The One hundred and sixty-eighth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life & Works

Isengard in Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Review of Bovadium Fragments; LARB]

Cat Eldridge has Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [File 770]

Tolkien Birthday Toast (Öffnet in neuem Fenster): January 3rd.

Please note

After fifty Roving Rangers in 2025 - mostly on time for Monday evenings - I’ll use Christmas¹ and the start of the new year² to - hopefully - recharge the batteries for another year of Middle-earthian shenanigans. And don’t forget…

It’s the time of the year - you can help me continue offering the Roving Ranger and all the other things I am working on by gifting a membership (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) or two to friends & family. Thank you - from Marcel! 🤩

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | YT (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | RSS feed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Events & Shows

The Cailloux Theater in Kerrville, Texas, USA, will have its Youth Theatre perfom The Hobbit [March 2026 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

Why I Keep Returning to Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Michael Drout; New York Times, paywall; see this option, too (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

David Bratman has left the Tolkien Studies building (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). He has a few more things to add (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Thank you for your hard work, David!]

doubtfulsea has A Moon disfigured (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Dimitra Fimi has Magical Christmas (3): Gothic and Ghost stories at Christmas (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “Opposing The Fire That Devours and Wastes With The Fire That Kindles.” Gandalf Kindles a Flame in The Hearts of The Free Peoples of Middle-earth. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Two more items with the Journal of Tolkien Research: Belliphonic Tolkien: Listening to the Wars in Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and The High Hallow: Tolkien’s Liturgical Imagination (2025) by Ben Reinhard (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Miriam Ellis has Tolkien's Eagles: Friends in High Places. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

The answer is pretty simple³: The only fantasy author with a massive US audience (and beginning globally) at the time… was Tolkien. So his stories’ backcloth provided much of the recognisable ‘framework’ to the game. It could have possibly been anything - but Gary wanted success, so he went for the bestseller [imho] ⬇️⁴

Merchandise & Franchise

LOTRO Legendarium: Looking back at Lord of the Rings Online’s weird 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Massively OP]

In one of the most hilarious video game articles this year we get a lot of Middle-earth related titles: The 176 video games that only sold one copy in 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Polygon]

Books you might like to buy…

This is a perfectly random and incomplete list of Tolkienian publications I appreciate and you might like to get for yourself or for someone you’d like to present a gift to at the end of 2025.

Please do support independent bookstores wherever and whenever possible - thank you. At the end of this newsletter you’ll find the reasons why I am supporting these three bookshops.

[Blackwell’s & Genialokal for the EU etc.; Bookshop for the US etc.]

A Real Taste for Fairy-Stories Essays by Verlyn Flieger
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Proceedings of the Tolkien 2019 Conference
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)| Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
The Art of Mercy in Middle-Earth
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
The Hobbit Graphic Novel (revised and expanded)
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Queer Approaches to Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Doomed to Die. An A-Z of Death in Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)| Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
The Tower & the Ruin
[Blackwell’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

With thanks to Tim Bolton’s 2025 & 2026 Upcoming Tolkien-related books list (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Inter alia

Lucasfilm wins bid to throw out UK lawsuit over 'resurrection' of 'Star Wars' character (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)[Reuters]

Follow Snowdo Baggins around Oxfordshire on this map (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Heritage Auctions Establishes New World Record With $3.875 Million ‘Star Wars’ Painting in Landmark Hollywood & Entertainment Sale (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [press release; fans with a keen eye will see the connection to ‘Tolkien’]

The Most Popular Books in US Public Libraries (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [ProQuest]

The Oscars Are Heading To YouTube In 2029 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Cartoon Brew]

Warner Bros. plans to reject Paramount bid on funding, terms (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Fortune]

kchchchchchch.😅

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.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]

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) - and 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 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. Here is a list (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for international well wishes for the end of the year festivities, Christmas among them - including Alassëa merendë! ↩

2. Festivities like Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, Kwanzaa and Diwali, to name but a few; for a longer list have a look at Wikipedia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

3. Do not quarter and hang me, appreciated! ↩

4. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #367 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩