h/t File770 (Opens in a new window). ↩