The One hundred and eighty-seventh Roving Ranger

Life & Works

May 26, 1955 Tolkien writes Letter 162a (Abre numa nova janela), in which he addresses Rayner Unwin (Abre numa nova janela) with an apology for the delays caused by the completion of the Appendices (Abre numa nova janela) for The Return of the King (Abre numa nova janela).
May 27, 1930 The University Press of Oxford sends Tolkien a copy of A Middle English Reader (Abre numa nova janela).
May 28, 1964 Tree and Leaf (Abre numa nova janela) is first published in the UK.
May 29, 1930 Tolkien's "The Oxford English School (Abre numa nova janela)" is published in The Oxford Magazine.
May 30, 2014 Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey (Abre numa nova janela) is published.
May 31, 1944 Tolkien writes Letter 72 (Abre numa nova janela), on an Inklings meeting, work on The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela), Hobbits names, wartime bigotry.

The Holy See has published the encyciclal letter MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS of his holiness POPE LEO XIV ‘on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.’

One might find it of note that the Pope has something to say on this topic - including the fact that J.R.R. Tolkien gets a mention in §213¹.

The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”

Many voices have been trying to make sense - or often no sense at all - of this and here are a few links for you:

Pope Leo XIV quotes The Lord of the Rings in 'Magnifica Humanitas' (Abre numa nova janela) (Kaitlyn Facista) | Against the Machine: Tolkien, Pope Leo XIV, and the Age of AI (Abre numa nova janela) (Matej Cadil)

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

THIS WEEKEND Tolkien Tage, Germany - the largest Tolkien-centred fan-organised event in the world (afaik!) Meet me there - I am introducing Roverandom and co-hosting the German-speaking Tolkien podcasts. My personal highlight: the first ever audience performance of Paul Corfield Godfrey - Lord of the Rings Opera (Abre numa nova janela) [info & tickets (Abre numa nova janela)]

THIS WEEKEND The Sarehole Festival (Abre numa nova janela) of the Tolkien Society.

THIS WEEKEND The 54 Year Jubilee of the Swedish Tolkien Society Forodrim (Abre numa nova janela)!

If the Birmingham Museums are ever thinking of inviting Tolkienists to some of their events… THIS is my dream 🥂🤩

The Tales after Tolkien Society has From #Kzoo2026 and Looking towards #Kzoo2027...and Maybe #Kzoo2028 (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

Andrew Higgins also has news from Kalamazoo (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Smial moot preparations are well under way for Mithlondrim (Abre numa nova janela) (Chester & North Wales) [Jun 20; Blogspot]

Verlyn Flieger is giving two more online talks with Politics & Prose (Abre numa nova janela), this time on Tolkien’s roots in myth [Jul 19 + 26]²

According to the latest Lure of Middle-earth newsletter the Italian Lord of the Rings LCG convention - Weathertop III - will take place at Costa di Dente (Abre numa nova janela) [October 2-4, 2026]

The Jobsite Theatre in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, will be staging The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) [Jul 14 - Aug 8, 2027]

RGS Worcester’s Lower School is preparing The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) as well [Jun 17-19; Worcestershire, UK]

Fun fact: “Tracing its origins back to the 7th century, it is the sixth oldest school in the world (Abre numa nova janela).”

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

John Garth has Book news: Tolkien and the Smith who helped forge his future path (Abre numa nova janela) [Steady]

Tom Hillman is on a roll: "What really happened," or, "Was hat Ranke mit Tolkien zu tun?" (Abre numa nova janela) as well as Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age (Abre numa nova janela) and last, but not least: Tolkien and Clarke's Third Law: a Corollary (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

"Any sufficiently advanced Art is indistinguishable from Enchantment."

G. Connor Salter has interviewed Inklings Scholar David Bratman (Abre numa nova janela) [Fellowship & Fairydust]

Another Fingolfin’s Findings has Frodo - the free, portable C64 emulator (Abre numa nova janela) [Steady; paywall]

Miriam Ellis has Tolkien and the Old Wives (Abre numa nova janela).

doubtfulsea has Blood Money (Abre numa nova janela) and Making Money (Abre numa nova janela).

Thoughts on Tolkien has Tolkien’s Poetic Imagination (Abre numa nova janela) [Wordpress]

The Italian ‘hobbit’ - Nicolas Gentile - who is building a Shire now has his very own documentary (Abre numa nova janela) [Youtube; trailer]

I am very glad to see that LEGO stills are finally replacing the film aesthetics 😅: The Great Tolkien Reread: The Council of Elrond, Part 1 (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

The Journal of Tolkien Research has added a number of posts to its issue 2 of volume 23:

• Hope and the Handiwork of Varda: Celestial Signposts of the Music’s Mending (Abre numa nova janela); Kristine Larsen

• The Machine for Its Own Sake: Tolkien's Critique of Instrumental Reason and the Modern Ecological Ethos (Abre numa nova janela); Ahmad J. El-Youssef

• Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Inklings: Tolkien and Lewis’s Relative Dimensions in Space-Time (Abre numa nova janela); Kristine Larsen

• Beyond the Stars: Voyaging into the Void in Tolkien’s Early Cosmologies (Abre numa nova janela); Kristine Larsen

• Wanted: More Feminist Queer Medievalists in Tolkien Scholarship (Abre numa nova janela): Robin A. Reid

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Abre numa nova janela). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Czech gaming studio Warhorse (Abre numa nova janela) has announced two new games, and one of them is an open world RPG set in Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela) [Instagram; please note - whatever website is telling you about the game, nobody knows anything yet]

Possibly one of the worst choices the Royal Mint could have gone for: Royal Mint releases 'Lord of the Rings’ 50 pence coin (Abre numa nova janela) [Reuters; Youtube; see also BBC (Abre numa nova janela)]

Dark Horse is giving us Merry, Boromir, and Pippin (Abre numa nova janela) from the Bakshi film.

‘Lord Of The Rings’ & ‘Tomb Raider’ To Be Housed At Fellowship Entertainment After Embracer Spin-Off (Abre numa nova janela) [Deadline; consequences for Austrian/ German industries (Abre numa nova janela)]

In an open letter Lars Wingefors (Founder and Chair Embracer Group AB) said:

I think the assets held by Fellowship Entertainment are among the most undervalued in the industry and I feel it’s my duty as the largest shareholder to change this and create a structure to realize their full potential.

This echoes the statement by then Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav that “Lord of the Rings” is “underused.” [The Wrap (Abre numa nova janela)]

This means we will see a flood of new merchandise and franchise projects in the next months [imho.]

‘The Rings of Power’ Season 4 in Development, Eyes Filming in Early 202 (Abre numa nova janela)7 [Hollywood Reporter]

Inter alia

Carton Brew has Before Pixar, There Was ‘The Works’: A Lost Chapter In The History Of Computer Animation (Abre numa nova janela).

Should you love the art of Alphonse Mucha as much as me this Kickstarter might be for you: ILSEE Art Nouveau occult fantasy romance 1897 (Abre numa nova janela).

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

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

Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (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. You can jump quickly to it via this link (Abre numa nova janela). ↩

2. h/t Wendell Wagner, email. ↩