The One hundred and sixty-eighth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life & Works

Isengard in Oxford (Opens in a new window) [Review of Bovadium Fragments; LARB]

Cat Eldridge has Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (Opens in a new window) [File 770]

Tolkien Birthday Toast (Opens in a new window): January 3rd.

Please note

After fifty Roving Rangers in 2025 - mostly on time for Monday evenings - I’ll use Christmas¹ and the start of the new year² to - hopefully - recharge the batteries for another year of Middle-earthian shenanigans. And don’t forget…

It’s the time of the year - you can help me continue offering the Roving Ranger and all the other things I am working on by gifting a membership (Opens in a new window) or two to friends & family. Thank you - from Marcel! 🤩

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Opens in a new window) | YT (Opens in a new window) | RSS feed (Opens in a new window)]

Events & Shows

The Cailloux Theater in Kerrville, Texas, USA, will have its Youth Theatre perfom The Hobbit [March 2026 (Opens in a new window)]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Why I Keep Returning to Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) [Michael Drout; New York Times, paywall; see this option, too (Opens in a new window)]

David Bratman has left the Tolkien Studies building (Opens in a new window). He has a few more things to add (Opens in a new window). [Thank you for your hard work, David!]

doubtfulsea has A Moon disfigured (Opens in a new window).

Dimitra Fimi has Magical Christmas (3): Gothic and Ghost stories at Christmas (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “Opposing The Fire That Devours and Wastes With The Fire That Kindles.” Gandalf Kindles a Flame in The Hearts of The Free Peoples of Middle-earth. (Opens in a new window)

Two more items with the Journal of Tolkien Research: Belliphonic Tolkien: Listening to the Wars in Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) and The High Hallow: Tolkien’s Liturgical Imagination (2025) by Ben Reinhard (Opens in a new window).

Miriam Ellis has Tolkien's Eagles: Friends in High Places. (Opens in a new window)

The answer is pretty simple³: The only fantasy author with a massive US audience (and beginning globally) at the time… was Tolkien. So his stories’ backcloth provided much of the recognisable ‘framework’ to the game. It could have possibly been anything - but Gary wanted success, so he went for the bestseller [imho] ⬇️⁴

Merchandise & Franchise

LOTRO Legendarium: Looking back at Lord of the Rings Online’s weird 2025 (Opens in a new window) [Massively OP]

In one of the most hilarious video game articles this year we get a lot of Middle-earth related titles: The 176 video games that only sold one copy in 2025 (Opens in a new window). [Polygon]

Books you might like to buy…

This is a perfectly random and incomplete list of Tolkienian publications I appreciate and you might like to get for yourself or for someone you’d like to present a gift to at the end of 2025.

Please do support independent bookstores wherever and whenever possible - thank you. At the end of this newsletter you’ll find the reasons why I am supporting these three bookshops.

[Blackwell’s & Genialokal for the EU etc.; Bookshop for the US etc.]

A Real Taste for Fairy-Stories Essays by Verlyn Flieger
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
Proceedings of the Tolkien 2019 Conference
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window)| Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
The Art of Mercy in Middle-Earth
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
The Hobbit Graphic Novel (revised and expanded)
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window)]
Queer Approaches to Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window)]
Doomed to Die. An A-Z of Death in Tolkien
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window)| Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]
The Tower & the Ruin
[Blackwell’s (Opens in a new window) | Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window) | Genialokal (Opens in a new window)]

With thanks to Tim Bolton’s 2025 & 2026 Upcoming Tolkien-related books list (Opens in a new window).

Inter alia

Lucasfilm wins bid to throw out UK lawsuit over 'resurrection' of 'Star Wars' character (Opens in a new window)[Reuters]

Follow Snowdo Baggins around Oxfordshire on this map (Opens in a new window).

Heritage Auctions Establishes New World Record With $3.875 Million ‘Star Wars’ Painting in Landmark Hollywood & Entertainment Sale (Opens in a new window) [press release; fans with a keen eye will see the connection to ‘Tolkien’]

The Most Popular Books in US Public Libraries (Opens in a new window) [ProQuest]

The Oscars Are Heading To YouTube In 2029 (Opens in a new window) [Cartoon Brew]

Warner Bros. plans to reject Paramount bid on funding, terms (Opens in a new window) [Fortune]

kchchchchchch.😅

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 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. Here is a list (Opens in a new window) for international well wishes for the end of the year festivities, Christmas among them - including Alassëa merendë! ↩

2. Festivities like Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, Kwanzaa and Diwali, to name but a few; for a longer list have a look at Wikipedia (Opens in a new window). ↩

3. Do not quarter and hang me, appreciated! ↩

4. h/t Tolkien Gleanings #367 (Opens in a new window). ↩