The One hundred and eighty-second Roving Ranger

Life & Works

The Tolkien Society licensing bid for Sarehole Recreation Ground (Abre numa nova janela) [Yahoo News]

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

Events & Shows

As Michael Drout and Corey Olsen are involved I need to note Biblioventures | Tolkien, Beowulf, and Faerie (Abre numa nova janela) - but it costs $100 [May 4]

Matej Cadil has opened an exhibiton of his work (Abre numa nova janela) titled “Two Worlds with One Brush” [Church of St John the Baptist in Horní Žďár (Abre numa nova janela) near Trutnov (Abre numa nova janela); official communal note (Abre numa nova janela)]

A Tolkien Weekend is happening in Great Haywood (Abre numa nova janela) [July 11-12]

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

Registration is now open (Abre numa nova janela) for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship & Fandom

Six Damn Fine Degrees #282: The BBC Radio Lord Of The Rings Part Three: Stephen Oliver, The Composer For The King (Abre numa nova janela) [A Damn Fine Cup]

Stephen C. Winter has “This is An Evil Door”. Some Thoughts on The Dark Journeys of The Lord of the Rings as Aragorn and his Company Enter The Paths of the Dead (Abre numa nova janela).

The Journal of Inklings Studies Vol. 16, Issue 1 (Abre numa nova janela), has been published, with several articles with public access like Honegger’s review of Pezzini’s latest book (Abre numa nova janela).

doubtfulsea has Subterranean (Abre numa nova janela).

A thousand students from a school in Granada set a record reading The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela) [Elfenomeno]

The Oxford Tolkien Network has shared more videos with Youtube (Abre numa nova janela) [check out the official website (Abre numa nova janela)]

My grand­father the pro­fessor, his friend JRR Tolkien, and a beloved island idyll (Abre numa nova janela) [Pressreader; Sunday Independent Ireland]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Abre numa nova janela). 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

When someone at GameSpot notices a legendary scene from the film trilogy in Resident Evil: Requiem (Abre numa nova janela) - you check back with your girlfriend: It is true! (Abre numa nova janela)¹

It makes me - personally - incredibly happy that The Princess Bride has won out over The Return of the King (Abre numa nova janela) as the best literary film adaptation of the last fifty years [Literary Hub]

Gamegenic is going to release sleeves, playmats, deckboxes (Abre numa nova janela) for MTG: The Hobbit. [StarCityGames]

The third season of LotR: The Rings of Power is set to premiere later this year (Abre numa nova janela) [Hollywood Reporter; rumours go for a november release]

Among April’s Humble Bundle Choices (Abre numa nova janela) is LotR: Return to Moria.

There is also a Steam sale (Abre numa nova janela) happening for LotR: Return to Moria until May 2nd.²

The Connecticut Renaissance Faire has added a themed weekend for September: ShireFolk (Abre numa nova janela).

TheOneRing.net’s Merchandise March Madness 2026 had Geek Orthodox’ stained glass (Abre numa nova janela) win out over the film trilogy’s DVD Argonath edition.

Inter alia

Close to Cumberland in British Columbia (Abre numa nova janela) (Canada) the Cumberland Community Forest Society is trying to save… Middle Earth (Abre numa nova janela).

You may never have noticed you crossed paths with John Baskerville but this research project will tell you about it: The Baskerville Punches (Abre numa nova janela) [The Iron Room, Library of Birmingham]

With this year’s Doc Edge film festival in New Zealand Royd Tolkien can finally show There’s a Hole in my Bucket (Abre numa nova janela).

These 6 book cover designs show what Gen Z actually wants to buy (Abre numa nova janela) [Creative Boom]

Christopher Lockett has On Bookmarks (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

xkcd is always right.

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

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

Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela), Bookshop.org (Abre numa nova janela), or Genialokal (Abre numa nova janela), 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 (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Threads (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

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. my girl Susi (Abre numa nova janela) ❤️ and me were recently watching German YT gaming legend Gronkh’s walkthrough of Resi: Requiem and she confirmed it! Thank you, love 🤩 ↩

2. h/t Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela). ↩