The One hundred and ninety-third Roving Ranger

Life & Works

Jul 24, 1915 Tolkien writes the poem The Happy Mariners (Abre numa nova janela).
July 25, 1938 Tolkien sends an angry letter (Abre numa nova janela) to a German publisher, after being asked whether he was Aryan (Abre numa nova janela) or not.
July 26, 1973 Lord Halsbury (Abre numa nova janela) visits Tolkien.
July 27, 1966 Tolkien receives the unexpected visitors J.S. Ryan (Abre numa nova janela) and Hans-Jörg Modlmayr (Abre numa nova janela).
July 28, 1947 Rayner Unwin (Abre numa nova janela) reports on the first version of The Fellowship of the Ring (Abre numa nova janela).
July 29, 1938 E.V. Gordon (Abre numa nova janela), a later colleague of Tolkien, dies.
July 31, 1917 "Tea Cake" Barnsley (Abre numa nova janela) is killed near Ypres (Abre numa nova janela) while consoling a captured prisoner.
August 1, 1997 The German Tolkien Society Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft e.V. (Abre numa nova janela) is founded [what a day!]
August 2, 1966 Tolkien is interviewed by William Cater (Abre numa nova janela).

The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and those who are going to read them.

William Cater, The Sunday Times (UK)

The BBC Lord of the Rings radio play (Abre numa nova janela) will have a re-release as “Vinyl and CD” [Tolkien Guide; Brian Sibley himself (Abre numa nova janela) informed the community via Facebook]

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

The third Tolkien Conference in Switzerland will happen in Lucerne; topic will be 'Maps and Landscapes in Tolkien's Middle-earth' (Abre numa nova janela) [Mar 13, 2027]

If you are up for some San Diego Comic Con energy but can’t get there - Weta Workshop will livestream (Abre numa nova janela) their reveals on Youtube [6:30pm PDT / 3:30 am CET / 1:30pm NZT; with me it’s July 23rd]

Falešné společenstvo (“a group of czech Tolkien fans that have been writing and performing Tolkien songs, and later full musicals, since 2001”) will be celebrating their 25th Anniversary (Abre numa nova janela) [throughout August; tumblr]¹

For a chronological list of events check out the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela) (where most of the events mentioned here are listed.)

Scholarship & Fandom

It gives me great pleasure to share another guest post, this time by Christian S. Trenk on Odysseus and Aragorn.

The Journal of Tolkien Research (Abre numa nova janela) continues with more interesting pieces: Getting Tolkien Right: Middle-earth in the National Review (Abre numa nova janela) or Some notes on a Tolkien’s manuscript linked to ‘Leaf by Niggle. (Abre numa nova janela)’

Marie Bretagnolle has What is she Tolkien about? Or a summary of my PhD thesis (Abre numa nova janela) [Hypotheses.org (Abre numa nova janela)]

In search of Aquinas in Middle-earth: pedagogical potentials for Thomistic virtue ethics (Abre numa nova janela) through The Lord of the Rings [British Journal of Religious Education; paywall]

Proof-of-Concept: Visions of Peace and Nonviolence in Pop Culture (Abre numa nova janela) (ed. Jennifer Kling) has a chapter titled Nonviolent Activism in The Lord of the Rings.

Adam Roberts is set to publish An A-Z of J. R. R. Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) [Jan 2027; Bloomsbury]

Andrew Higgins has Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Language of Barsoom (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Dimitra Fimi has informed readers of her blog that she will share her future work on Substack only (Abre numa nova janela).

The Austrian Tolkien Society has moved its communication to its very own Discord server (Abre numa nova janela).

doubtfulsea has Arboricidal (Abre numa nova janela) and Prismatic (Abre numa nova janela).

Interview with Janet Brennan Croft (Abre numa nova janela), editor of Mythlore [Elfenomeno]

Stephen C. Winter has “If You Had Received This Thing, It Would Have Overthrown You.” Because Denethor Desires the Victory of Gondor Above Everything He Has Not the Strength to Resist the Ring (Abre numa nova janela).

Shawn E Marchese has Word-Nerdery: The Etymology of "Fantasy" (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Robin Reid has 2027 International Congress on Medieval Studies (Hybrid) (Abre numa nova janela) and The Middle Ages in the Modern World (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

The British Fantasy Society Journal has put out a Call for Submissions on “Gender in Fantasy (Abre numa nova janela).”

Miriam Ellis has…

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

Merchandise and Franchise

In advance to the San Diego Comic Con which has been used for years now as the best way of promotion there are a few things on Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Jamie Campbell Bower Is Celeborn (Abre numa nova janela) – Elf Lord And Galadriel’s Husband – In The Rings Of Power S3 | The Rings Of Power Season 3 Will Finally See Sauron Forge The One Ring In Mordor: ‘No-One Is Safe’ (Abre numa nova janela) | ‘Gandalf Has Arrived’ (Abre numa nova janela) In The Rings Of Power Season 3 – And He’s ‘The Wizard We All Love’ [Empire]

Another German franchise offering, this time spice seller Ankerkraut (Abre numa nova janela) with a whole range on anything Lord of the Rings. [Their tag line says it all: Some heroes do not wield a sword, a magic staff or ring - but the cooking spoon.]²

The LotR fan club is slowly opening its gates. I have just received this email:

My comment Let us see what the future brings but at the moment the fan club seems to be what was to be expected - as many companies have been realising for some time being in locked platforms like Youtube, Facebook and Instagram etc. is not good for their business. So they are now opening their own locked platforms to entice fans to join them [enshittification will surely follow; see TORn (Abre numa nova janela)]

TORn also has a list of things Tolkienian (Abre numa nova janela) at SDCC.

Lord of the Rings: Ascension has surpassed $1 million in crowdfunding (Abre numa nova janela) (3,700+ backers) [GameFound]

Inter alia

Foreshadowed and Foresung has Christian Nationalists Are the Apostates from C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce (Abre numa nova janela).

Should you have ever asked yourself that question… Did elephant energetics decide Hannibal’s Alpine crossing route? (Abre numa nova janela) [University of Oxford; it is Oliphaunt-adjacent so fair game]³

OpenAI says its AI went rogue and launched 'unprecedented' cyber-attack (Abre numa nova janela) [BBC; what is ‘unprecedented’ about this?]

Harry Potter publisher to receive millions (Abre numa nova janela) in Anthropic copyright settlement [Guardian]

Dua Lipa has opened the Manifesto Library (Abre numa nova janela) in one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world [Livraria Lello, Porto; banned books and others]

Disney Lays Off Hundreds of Staffers, Pixar Hit Hard (Abre numa nova janela) [The Wrap]⁴

Inside Paramount and WBD, employees are on edge (Abre numa nova janela)as David Ellison's mega-merger hits resistance [Business Insider]

Bethesda confirm FALLOUT remasters and new games from themselves and Obsidian Entertainment (Abre numa nova janela) [Wertzone]

[July 18, 1971] The Tragedy of John W. Campbell (Abre numa nova janela) (1910-1971) [Galactic Journey]

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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 Laisrinel; Tolkiendil Discord (Abre numa nova janela). ↩

2. The founders had sold their company to brute force capitalist Nestlé (Abre numa nova janela) in 2022 which had led to a shitstorm of unseen proportions - this year they bought it back (Abre numa nova janela). Let’s hope they’ll stay independent and return to their mission of sustainability, protection of the environment, and transparency - a very Tolkienian way of thinking. ↩

3. h/t Oxford Clarion (Abre numa nova janela), July 14, 2026. ↩

4. h/t INDAC (Abre numa nova janela). ↩