The One hundred and ninety-second Roving Ranger

Life & Works

A University of Granada project leads to the discovery of a previously unpublished document by J. R. R. Tolkien in an Oxford library (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has published a piece (Si apre in una nuova finestra) commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Particularly interesting: The Tolkein [sic] Education Pack (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (pdf). They have also done a special on Robert Quilter Gilson (Si apre in una nuova finestra).¹

Another list of the “Best Books of All Times” (Si apre in una nuova finestra), with Lord of the Rings at #1 [Collider; I usually do not share Valnet (Si apre in una nuova finestra) content mill (Si apre in una nuova finestra) material but this is for the sake of completeness]

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
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Events & Shows

The annual German Tolkien Society’s “Thing” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is happening this weekend [July 16-19; I might make a surprise appearance; guest society is Tolkiendil / France]

Tolkien & Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition Update (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Aug 15; Substack]

The programme (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for Omentielva Minquea at Marquette University is online [Jul 30 - Aug 2]

The Hobbit to “Open at UH Mānoa's Earle Ernst Lab Theatre (Si apre in una nuova finestra)” [Broadway World; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA]

The Spanish Tolkien Society will be present at Celsius 232 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Jul 14-18; Avilés, Spain; Smial Ered Luin]

Jaws, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings: Why we love the greatest movie scores so much (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Jul 16-18; Sydney, Australia]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Two excellent pieces of news from Tom Hillman: Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring a finalist (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (with the Mythopoeic Society) and there is a now an audio version (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of it [Substack]

John Garth has How £400 funding changed Tolkien’s fortunes… and your support changes mine (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Steady]

Matej Cadil has The Dance in the Hemlock Glade That Shaped Tolkien’s Legendarium (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Substack]

Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Dawn Walls-Thumma [Silmarillion Writers Guild]

doubtfulsea has Towering.3 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (10): What Kind of Object Is the Ring? (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Substack]

Tom Hillman has Treebeard on Tom Bombadil (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Blogspot]

Dice Monkey are having a Tolkien Month (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Miriam Ellis has Sister Wendy Beckett: A Tolkien connection and a hero of mine in the arts (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Stephen C. Winter has “Ever Your Desire is To Appear Lordly and Generous as a King of Old”. Is This True of Faramir? What is The Difference Between Appearance and Reality? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Announcing the 2027 "Beyond Bree" Calendar! [Tolkien Guide]

Robin Reid has CFP: The Mysteries of Night in Fantasy Worlds (Virtual) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Substack]

The Palgrave Handbook of Constructed Languages has Conlangs in Literature and Their Usefulness towards Realism (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [mentioning Tolkien; paywall]

"Then Daddy began a story": Storytelling in Tolkien’s home and our own (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Journal of Tolkien Research; vol. 24, issue 2 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Frank Weinreich has Stories (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Substack]

The Tales after Tolkien Society has #Kzoo2027 - Call For Papers! (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Blogspot]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Si apre in una nuova finestra). 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has delivered its production opening video [Youtube]

Lord of the Rings: Ascension (Si apre in una nuova finestra) was funded in 4 minutes [GameFound]

Tolkien fan letters (Si apre in una nuova finestra) sell at auction for £103k [BBC]

Amazon Prime Video have announced their setup for San Diego Comic Con, including Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [press release; why they would present it with Blade Runner 2099 I am at a loss to say]

It has been a long way for LotR.com (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - from its earliest beginnings in December 1998 to a recent change of ownership - as according to Spanish website El Anillo Unico Middle-earth Enterprises have recently taken over the URL (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and are offering a waiting list for more news about the site. Rumours abound. (P.S. It used to be the official website for the musical which is now with lotrmusical.com (Si apre in una nuova finestra).)

Adventures in the million-dollar Tolkien book market (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Times]

War of the Ring: The Card Game (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is be getting an(other) extension titled Sieges of Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (there already is ‘Lords of Middle-earth (Si apre in una nuova finestra)’) [BoardGameGeek]

It’s coming home: Welsh town wins bid to buy Tolkien letter (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Nation.Cymru; this will surely spawn another tourism craze as in Ireland after this seriously overpriced auction; also note that Tolkien lived close to Crick Road in Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra) when it comes to inspiration]

British journalist Sam Moore has written There and Back Again (Si apre in una nuova finestra): the unofficial oral history of The Lord of the Rings films [October 2026]

Inter alia

Dennis Wilson Wise has an UPDATE on my book on Del Rey Books (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Stratofanatic]

AI Made Cloning Games Easier Than Ever (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [404 Media; that is, stealing them]

The loudest warning about AI and jobs yet (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Platformer]

F.C.C. Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite Outcry (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [New York Times; partial paywall; also, the Verge (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and PCMag (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Jenni Fagan: ‘Maya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope’ (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian; The Hobbit is beautifully mentioned]

Our British Aesculapius’: John Radcliffe and Oxford (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Oxford Libraries Trainees]

Godzilla Minus Zero (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has a teaser trailer [Youtube]

The best thing to come out of the UK in recent years: Count Binface: The intergalactic warrior who could upend Britain's strangest election (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [NPR; for an absolute classic see this Youtube short with the Count (Si apre in una nuova finestra) photobombing right-wing twat Tommy Robinson]

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

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 Grace Khuri (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Bluesky] ↩