The One hundred and thirty-ninth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

June 1, 2018. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Tolkien: Treasures (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are published, accompanying the exhibition "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" by Bodleian Library (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [See my review. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
June 4, 1949. Tolkien writes a letter to Pauline Baynes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
June 5, 1959. Tolkien delivers the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
June 6, 1928. Tolkien is invited to a dinner (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) marking the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [See my Steady post (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on this.]

Guided tours will run at Sarehole Mill in Birmingham (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) every Sunday in June.

You’ll find me with the largest Tolkien-centred event in the world, the Tolkien Days in Germany (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tom Emanuel will be giving a talk in Oxford: Tolkien the post-Christian? A Proposition (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Jun 6]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

Jason Fisher has First mention of The Bovadium Fragments (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). John Garth has Tolkien’s road goes on – but there’s traffic ahead at Bovadium (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Steady]

Anna Smol has Some glimpses into Westmoot 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Simon Tolkien has Finding Your Way Into Writing Fiction as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Grandson (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [LitHub]

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

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

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as well as “I Am Too Late. All is Lost”. Frodo’s Struggle With Despair Outside Minas Morgul (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Surveillance, Punishment, and Rebellion: The Eye of Sauron and Foucauldian Panopticism in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for this.

doubtfulsea has Why a Dragon? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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

Are Scotsmen weird? I’d say yes ☺️ Jamie O’Connell walked up Ben Nevis in Gondorian armour (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)³. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Variety]

There are only 2,000 copies of this limited-edition vinyl Lord of the Rings soundtrack (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Mein MMO]

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

LEGO is officially showing the Balrog Book Nook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (one out of four new releases on LotR.)

Last week a wildfire in California was called Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [How do wildfires get their names? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) CNN]

The 2025 Flipbook Fest by Andymation is on The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)⁴.

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

Inter alia

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

John Scalzi has a rather entertaining and informative post on how a successful US-based author is doing things right now (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Whatever @ Scalzi]

'The Wheel of Time's' Cancelation Is a Painful Blow for Female-Focused Fantasy TV (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Tellyvisions]

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

Artist Whelan has HOBBIT IN A PINCH (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

SATIRE One Rocket to Rule them All.

As George Lucas’s ‘Starship’ Museum Nears Landing, He Takes the Controls (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [New York Times]

An interview with Rob Maslen (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Patreon]

A call for moderation (of panels) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Frank Catalano, Substack]

The 11 most important fandoms of 2015 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Daily Dot]

Yes, Ryan George’s recent If Red Carpet Interviews Were Honest (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has a Middle-earth connection!

The Nats’ clubhouse book club is on a journey to Middle-earth this season (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Washington Post]

Despite all the fun with this hobby Games Workshop can be difficult (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)⁵.

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

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

Do use my invite link (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), or Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Threads (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Mastodon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Bluesky] ↩

2. h/t Tolkien Guide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

3. h/t Brian Weaver (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Bluesky] ↩

4. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #306 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

5. h/t Ansible 455 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩