The One hundred and thirty-ninth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

June 1, 2018. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) and Tolkien: Treasures (Opens in a new window) are published, accompanying the exhibition "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" by Bodleian Library (Opens in a new window). [See my review. (Opens in a new window)]
June 2, 1916. Tolkien receives orders to report in Folkestone, and prepare for embarking.
June 3, 1972. Tolkien is awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Oxford (Opens in a new window).
June 4, 1949. Tolkien writes a letter to Pauline Baynes (Opens in a new window).
June 5, 1959. Tolkien delivers the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford (Opens in a new window).
June 6, 1928. Tolkien is invited to a dinner (Opens in a new window) marking the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary (Opens in a new window). [See my Steady post (Opens in a new window) on this.]

Guided tours will run at Sarehole Mill in Birmingham (Opens in a new window) every Sunday in June.

You’ll find me with the largest Tolkien-centred event in the world, the Tolkien Days in Germany (Opens in a new window) [Jun 12-15; both as a speaker and program director for podcasts.]

If you’re in the US - Kobo is running an offer on the History of Middle-earth ebooks [all 12 books for less than $30; better hurry¹.]

Tolkien’s Bovadium Fragments have a very clever and unusual cover.²

Events & Shows

The Tales after Tolkien Society has So, About #Kzoo2025 and Looking at #Kzoo2026 (Opens in a new window).

Tom Emanuel will be giving a talk in Oxford: Tolkien the post-Christian? A Proposition (Opens in a new window). [Jun 6]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

Jason Fisher has First mention of The Bovadium Fragments (Opens in a new window). John Garth has Tolkien’s road goes on – but there’s traffic ahead at Bovadium (Opens in a new window). [Steady]

Anna Smol has Some glimpses into Westmoot 2025 (Opens in a new window).

Simon Tolkien has Finding Your Way Into Writing Fiction as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Grandson (Opens in a new window). [LitHub]

Tom Shippey’s video "TOLKIEN was a HOBBIT!" (Opens in a new window) will premiere June 3. [Youtube; the Uppsala Books channel has several videos lined up (Opens in a new window).]

Miriam Ellis has Gildor Inglorion: Elves in the Shire! (Opens in a new window) See also Tom Shippey’s talk on Tolkien-inspired art, naming Miriam, and her post: With Gratitude to Professor Tom Shippey - A Personal Story (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “Or If He Pleaseth, Through it Pass, and Then The Heaven Espy.” Reflections on a Visit to The Islands of Mull and Iona (Opens in a new window) as well as “I Am Too Late. All is Lost”. Frodo’s Struggle With Despair Outside Minas Morgul (Opens in a new window).

Surveillance, Punishment, and Rebellion: The Eye of Sauron and Foucauldian Panopticism in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window) has been added to the Journal of Tolkien Research.

An article on how to determine Tolkien first editions has recently been published; please only use the work provided by the Tolkien Collectors’ Guide (Opens in a new window) for this.

doubtfulsea has Why a Dragon? (Opens in a new window)

An exceptional write-up: Why so Weird about Tolkien? The Founder Fantasies of Silicon Valley (Opens in a new window). [Substack; see the original post Why Silicon Valley’s Most Powerful People Are So Obsessed With Hobbits (Opens in a new window)(NY Times)]

Are Scotsmen weird? I’d say yes ☺️ Jamie O’Connell walked up Ben Nevis in Gondorian armour (Opens in a new window)³. (Opens in a new window) [TikTok] P.S. And I love them for it!

Merchandise & Franchise

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ and ‘Citadel’ Hit Syndication for the First Time (Opens in a new window) [Variety]

There are only 2,000 copies of this limited-edition vinyl Lord of the Rings soundtrack (Opens in a new window) [Polygon]

Amazon has wanted to be a big player in games for 10 years, now it has to make The Lord of the Rings work (Opens in a new window) [Mein MMO]

Something I would truly love to have: The Pauline Baynes Tolkien Tea Towel.

LEGO is officially showing the Balrog Book Nook (Opens in a new window) (one out of four new releases on LotR.)

Last week a wildfire in California was called Hobbit (Opens in a new window). [How do wildfires get their names? (Opens in a new window) CNN]

The 2025 Flipbook Fest by Andymation is on The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window)⁴.

Cory Godbey has Fate of the Fellowship pt. I, that is, on his Tolkien-related illustrations (Opens in a new window). [Patreon; if you cannot access this then take out a free subscription.]

Inter alia

The Wheel of Time fans devastated after Prime Video decision (Opens in a new window) [Independent; see also Deadline (Opens in a new window), Forbes (Opens in a new window); Wertzone (Opens in a new window); Winteriscoming (Opens in a new window); see also Amazon has killed the wrong ludicrously expensive fantasy show (Opens in a new window)(The Telegraph)]

John Scalzi has a rather entertaining and informative post on how a successful US-based author is doing things right now (Opens in a new window). [Whatever @ Scalzi]

'The Wheel of Time's' Cancelation Is a Painful Blow for Female-Focused Fantasy TV (Opens in a new window) [Tellyvisions]

Tolkien scholar Hamish Williams (Opens in a new window) also writes novels and as part of the ReCreative Arts conference (Opens in a new window) in Groningen he will have a book launch and workshop (Opens in a new window) for Under the Green Cloud. [LinkedIn]

Artist Whelan has HOBBIT IN A PINCH (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

SATIRE One Rocket to Rule them All.

As George Lucas’s ‘Starship’ Museum Nears Landing, He Takes the Controls (Opens in a new window) [New York Times]

An interview with Rob Maslen (Opens in a new window). [Patreon]

A call for moderation (of panels) (Opens in a new window) [Frank Catalano, Substack]

The 11 most important fandoms of 2015 (Opens in a new window) [Daily Dot]

Yes, Ryan George’s recent If Red Carpet Interviews Were Honest (Opens in a new window) has a Middle-earth connection!

The Nats’ clubhouse book club is on a journey to Middle-earth this season (Opens in a new window) [Washington Post]

Despite all the fun with this hobby Games Workshop can be difficult (Opens in a new window)⁵.

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

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

Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Threads (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

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. h/t Philipp Nelson (Opens in a new window) [Bluesky] ↩

2. h/t Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window). ↩

3. h/t Brian Weaver (Opens in a new window). [Bluesky] ↩

4. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #306 (Opens in a new window). ↩

5. h/t Ansible 455 (Opens in a new window). ↩