The One hundred and eighty-first Roving Ranger

Life & Works

All you need to know as south Birmingham's three new railway stations open (Opens in a new window) [Bromsgrove Standard; easier access to Moseley Bog]

The Tolkienist’s Roving Ranger and more nominated for ‘Best Online Content’ with the Tolkien Society Awards | THANK YOU!

Events & Shows

The new Schwarzman Centre in Oxford will host an open day festival (Opens in a new window) [April 25; have a look at the Tolkien bust]

Theatre in the Round (Opens in a new window) will stage the Hobbit [May 8-31; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA]

Given that my favourite Oxford-based publication mentions it - Lord of the Rings film trilogy marathon (Opens in a new window) (EE) at the Ultimate Picture Palace [Apr 25; Oxford, UK]¹

The Princeton Theological Seminary (Opens in a new window) is honouring three retiring faculty members - and the Dr. George Hunsinger Farewell Lecture is titled “Barth and Tolkien” [Apr 24; Princeton, New Jersey, USA]

Photos from the Tolkien Tapestries exhibition in Angers show them displayed in all of their glory (Opens in a new window) [Villactu.fr]

Please note I am the Guest of Honour of this year’s Lustrum of the Dutch Tolkien Society, Unquendor.

Registration is now open (Opens in a new window) for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

Parma Eldalamberon 16: Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 1 is available again on demand [Great British Bookshop (Opens in a new window) | Barnes and Noble (Opens in a new window)]²

Galen Miller-Atkins has Entiscum yrfe Ealdniflunga: Meter and Poetic Style in Tolkien’s Old English Attila (Opens in a new window) [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Long Shadow of Bilbo (Opens in a new window) [Wordpress]

The Children's Literature Association Quarterly has a ‘special issue on Tolkien and childhood’: Volume 50, Number 2, Summer 2025 (Opens in a new window).

Kelly | TheMiddlePage has "A marvel of wizardry": Enchantment, longing, and sorrow in Tolkien's early poetry (Opens in a new window) [Substack; partially paywall]

The X International Conference on Myth in the Arts (Opens in a new window) has put out a CfP [deadline May 8; event itself Nov 17-20; hybrid]³

Jeff LaSala has Making The Silmarillion User-friendly: Characters (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “Then She Fell on Her Knees, Saying: ‘I Beg Thee!” Éowyn is So Desperate That She is Prepared to Humiliate Herself. (Opens in a new window)

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Opens in a new window). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

The social media channels of Warner Bros. and other involved parties (Opens in a new window) [FB reel] just shared this, reminding fans of Emiliana Torrini’s rendition of Gollum’s Song (Opens in a new window) [end titles to The Two Towers] and the still being from the prologue to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Check out the actors via Wikipedia: Ian McKellen (Opens in a new window) | Kate Winslet (Opens in a new window) | Jamie Dornan (Opens in a new window) | Leo Woodall (Opens in a new window) | Lee Pace (Opens in a new window) | Elijah Wood (Opens in a new window) | Andy Serkis (Opens in a new window)

The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy (Opens in a new window) is on auction, with some exceptional Tolkien items [For more information see Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window)]

Not sure how to put this into context but it feels incredibly cheap to ask for the building plans to a hobbit home for $50, right (Opens in a new window)? [Upwork]

Inter alia

Fun Fact A new fad of Youtube-published AI slop is “I built myself a hobbit hole!” A special field is turning steel containers into hobbitish living spaces… 🤪

Libraries Alliance formally launched at British Academy (Opens in a new window) [including the Bodleian Libraries, National Library of Scotland, the Cambridge University Library and many more.]

A loss, indeed: Journey’s End — Máire Brennan (1952–2026) and Clannad (Opens in a new window) [Foreshadowed & Foresung]

Always one of my favourites: the College Cats of Oxford (Opens in a new window) [Oxford Clarion]

Hollywood stars sign open letter against Paramount-Warner deal (Opens in a new window) [Inquirer.net (Opens in a new window)]

Fantasy Authors Are Not Playing: Creators Increasingly Call Out “Unfaithful” Adaptations (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter; on social media they added: Amazon Studios has to be at least a little thankful that J.R.R. Tolkien is no longer around.]⁴

Some people online have mentioned this banner reminds them of the Argonath in the Jackson trilogy.⁵

The Theory of Related-ivity: Segment I (Opens in a new window) starts serialized article(s) exploring the history of the Best Related Work Hugo category in its various names and versions. [File770]

Senior NHS officials warned staff over criticising rollout of Palantir platform (Opens in a new window) [Financial Times]

Alan Moore Interview: Magical Consciousness, Disowned Works, and the Long London Quintet (Opens in a new window) [RetroFuturista]

While the comics medium is an astonishing art-form, the full potential of which has been barely scratched, I fear that my personal experiences in the comics industry during a not especially enjoyable career, have led to me disowning all of the work that I do not own – around 95% of it – and not wishing to be associated with comics any longer.

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

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.

1. h/t Oxford Clarion (Opens in a new window), Apr 10, 2026. ↩

2. h/t Christopher Gilson, Bluesky (Opens in a new window). ↩

3. h/t Robin Reid (Opens in a new window). ↩

4. h/t Bluesky (Opens in a new window), Hollywood Reporter. ↩

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