The One hundred and seventy-second Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Jan 26, 1925. Tolkien writes a letter to Professor Joseph Wright (Abre numa nova janela) on the occasion of his retirement.
Jan 27, 1819. John Benjamin Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) dies.
Jan 28, 1949. The letter "Cardinal Mindszenty (Abre numa nova janela)", co-signed by Tolkien, is published in The Times.
Jan 29, 1917. Tolkien faces a Medical Board in Birmingham (Abre numa nova janela), but he is deemed not fit to return to war (Abre numa nova janela).
Jan 30, 1914. The Chequers Clubbe (Abre numa nova janela), founded by Tolkien, is given permission to organize dinners.
Jan 31, 1892. Tolkien is christened at the Cathedral of St. Andrew and St. Michael (Abre numa nova janela) in Bloemfontein (Abre numa nova janela).
Feb 1, 1913. Tolkien writes a postcard to Edith Bratt (Abre numa nova janela).
Feb 2, 1939. Tolkien writes Letter 35 (Abre numa nova janela), on The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela), Mr. Bliss (Abre numa nova janela), Farmer Giles of Ham (Abre numa nova janela).

Tolkien reported that the new story, The Lord of the Rings, had reached Chapter 12 and over 300 pages of manuscript. He foresaw at least 200 more pages needed to finish it and asked when was the latest date that the completed manuscript ought to reach Allen & Unwin.

• Third Age (Abre numa nova janela), 301 (Abre numa nova janela)7: Aragorn (Abre numa nova janela) captures Gollum (Abre numa nova janela) in the Dead Marshes (Abre numa nova janela). [Feb 1]

People seem to appreciate visiting the Tolkien statue in East Yorkshire (Abre numa nova janela). [reddit]

Starting Feb 1 I will be sharing “guess the place!” photos from 30+ years of fandom with Ko-Fi and do TFFs - Tolkien Fun Facts! Let me know your memories 😇

Events & Shows

Tolkien Reading Day: the theme for 2026 has been anncounced (Abre numa nova janela): Unlikely Heroes.

The Oxford Tolkien Network’s talks (Abre numa nova janela) have started for Hilary Term, the next will be "Poetic Language and the Making of Myth: Reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings through Owen Barfield" [Jan 27]

AMA Announcement! James Tauber, The Digital Tolkien Project, in /r/tolkienbooks (Abre numa nova janela) [Feb 4; reddit]

The Mexican Tolkien Society in cooperation with the Asociación Tolkien Católica Peruana will be hosting a chat with Edy More (Abre numa nova janela)l on a documentary shown on Jan 3rd on the “catholic soul” of Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela). [Jan 25; Facebook; Youtube]

A short video gives you a good impression of how The Hobbit at the Dobama Theatre (Abre numa nova janela) looks like [Yahoo News]

A Tolkien Round Table (Abre numa nova janela) will be happening at the University of Malta: "Tolkien’s Elvish Mirror: Language, Myth, and Europe’s Search for Self" [April 24-25]

Nominations open for Tolkien Society Awards 2026 (Abre numa nova janela) [until Feb 1]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela).

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Abre numa nova janela) | YT (Abre numa nova janela) | RSS feed (Abre numa nova janela)]

Scholarship & Fandom

A number of podcasts (Abre numa nova janela) from last year’s Bloomsbury Oxford Fantasy Summer School have been uploaded, including Stuart Lee (Abre numa nova janela) and Giuseppe Pezzini (Abre numa nova janela).

A number of reading clubs and read throughs have started in 2025 or early 2026 to make use of the full year: A Reader of Else (Abre numa nova janela) and Abigail Nussbaum (Abre numa nova janela) are just two of many; Tea with Tolkien is on the Silmarillion (Abre numa nova janela) and the Year on Tolkien Book Club (Abre numa nova janela) with Kelly Orazi / The Middle Page is huge.

Miriam Ellis has The Joys of Old Age in The Shire as Seen from The Ivy Bush (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “The Darkness Has Begun. There Will Be No Dawn.” Pippin Has Nothing to Do But Wait for the Beginning of War (Abre numa nova janela).

Tom Birkett’s upcoming Runes: A Concise History (Abre numa nova janela) mentions Tolkien by name. [Oxford University Press]

Another fan film has just hit Youtube: A Ranger's Journey (Abre numa nova janela).

Austrian musician Anna Grob has published The Messenger (Abre numa nova janela) - listening closely you’ll realise who he is [Youtube]

In the German city of Kassel you could take the tram to Mordor - for a day. [It was a prank!]

Merchandise & Franchise

Why The Two Towers Is The Best Lord Of The Rings Film (Abre numa nova janela) [Empire]

Why Return Of The King Is The Best Lord Of The Rings Film (Abre numa nova janela) [Empire]

Peter Jackson’s introduction to the rereleased films shows him talking about the loss of Andrew Lesnie (Abre numa nova janela) (director of photography on both trilogies; Oscar recipient for FotR) [Youtube]

‘Fallout’: Amazon Says Season 2 Is Tracking As One Of Its Top 4 Returning Series, But Won’t Release Viewership Stats, Yet (Abre numa nova janela) [Deadline]

The streamer added that it is also currently the No. 6 TV season of all time on Prime Video. It falls behind both Seasons 1 and 2 of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Reacher Seasons 2 and 3, and the first season of Fallout.

Inter alia

Why I am with Substack and also not (Abre numa nova janela) [a personal note]

Get Birding with Sean Bean (Abre numa nova janela) looks like a promising new podcast episode - film fans have been asking only one question: how can he get killed by birds? [Dailymotion]

The Day NY Publishing Lost Its Soul (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Ubisoft cancels six games including Prince of Persia and closes studios (Abre numa nova janela) [BBC]

The AI productivity paradox (Abre numa nova janela) [Platformer]

From ‘Fortnite’ To ‘Fallout’: Checking In From London’s Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit (Abre numa nova janela) [Cartoon Brew]

Still looking for books to read? Summary List of File 770 Readers Recommendations for 2025 (Abre numa nova janela).

Fourth Cone Restoration on their Process of Restoring Vintage Posters (Abre numa nova janela) [Print Mag; see their 1977 Hobbit restoration (Abre numa nova janela), Instagram]

Director James Cameron on why he moved to New Zealand (Abre numa nova janela) [Stuff]

One of the best traditions to come out of recent years: naming snow ploughs. In this case? Ursula K. Le-Plow. [Remember Snowdo Baggins!]

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

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

Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela), Bookshop.org (Abre numa nova janela), or Genialokal (Abre numa nova janela), 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 (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Threads (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

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.