The One hundred and forty-sixth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

July 19, 1915. Newly-commissioned Second Lieutenant (Si apre in una nuova finestra) J.R.R. Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) enters army training camp.
July 20, 1954. Tolkien receives a D.Litt. (Si apre in una nuova finestra) from University College Dublin.
July 21, 1946. Tolkien writes Letter 105 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), promising to work on The Lord of the Rings (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
July 22, 1925. Tolkien writes Letter 8 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), announcing his election to the Rawlinson and Bosworth professorship (Si apre in una nuova finestra).
July 24, 1971. Tolkien writes Letter 326 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), with Tolkien lamenting that, because Rayner Unwin (Si apre in una nuova finestra) took over his father (Si apre in una nuova finestra)'s position at Allen & Unwin (Si apre in una nuova finestra), they could not spend much time together anymore.
July 25, 1938. Tolkien sends an angry letter (Si apre in una nuova finestra) to a German publisher, after being asked whether he was Aryan (Si apre in una nuova finestra) or not.

• Third Age (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 301 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)9: The funeral procession of king Théoden (Si apre in una nuova finestra) sets out from Minas Tirith (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [July 19 or 22¹]

Parma Eldalamberon 12 “Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon" is available again on demand. [Great British Bookshop (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | Barnes & Noble (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

New and improved public transport maps (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for Oxford and beyond are now available for those of you planning on visiting these spaces.

Events & Shows

Teatru Salesjan in Malta will have a Tolkien Fest (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [kids-oriented; Aug 22-24]

Sarehole Mill in Birmingham will have Heritage and Habitat (Si apre in una nuova finestra) events every Friday [Jul 25 - Aug 29]

The New York Tolkien Conference is happening July 31 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The German Tolkien Society’s “Thing” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (aka Moot) is happening this weekend, with me being in attendance. Guest society is Bri (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (Copenhague, Denmark.)

The Lasse Lanta of the Austrian Tolkien Society can now be registered for (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Sept 12-14]

Giuseppe Pezzini is giving a talk Tolkien and the changes of Times at the Atkinson in Southport (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [July 28]

The Roving Ranger coming live to you from the German Tolkien Society’s “Tolkien Thing (Si apre in una nuova finestra)”, with greetings - and also from the Finnish Tolkien Society’s Summer Moot (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

Verlyn Flieger’s latest publication is out:

Stephen C. Winter has “The Gleam Faded From His Eyes, and They Went Dim and Grey, Old and Tired.” Did Gollum Come Close to Repenting of The Evil He Planned to Do to Frodo and Sam? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) as well as “Is This The Only Way, Sméagol?” Frodo Prepares to Enter Shelob’s Lair (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Miriam Ellis has Of Wild Woods, Wild Hobbits, and the Withywindle (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Did Hal See An Ent Beyond The North Moors of the Shire? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Dr. Lauren Tucker has I’m Just a Hobbit. But Even Hobbits Can Save the Shire (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Medium; paywall]

Dimitra Fimi has A rare Tolkien volume in Tim Sullivan's The Bookseller. [Substack]

Tom Emmanuel’s notes that his recent talk for the Oxford Tolkien Seminar is now online (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack]

Adam Roberts has Gondolin: Siege Perilous (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack]

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Horn and the Sword (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Several conference papers have been added to the current issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research:

The Light of Learning: Medieval Scholar-Kings and Loremasters in the Line of Eärendil (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Beowulf and Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods of Hrothgar and Gandalf (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
No One Listens to Melian: When Women Speak and Men Ignore Them in Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
Tantalizing Fragments of a Larger Linguistic Tapestry: Exploring Nala Lambë, Mago/Magol, and the Dunlendish Languages in Tolkien's World-Building (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Merchandise & Franchise

Lord Of The Rings Online's July Letter From Orion Previews 2025's Updates, Which Has More Birds But Not Fish (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [MMORPG]

Tales of the Shire Reveals New Character Ahead of Launch (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [GameRant; spoiler: it’s Old Noakes!]

LotR: Shadows of Mordor will, in all probability (Si apre in una nuova finestra), never be worked on again but this recent video of an eleven year old game on a top tier pc proves it was pretty decent in terms of graphics (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Funko Pop now has The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring Deluxe Moment 09 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Entertainment Earth; the hobbits hiding from the Nazgûl]

Sauron’s helmet for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is on auction (Si apre in una nuova finestra)… among other things. [Hollywood Reporter]

There’s a Middle Earth-inspired cocktail bar hidden (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in SF’s newest escape room² [San Francisco Standard]

Legendary artist Michael Whelan (Si apre in una nuova finestra) will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by the World Fantasy Awards. His “The Eagles are coming!” was a highlight in the 1980 Tolkien Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra). His Gollum (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is frightening to this very day. Although I am not overly fond of this podcast episode when it comes to actual Tolkien research and knowledge, Michael Whelan teamed up with David Wenzel of Hobbit comic fame this year on Tolkien Reading Day (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Inter alia

When Novels Mattered (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [New York Times]

Excellent write-up: Has ‘Star Trek’ Lost Its Way? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Rolling Stone]

Psychedelic Tolkien is an… experience (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Charlie Potesky, Instagram]

The first ever appearance of George Lucas with (a) (San Diego) ComicCon (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Variety]

10 Desktop Publishing Tools That Didnt’t Make it (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Tedium]

HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Reveals First Costumed Photo; Casts Neville and Dudley (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Hollywood Reporter]

If you are interested… Best Places to live in the UK 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Times]

Frankenmoa and the fantasy of undoing extinction (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Press; after GRRM now PJ offering up… odd genetics.]

Something different: Chiang Yee’s Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra)³ [Oxford Sausage]

An absolutely exceptional read! [Five Books]

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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 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. See this note with TolkienGateway (Si apre in una nuova finestra). ↩

2. h/t The Carrock - Northern California Smial (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Discord] ↩

3. h/t Clarion Weekly (Si apre in una nuova finestra), July 18, 2025. ↩