The One hundred and sixty-seventh Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

It’s the time of the year - and you can help me continue offering the Roving Ranger and all the other things I am working on by gifting a membership (Si apre in una nuova finestra) or two to friends and family. Thank you! 🤩

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | YT (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | RSS feed (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Events & Shows

You can visit John Howe’s workshop in Neuchâtel, starting December 18 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

On this weekend: The Prancing Pony Podcast Moot (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Don’t forget January 3rd is Tolkien’s birthday.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

The bomber crash that sent Tolkien racing from his home (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Steady; paywall]

Dimitra Fimi has Magical Christmas (2): St. Nicholas/Santa Claus/Father Christmas in children's fantasy (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Kristine Larsen has Immeasurable Halls and Dreamlike Forms: Tracing the Caves of Cheddar Gorge Throughout Tolkien’s Legendarium (and Beyond). (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

‘The Tower and the Ruin’ Review: Seeking Tolkien’s Past (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Wall Street Journal]

doubtfulsea has On the Roads Again—Once More (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Miriam Ellis has Oh, to walk down into Hobbiton! (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and The Three Remarkable Daughters of the Old Took: Female Hobbit Adventure (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Matej Cadil has The Road Goes Ever On: The Lone-lands (Part 2) (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

On reddit you get the “Tolkien Metal jacket” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) :)

Stephen C. Winter has Further Thoughts on Gandalf’s “Fountain of Mirth”. Gandalf and The Shire (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Matej Cadil has The Road Goes Ever On: Into the Wild (Part 3) (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

A review of Tolkien among the Theologians (2025) edited by Austin M. Freeman (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Journal of Tolkien Research; vol. 23, issue 1 beginning]

Merchandise & Franchise

Jacinda Ardern once auditioned to be a Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [BBC]

Weta FX Deepens Its AI Strategy (Si apre in una nuova finestra) With New AMD Partnership [Cartoon Brew]

Paramount Launches $108.4 Billion Hostile Bid For Warner Bros. Discovery (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Cartoon Brew]

Tom Henderson clarifies Eidos Montreal layoffs, projects, and rumors: P11, LOTR game cancellation (Si apre in una nuova finestra), and more [reddit]

Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is with The Best Board Games of 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [GameInformer]

This Lord of the Rings Total War mod, ten years in the making, turns the Roman Empire into Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [PCGamesN]

Lord of the Rings Online’s next update includes three new instances – and the first stages of UI scaling (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Massively OP]

Rings of Power Season 3 release date, cast and filming update: Prime Video series release schedule, cast, storyline, show future (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [India Times]

Candlelight concerts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) are happening globally [Lord of the Rings; WB & Fever]

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Proceedings of the Tolkien 2019 Conference
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra)| Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
The Art of Mercy in Middle-Earth
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
The Hobbit Graphic Novel (revised and expanded)
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Queer Approaches to Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
Doomed to Die. An A-Z of Death in Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra)| Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]
The Tower & the Ruin
[Blackwell’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

With thanks to Tim Bolton’s 2025 & 2026 Upcoming Tolkien-related books list (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Inter alia

Novelist Lev Grossman on Why Fantasy Isn’t About Escapism (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Harvard Magazine]

Rob Reiner, RIP (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [John Scalzi]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for The Princess Bride. It is one of those few films that made me who I am today. MRB

Creative industries 'incredibly worried' about OpenAI-Disney deal (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [BBC]

Disney Accuses Google Of ‘Massive’ AI Copyright Theft (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Cartoon Brew]

In An Era Of AI Slop Christmas Ads, This Hand-Crafted Scandinavian PSA Went Viral (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Cartoon Brew]

GRRM really has some news (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Tolkien is in Fackham Hall (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Thanks to the gritters we have … SNOWDO Baggins (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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

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

Do use my invite link (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra), or Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Threads (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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.