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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) or two to friends and family. Thank you! 🤩

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | YT (Si apre in una nuova finestra) | RSS feed (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Events & Shows

The 54 Years Anniversary of Forodrim (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is open to registration. [May 28-31, 2026; Sweden; one of the oldest Tolkien fandom organisations]

The Tolkien Tage of the German Tolkien Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Feb 20-22, 2026; medieval castle Stahleck, Germany; schedule (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of LotR LCG & ME CCG]

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

Westmoot II is happening 2026 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Bloomsbury Publishing / Oxford English Faculty Fantasy Summer School in September podcasts are online now (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Pleasure of the Perilous Woods: Byron’s Literary and Cultural Legacies (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - Will Sherwood talking on Byron and Middle-earth. [Dec 4]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (Prancing Pony Podcast) or the lovely people at the Tolkien Guide (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (Youtube).

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

The Silmarillion — Clowes First State (Cloth Binding Variant) (1977) (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Kaitlyn Facista has Tolkien Reading Order & Checklist (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Tea with Tolkien]

doubtfulsea has On the Road(s) Again—Again (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Miriam Ellis has The Master of Brandy Hall: Meriadoc the Magnificent (Si apre in una nuova finestra), The Southfarthing: Home of Hobbit Luxuries (Si apre in una nuova finestra), and Farmer Maggot of Bamfurlong: Hospitality and Mystery in the Marish (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Anke Eissman has new art (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Bluesky]

Rise up Comus is doing fun RPG versions of … well, look for yourself (Si apre in una nuova finestra), or here with the Middle-earth hex crawl project (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Czech artist Matej Cadil now has a Substack (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - and the first post is called The Curious Case of the Thinking Fox (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack]

John Garth has Deaths, beliefs and griefs observed: C.S. Lewis, Huxley and Kennedy (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Steady]

Lord of the Rings Online’s community is assembling the ‘biggest fellowship ever’ to walk to Mordor next month (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [MassivelyOP]

Somewhere in Japan a hobbit hole is taking shape (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Kiwi Kate Hawley crowned inaugural Costume Designer of the Year (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [RNZ]

Why ‘BBC Narnia’ Never Adapted The Last Battle: Director and Cast Speak Out in New Documentary (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian]

Young V&A Exhibition Explores the ‘Cracking Creations’ of Aardman’s Animated Favorites (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Animation Magazine]

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [NPR]

Jim Henson Company Collection of Memorabilia from ‘Fraggle Rock,’ ‘Labyrinth,’ ‘The Dark Crystal’ & More Fetches $2.6 Million At Auction (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Deadline]

Roblox is a problem — but it’s a symptom of something worse (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Platformer]

Even by a Strict Definition, Elon Musk Is a Fascist (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [UnPopulist]

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

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

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Do use my invite link (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), Bookshop.org (Si apre in una nuova finestra), or Genialokal (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Facebook (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Bluesky (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Threads (Si apre in una nuova finestra) : Mastodon (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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. ↩