The One hundred and seventy-sixth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

February 24, 1950. Tolkien writes Letter 124 (Abre numa nova janela), on The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela) ready – was it and The Silmarillion (Abre numa nova janela) wanted?
February 27, 1930. Joseph Wright (Abre numa nova janela), former tutor of Tolkien, dies.
February 28, 1949. Tolkien writes Letter 119 (Abre numa nova janela), on busily working, anticipating a period of leave.
February 29, 1968. Tolkien writes Letter 301 (Abre numa nova janela), on Tolkien in Oxford (Abre numa nova janela).
March 1 ,1939. Tolkien writes Letter 36a (Abre numa nova janela), on Michael's last year at school.

Tolkien mentions travelling to Scotland early the next week to give a lecture (Abre numa nova janela) he has not yet written, but ends by saying he hopes Michael will be up and about feeling better soon. [my emphasis]

• Third Age (Abre numa nova janela), 301 (Abre numa nova janela)9: Gandalf (Abre numa nova janela) comes to Edoras (Abre numa nova janela) and heals Théoden (Abre numa nova janela). Éomer (Abre numa nova janela) is released and Théoden holds his sword (Abre numa nova janela) again. [Mar 2]

Events & Shows

The Jesters Theatre has The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) (Mission, British Columbia, Canada) [Feb 20-28]

The Middle-earth Road Trip Readathon is happening via the Storygraph [@hexlibris (Abre numa nova janela), Instagram; March 1-31]

The Tolkien.Folk have published their #MiddleearthMarch prompt list (Abre numa nova janela) [Instagram]

The Edinburgh Tolkien Society (Abre numa nova janela) has Dimitra Fimi as guest speaker: Tolkien, mythology and mythography. [Feb 24; Instagram]

The Oxford Tolkien Society has just been beaten by the Cambridge Tolkien Society in the Varsity Quiz (Abre numa nova janela). Congrats to the winners! [Instagram]

The Racing Theatre Guild (Abre numa nova janela)(Racine, Wisconsin, USA) will show the Hobbit [April]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela).

I am planning on doing a global map for Tolkien Reading Day (Abre numa nova janela), with events from Tolkien societies & smials, libraries and cultural partners, who have Middle-earth in their hearts.

If you feel like helping out, let me know, and you can become part of the editing team!

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Abre numa nova janela) | YT (Abre numa nova janela) | RSS feed (Abre numa nova janela)]

Scholarship & Fandom

Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull have Tolkien Notes 23 (Abre numa nova janela) as well as Addenda and Corrigenda February 2026 (Abre numa nova janela) [Wordpress]

John Garth has Meditation and mosaic: two landmark Tolkien studies (Abre numa nova janela) [Steady; reviews of Drout and Pezzini; paywall]

Thoughts on Tolkien has Merry the Magnificent (Abre numa nova janela). [Wordpress]

Miriam Ellis has A Hobbit Kitchen and the Fróðafrið (Abre numa nova janela) and…

Matej Cadil has The Tree of Light on the Hill of Shadow (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Nick Polk has A Critical Response to “Between Mount Doom and the Wall of ‘Likes’” in Amon Hen #317 (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Robin Reid has feminist killjoy bibliographic essay (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

doubtfulsea has Do You Speak Villain? (Part 3) (Abre numa nova janela)

Stephen C. Winter has “He Knows Not to What End He Rides; Yet if he Knew , He Still Would Go On.” Merry Begins His Ride to War (Abre numa nova janela).

Tea with Tolkien had her book launch (Abre numa nova janela). [Youtube]

The Inklings Quarterly has IQ 10: Answering Alcuin, Dancing with Stars, & Fellow Book Projects (Abre numa nova janela).

Merchandise & Franchise

Czechoslovakian wolfdog Nazgul (Abre numa nova janela) made quite the appearance at the Winter Olympics¹ [NPR]

Lord of the Rings fans all make same comment about The Hunt for Gollum film (Abre numa nova janela) [Mirror, UK; an example of how online reporting can be lazy af]

Ben Child is - as is his wont - doing the same thing: The Hunt for Gollum looks like a step too far for the endless Lord of the Rings franchise (Abre numa nova janela) [Guardian]

Is A Promised Hobbit Hotel A Scam? WBZ's Matt Shearer Investigate (Abre numa nova janela)s [WBZ News Radio]

Mithril’s Miniature Box ‘The Fellowship of the Ring (Abre numa nova janela)’ is worth having a look at. [Instagram]

First new collectible pieces from Syzygy Forge are stunning! (Abre numa nova janela) [TORn; much more interesting: the upcoming John Howe collection (Abre numa nova janela)]

McIntosh delivers positive report at museum annual general meeting (Abre numa nova janela) [Stratford-Perth-Museum; using the Stratford Festival’s Hobbit rendition]

Inter alia

The Oxfam Bookshop on St Giles, the charity’s first ever dedicated bookshop, could be closed (Abre numa nova janela) [Oxford Clarion]

Charlotte Mendelson has the question What has it got in its pocketses? at the beginning of her piece The whole world in my pocket (Abre numa nova janela) [Observer]

Myth, monsters and making sense of a disenchanted world: why everyone is reading fantasy (Abre numa nova janela) [Guardian]

Royal Shakespeare Company confirms launch of GAME OF THRONES: THE MAD KING for Summer 2026 (Abre numa nova janela) [Wertzone; GRRM’s own word (Abre numa nova janela)s]

Rebecca Bratten Weiss is asking the question: Can I Still Love Tolkien? (Abre numa nova janela) [Radical Soul, Substack]

L.A.’s famous ‘Hobbit Houses’ have a new owner. He calls himself the ‘King of Storybook (Abre numa nova janela)’ [LA Times; please note, this is not a ‘hobbit hole’, just a marketing term to sell the news better]

The final trailer for The Mandalorian & Grogu (Abre numa nova janela) has been published [Youtube]

The Science Museum in London will be the UK’s (and probably Europe’s) centre for Star Trek 60 celebrations (Abre numa nova janela) - including all films on March 26th ff.

Annie Awards 2026: „Animation is not a genre — it is one of the most powerful and enduring creative mediums in the world!“ (Abre numa nova janela) | [Indac; remarks by Aubry Mintz, Executive Director, ASIFA-Hollywood]

‘Andor’ Creator Tony Gilroy Gives the Interview He Couldn’t During Its Release (Abre numa nova janela) [Hollywood Reporter]

Josh Kushner uses 'Lord of the Rings' to explain what being close to OpenAI taught him about perceived power (Abre numa nova janela) [Business Insider Africa]

"To use the Lord of the Rings analogy," Kushner said, "Sam, Greg, OpenAI have the Ring, and everyone is willing to do whatever they can to take it."

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If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Threads (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

As this is 2026 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 Brian Weaver (Abre numa nova janela) (Bluesky) ↩