The One hundred and thirty-ninth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

June 1, 2018. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Tolkien: Treasures (Si apre in una nuova finestra) are published, accompanying the exhibition "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" by Bodleian Library (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [See my review. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
June 2, 1916. Tolkien receives orders to report in Folkestone, and prepare for embarking.
June 3, 1972. Tolkien is awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
June 4, 1949. Tolkien writes a letter to Pauline Baynes (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
June 5, 1959. Tolkien delivers the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
June 6, 1928. Tolkien is invited to a dinner (Si apre in una nuova finestra) marking the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [See my Steady post (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on this.]

Guided tours will run at Sarehole Mill in Birmingham (Si apre in una nuova finestra) every Sunday in June.

You’ll find me with the largest Tolkien-centred event in the world, the Tolkien Days in Germany (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Jun 12-15; both as a speaker and program director for podcasts.]

If you’re in the US - Kobo is running an offer on the History of Middle-earth ebooks [all 12 books for less than $30; better hurry¹.]

Tolkien’s Bovadium Fragments have a very clever and unusual cover.²

Events & Shows

The Tales after Tolkien Society has So, About #Kzoo2025 and Looking at #Kzoo2026 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Tom Emanuel will be giving a talk in Oxford: Tolkien the post-Christian? A Proposition (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Jun 6]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

Jason Fisher has First mention of The Bovadium Fragments (Si apre in una nuova finestra). John Garth has Tolkien’s road goes on – but there’s traffic ahead at Bovadium (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Steady]

Anna Smol has Some glimpses into Westmoot 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Simon Tolkien has Finding Your Way Into Writing Fiction as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Grandson (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [LitHub]

Tom Shippey’s video "TOLKIEN was a HOBBIT!" (Si apre in una nuova finestra) will premiere June 3. [Youtube; the Uppsala Books channel has several videos lined up (Si apre in una nuova finestra).]

Miriam Ellis has Gildor Inglorion: Elves in the Shire! (Si apre in una nuova finestra) See also Tom Shippey’s talk on Tolkien-inspired art, naming Miriam, and her post: With Gratitude to Professor Tom Shippey - A Personal Story (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Stephen C. Winter has “Or If He Pleaseth, Through it Pass, and Then The Heaven Espy.” Reflections on a Visit to The Islands of Mull and Iona (Si apre in una nuova finestra) as well as “I Am Too Late. All is Lost”. Frodo’s Struggle With Despair Outside Minas Morgul (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Surveillance, Punishment, and Rebellion: The Eye of Sauron and Foucauldian Panopticism in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has been added to the Journal of Tolkien Research.

An article on how to determine Tolkien first editions has recently been published; please only use the work provided by the Tolkien Collectors’ Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for this.

doubtfulsea has Why a Dragon? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

An exceptional write-up: Why so Weird about Tolkien? The Founder Fantasies of Silicon Valley (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack; see the original post Why Silicon Valley’s Most Powerful People Are So Obsessed With Hobbits (Si apre in una nuova finestra)(NY Times)]

Are Scotsmen weird? I’d say yes ☺️ Jamie O’Connell walked up Ben Nevis in Gondorian armour (Si apre in una nuova finestra)³. (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [TikTok] P.S. And I love them for it!

Merchandise & Franchise

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ and ‘Citadel’ Hit Syndication for the First Time (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Variety]

There are only 2,000 copies of this limited-edition vinyl Lord of the Rings soundtrack (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Polygon]

Amazon has wanted to be a big player in games for 10 years, now it has to make The Lord of the Rings work (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Mein MMO]

Something I would truly love to have: The Pauline Baynes Tolkien Tea Towel.

LEGO is officially showing the Balrog Book Nook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (one out of four new releases on LotR.)

Last week a wildfire in California was called Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [How do wildfires get their names? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) CNN]

The 2025 Flipbook Fest by Andymation is on The Lord of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra)⁴.

Cory Godbey has Fate of the Fellowship pt. I, that is, on his Tolkien-related illustrations (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Patreon; if you cannot access this then take out a free subscription.]

Inter alia

The Wheel of Time fans devastated after Prime Video decision (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Independent; see also Deadline (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Forbes (Si apre in una nuova finestra); Wertzone (Si apre in una nuova finestra); Winteriscoming (Si apre in una nuova finestra); see also Amazon has killed the wrong ludicrously expensive fantasy show (Si apre in una nuova finestra)(The Telegraph)]

John Scalzi has a rather entertaining and informative post on how a successful US-based author is doing things right now (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Whatever @ Scalzi]

'The Wheel of Time's' Cancelation Is a Painful Blow for Female-Focused Fantasy TV (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Tellyvisions]

Tolkien scholar Hamish Williams (Si apre in una nuova finestra) also writes novels and as part of the ReCreative Arts conference (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Groningen he will have a book launch and workshop (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for Under the Green Cloud. [LinkedIn]

Artist Whelan has HOBBIT IN A PINCH (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack]

SATIRE One Rocket to Rule them All.

As George Lucas’s ‘Starship’ Museum Nears Landing, He Takes the Controls (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [New York Times]

An interview with Rob Maslen (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Patreon]

A call for moderation (of panels) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Frank Catalano, Substack]

The 11 most important fandoms of 2015 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Daily Dot]

Yes, Ryan George’s recent If Red Carpet Interviews Were Honest (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has a Middle-earth connection!

The Nats’ clubhouse book club is on a journey to Middle-earth this season (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Washington Post]

Despite all the fun with this hobby Games Workshop can be difficult (Si apre in una nuova finestra)⁵.

Thinking about starting a newsletter, podcast, Patreon, Substack etc.?

Then do consider using Steady (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Si apre in una nuova finestra), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and start with three months fee-free.
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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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra), or Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Threads (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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 average time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours for the bi-weekly edition and 6-8 hours for the weekly one.

1. h/t Philipp Nelson (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Bluesky] ↩

2. h/t Tolkien Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

3. h/t Brian Weaver (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Bluesky] ↩

4. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #306 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

5. h/t Ansible 455 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩