The One hundred and eighty-eighth Roving Ranger

Life & Works

J. R. R. Tolkien’s Soul’s Ward: A critical edition of his unpublished translation of the early Middle English homily Sawles Warde (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [OUP]

Dimitra Fimi notes on Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [plus manuscript pages]

NEW TOLKIEN JUST OUT: delighted to see “JRR #Tolkien’s (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Soul’s Ward: A critical edition of his unpublished translation of the early Middle English homily Sawles Warde” edited by Andoni Cossio and Nelson Goering (…) Chuffed to have played a minor role in this…

Telegraph (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (paywall)

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

Visit this year’s EuroCon and meet me (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 😇

The Tolkien Society has announced its seminar date and topic: Tolkien’s Invented Languages (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Nov 21; CfP deadline is 31st July]

History came alive for third-graders at Heritage Elementary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Byron Center, Michigan, USA [School News Network; including Tolkien]

If you are in the Rochester (New York, USA) area check out this request on Craigslist to start a Tolkien reading group (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Reviews on the Stratford Festival’s Hobbit: The Road Goes On, But the Adventure Never Quite Arrives for Stratford’s “The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)” [Front Mezz Junkies] | Stratford Festival’s unimaginative ‘Hobbit’ strips the colour and heart from the beloved novel (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Toronto Star] | The Stratford Festival's The Hobbit is an Exciting Adventure (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Broadway World]

Composer & Sound Designer Debashis Sinha Talks About The Hobbit At The Stratford Festival (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Ludwig Van]

The Family Pinecone Book Club in the Art Center East has a number of reading performances of The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in June [La Grande, Oregon, USA]

The Hobbit will be staged at the Alberta Theatre Projects (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Dec 1 - Jan 3, 2027; Calgary, Canada]

The Zephyr Theatre will do an outdoor edition of The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [July 23 - Aug; Stillwater, Minnesota, USA]

Bedrock Gardens are having their Annual Fairy and Hobbit Festival again (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Jul 17-19; Lee, New Hampshire, USA]

Registration is now open (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for June 19-21, 2026.

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

Scholarship & Fandom

A documentary about the Tolkien Society Forodrim (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is now live with Kickstarter.

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (7): "hobbit talk" and non-standard English (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as well as The Slow LotR Re-read (8): Sam Gamgee, folklore, and the numinous (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Robin Reid has Pope Leo, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Peter Thiel (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)¹,

Shawn E Marchese has Dispatch from Westmoot 2026 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

French Tolkien scholar Vincent Ferré has participated² in Les mondes et les peuples de la fantasy (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a Radio France four part documentary podcast on fantastic worlds.

The 2026 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) have been announced.³

Tolkien Guide has an interview with Giuseppe Pezzini, editor of J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Youtube]

A new book has been announced: Tolkien's Material Culture by Marie Loughlin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Bloomsbury; it seems to be an expansion of this Tolkien Studies article (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

John Garth has Tolkien, the critics, and why I’m starting an Oxford DPhil on Lord of the Rings and war (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Steady]

A new special issue with the Journal of Tolkien Research has the topic Asexuality in Tolkien's Legendarium (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tom Hillman has "Galadriel," he murmured (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Blogspot]

The Silmarillion — Clowes Intermediate Second State (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (1977) [Blogspot]

Delving too deep: Morphological and molecular description of the cave-dwelling Dolichopoda balrogi (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) sp. nov. [Journal of Othoptera; new type of cave cricket]

Matej Cadil has Mushrooms in Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Miriam Ellis has Galadriel's Weavers and Glorious Glimpses in The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Edith's Dance for J.R.R. Tolkien at Roos and the problem of war (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Anke Eissmann has…

Abigail Nussbaum has The Great Tolkien Reread: The Council of Elrond, Part 2 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has Tennis, Anyone? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Stephen C. Winter has “The Red Arrow Has Not Been Seen in The Mark in All My Years.” Rohan Receives The Call for Aid From Gondor. The Importance of Strong Ritual (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and “So We Come To It in The End… The Great Battle of Our Time, in Which Many Things Shall Pass Away.” A Great Cloud Comes From Mordor That Simplifies The Mind of Théoden (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Distant reading of The Lord of the Rings: visualization and statistical analyses of its character network (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Springer Nature]

Audiobook Review: The World of Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [by Dimitra Fimi]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

As one of the early Tolkienian-named companies (and now licensee of MEE) Rivendell Mountain Works (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) have recently shared their new Lupine day packs [read up on their early days as Middle-earth fans (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); and if any of you feel like Xmassing me - it’s either wine & coyote or brown & navy!]

Free League Publishing has shared: Available Now: New Middle-earth RPG Releases Explore Saruman, Isengard, and the Shire (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Mailchimp]

Stone Blade Entertainment have shared a first update on The Lord of the Rings: Ascension (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [GameFound; some of the artwork from the game]

Brick Fanatics has LEGO Minas Tirith Siege Tower instructions revealed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Brick Tap has leaked the next major LotR LEGO project: the Oliphaunt (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Instagram]

Amazon Still Wants to Make a Lord of the Rings Game (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Despite Canceling the MMO It Was Working On [IGN]

German heo group has announced additional Hobbit Squaroes items - like Radagast (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [a brand of the Ultimate Group]

Dark Horse the latest publisher to unionize (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [icV2; part of Embracer and offering Middle-earth related merch like Gollum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Exciting news of film exploring the magic of fandom and friendship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [TORn; on Wise Sam Gamgees]

The Board Games Insider has episode #421 The One About Small Publishers Getting Tolkien Licenses. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

German podcasters Annika Röttinger & Tobias M. Eckrich (chairman of the German TS) have started a project for #PrideMonth titled “Das Auenland ist bunt” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with a message of diversity and inclusion.

Inter alia

John Boorman’s son mentioned that for the Lord of the Rings film project sheep were supposed to replace… extras (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Instagram]

Numbers from the UK: Publishing reaches highest ever revenue in 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Publishers Association]

My favourite webradio is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with a new look for its website and quite a few other perks if you support it: Radio Rivendell (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

You may consider them a traditional feature of Oxford colleges but they really aren’t as you migth believe: Should colleges scrap the quad? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Oxford Blue]

One way of following Oxford’s cultural history was Nightshift - and the last issue has hit the stands and the web (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).⁴

SFWA Announces 61st Annual Nebula Awards Winners (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).⁵

YouTube Is Taking Over Hollywood: How Three Films From Online Creators Are Dominating the Box Office Right Now (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Comic Basis]

‘The Mandalorian And Grogu’ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Will Set An Unfortunate ‘Star Wars’ Record [Forbes]

RIP John Blanche (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Wertzone; he also did Tolkien illustrations (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), found with the Bestiary]

Benny Johnson (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s advice for Trump on Iran: Be like Smaug from The Hobbit. “You got to go full dragon in Lord of the Rings, and scorched-earth the entire town” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Media Matters]

Ansible 467 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has arrived. My favourite quote?

Terry Pratchett (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)’s works are apparently teetering on the brink of oblivion, according to someone called Helen Lewis: ‘One of England’s funniest writers is in danger of being lost to history.’ (The Atlantic, May) The point of the clickbait headline is that Lewis feels there’s never been a successful screen adaptation and Terry’s reputation can’t possibly survive on the strength of mere old-fashioned books.

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

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. Robin is so kind as to mention my talk at the 2019 Birmingham Tolkien Conference. ↩

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

3. h/t File770. ↩

4. h/t Oxford Clarion (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Jun 2, 2026 edition. ↩

5. h/t File 770. ↩