The One hundred and sixty-fifth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

The Galician-Castilian dictionary from Tolkien's personal library with the date and his beautiful signature (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [reddit]

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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) or two to friends and family. Thank you! 🤩

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 54 Years Anniversary of Forodrim (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is open to registration. [May 28-31, 2026; Sweden; one of the oldest Tolkien fandom organisations]

The Tolkien Tage of the German Tolkien Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are selling out tickets quickly. [May 28-31, 2026; the world’s largest Tolkien-centred event with 15,000+ expected]

The Lure of Middle-earth is open to registration (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Feb 20-22, 2026; medieval castle Stahleck, Germany; schedule (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) of LotR LCG & ME CCG]

The Oxford Botanic Garden has a Christmas Fair (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - with the BLACK PINE COLLECTION available only there! [Dec 6-7; this is about ‘Tolkien’s favourite tree (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)’]¹

Westmoot II is happening 2026 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Bloomsbury Publishing / Oxford English Faculty Fantasy Summer School in September podcasts are online now (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Pleasure of the Perilous Woods: Byron’s Literary and Cultural Legacies (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - Will Sherwood talking on Byron and Middle-earth. [Dec 4]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

It gives me great pleasure to release another podcast, this time on a new publication by Michael Drout: The Tower & the Ruin.

It is amazing to see the community supporting Mike in this - you can also listen to Alan and Sara’s interview with him (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (Prancing Pony Podcast) or the lovely people at the Tolkien Guide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (Youtube).

Tom Hillman has "So let us forgive him" -- from the stairs of Cirith Ungol to the slopes of Mt Doom (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and "...the language ... of Mordor, which I will not utter here." (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

The Silmarillion — Clowes First State (Cloth Binding Variant) (1977) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Kaitlyn Facista has Tolkien Reading Order & Checklist (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Tea with Tolkien]

doubtfulsea has On the Road(s) Again—Again (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Miriam Ellis has The Master of Brandy Hall: Meriadoc the Magnificent (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), The Southfarthing: Home of Hobbit Luxuries (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and Farmer Maggot of Bamfurlong: Hospitality and Mystery in the Marish (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Stephen C. Winter has “Under All There Was There Was a Great Joy: a Fountain of Mirth Enough to Set a Kingdom Laughing.” Who is Being Described Here? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Anke Eissman has new art (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Bluesky]

Rise up Comus is doing fun RPG versions of … well, look for yourself (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), or here with the Middle-earth hex crawl project (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Czech artist Matej Cadil now has a Substack (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - and the first post is called The Curious Case of the Thinking Fox (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [please note this font does not have the symbols to properly spell his name; you’ll find it with his new online home.]

Merchandise & Franchise

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Nathaniel Chanticleer and Bilbo Baggins (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

John Garth has Deaths, beliefs and griefs observed: C.S. Lewis, Huxley and Kennedy (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Steady]

Lord of the Rings Online’s community is assembling the ‘biggest fellowship ever’ to walk to Mordor next month (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [MassivelyOP]

Somewhere in Japan a hobbit hole is taking shape (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Kiwi Kate Hawley crowned inaugural Costume Designer of the Year (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [RNZ]

Why ‘BBC Narnia’ Never Adapted The Last Battle: Director and Cast Speak Out in New Documentary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [NarniaWeb]

… and then Paul did go off to see Christopher Tolkien with a view to doing ‘The Hobbit’, and he met Christopher Tolkien in the south of France, and was quite astounded because Christopher had no television set, wasn’t aware of anything that the BBC… even existed! So wasn’t at all interested in letting ‘The Hobbit’ go. But it’s a shame really, because I think we could have done ‘The Hobbit’ justice.

Inter alia

The beautiful Vaults & Garden Café (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Oxford had to close - but the good news is, they do have a new location!

‘We used a beachball as an alien!’ John Carpenter on his gloriously shonky sci-fi comedy Dark Star (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Guardian]

Young V&A Exhibition Explores the ‘Cracking Creations’ of Aardman’s Animated Favorites (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Animation Magazine]

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [NPR]

Jim Henson Company Collection of Memorabilia from ‘Fraggle Rock,’ ‘Labyrinth,’ ‘The Dark Crystal’ & More Fetches $2.6 Million At Auction (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Deadline]

Roblox is a problem — but it’s a symptom of something worse (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Platformer]

Even by a Strict Definition, Elon Musk Is a Fascist (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [UnPopulist]

He is weaponizing Tolkien to promote violence by ‘hard men’ against Asian immigrants.

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).

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. h/t to David Charlton for letting me know about this. ↩