The One hundred and seventy-ninth Roving Ranger

📚 special Tolkien Reading Day edition 📚

Events & Shows

Waterstones in Coventry will have The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) for their monthly book club. [March 25]

The Lost in Translation Show in Adelaide, Australia, will be doing its version of the film Return of the King (Abre numa nova janela) on March 20.

The Winni Players Community Theatre (Abre numa nova janela) will be doing a staged radio show of The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) [Mar 28; Meredith, New Hampshire, USA]

Greg Banks (Abre numa nova janela)' The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) will be happening at the Shakespeare Tavern [Jun 6-28; Atlanta, Georgia, USA]

The Lord of the Rings is mentioned in Fantasy Characters Bring Stories to Life at Newcastle World Book Day Celebration (Abre numa nova janela) [Newcastle Magazine]

You can now register for the Austrian Tolkien Society’s Spring Festival (Abre numa nova janela) [May 13-17]

The Fellowship of the Cards (Abre numa nova janela) will return to Évry-Courcouronne (close to Paris) on May 23-24 [BoardGameGeek]

Last day to register for the Forodrim 54th Anniversary (Abre numa nova janela) is March 31st [May 28-31; Tolkien Society in Sweden]

Should anybody participate in the Hobbit Mosh (Abre numa nova janela) please send me a review. [April 10; Auckland, New Zealand]

The Cushing Public Library hosts a number of events, including a Hobbit Festival (Abre numa nova janela) [Mar 28+; Oklahoma, USA]

Please note I am the Guest of Honour of this year’s Lustrum of the Dutch Tolkien Society, Unquendor.

Registration is now open (Abre numa nova janela) for June 19-21, 2026.

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Dimitra Fimi has For Mothering Sunday: Some brief thoughts on Faramir's mother (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

I have a short report on the second Tolkien Conference (Abre numa nova janela) in Switzerland I had been invited to [thetolkienist.com (Abre numa nova janela)]

Iris Meredith has Amdir, Estel, Peter Thiel (Abre numa nova janela).

Nick Hubble has started a 50 Year Reread of The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela). [Wordpress]

Jason Fisher has Generative AI, Hallucinations, and Tolkien Revisited (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

John Garth has The Lord of the Rings: toughest quiz ever (Abre numa nova janela) [Steady]

I wrote another Fingolfin’s Findings - on the Oakenshield Marionettes.

The next rolling issue of vol 23 of the Journal of Tolkien Research is beginning to fill: "Deep Down Here by the Dark Water Lived Old Gollum": The 1927 Public Opening of the Wookey Hole Show Caves and 'The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela)'; “Neither Living Nor Dead”: From Nazgûl to the Sídhe in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) (Abre numa nova janela); and Through Peaks and Troughs: Visualising the Rhythmic Sentiment of The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela).

Nick Polk has Ireland, Eärendil, and Tolkien Reading Day (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

Matej Cadil has Walking Further Into Middle‑earth: A New Adventure (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Tolkien Trewsday has started Year Four (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has The Damage of Dragons (Abre numa nova janela).

(Abre numa nova janela)

Tom Hillman has "Fled from the Company" -- Frodo and Sam not looking back (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “To The Stone of Erech! I Seek The Paths of The Dead. Come With Me Who Will.” Aragorn Acts Swiftly as Time Runs Out (Abre numa nova janela) and “May I Not Now Spend My Life as I Will?” The Lady Éowyn Longs to Break Free From Her Cage (Abre numa nova janela).

Miriam Ellis has Glimpsing Bilbo's heart through his map of favorite walks (Abre numa nova janela) and When Folk Little and Big Lived Together at Bree (Abre numa nova janela).

Tolkien seems to have been prophetic on a number of current issues - a recent piece of scholarship (Abre numa nova janela) puts one of the essential neurological changes in human life at… 32.

Another Youtube video co-written by me has been published recently: Minas Ithil & Minas Morgul.

Durin (Abre numa nova janela), issue 1, the comic by Turner Mohan, Sergio Artigas and Carlos Vera is available now. [deviantart; seven issues are planned]

Merchandise & Franchise

Tolkien Reading Day seems to have become the day of choice for major media to use as marketing tool (not good for the community, generally speaking, but that’s where we are right now…)

Anyway - Peter Jackson just announced the next film after "Hunt for Gollum” and it is going to be “Shadow of the Past”, in cooperation with Stephen Colbert.

Whenever I see something with the amazing Jed Brophy I need to share it: When Orcs Collide (Abre numa nova janela) [Weta Workshop]

Kate Winslet To Play Female Lead In Andy Serkis’ ‘LOTR: The Hunt For Gollum’ (Abre numa nova janela) [Deadline; according to this (Abre numa nova janela) she is going to play Gollum’s grandmother; Twitter]

The Royal Mail bringing the gold to the film trilogy. And stamps (Abre numa nova janela).

I did not have this on my bingo card for 2026 but here we go: Fellowship of the ring: the journey to IFoA qualification (Abre numa nova janela) [yes, that is, on how to become an actuary (Abre numa nova janela)]

Also not on my bingo card - a Louis Vitton fashion show review (Abre numa nova janela) with a Tolkien allusion:

Set in a world that could be repurposed for a 2096 version of a JRR Tolkien saga, grass covered monoliths appeared as if they had erupted from the ground. [The Impression]

Do Middle‑earth and Westeros make sense? Climate scientists modelled them to find out (Abre numa nova janela) [Conversation]

Hidden Steam listing hints at The Lord of the Rings: War in the North re-releasing (Abre numa nova janela) [TweakTown]

Johan Egerkrans, artist to the eye-opending Swedish editions of H, LotR, and Sil, has put up the cover illustrations as limited giclée prints (Abre numa nova janela).

Wooden Wisdom featuring Actor Elijah Wood bring the fantasy world to the dancefloor (Abre numa nova janela). [May 31; Denver, Colorado, USA]

Elijah Wood is finally reading The Lord of the Rings 25 years after playing Frodo: 'They're incredible!' (Abre numa nova janela) [Entertainment Weekly]

“Delving too Deep” panel provided rare look at Lord of the Rings set details (Abre numa nova janela) [TORn]

TORn also has March Madness again - this time it is Clash of the Collectibles (Abre numa nova janela).

The Fellowship of the Ring In Concert 25th anniversary UK/IRE tour dates (Abre numa nova janela) [Oct-Dec; officially sanctioned by composer Shore]

It’s been a few years since the film came out but pant-less Aragorn is making a comeback:

Inter alia

Browncoats, assemble! FIREFLY animated TV series in development (Abre numa nova janela) [Wertzone]

High-speed combat drone production starts at new US Anduril plant in days (Abre numa nova janela) [Reuters]

David Bratman has A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility (Abre numa nova janela).

Epic Games Lays Off Over 1,000 As CEO Frames Cuts As Cost Of Being ‘Industry’s Vanguard’ (Abre numa nova janela) [CartoonBrew]

Artist Michael Hague has passed away (Abre numa nova janela) [Down the Tubes; he did the legendary 1984 Hobbit]

Does it surprise me that xkcd has a Tolkien connection even in its “what if?” videos? No.¹

This edition has been delayed due to illness - thank you for your patience.

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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 (Abre numa nova janela), Bookshop.org (Abre numa nova janela), or Genialokal (Abre numa nova janela), 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 (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 Mountain King, my friend Sebastian of our German-speaking podcast SmallTolk (Abre numa nova janela). ↩