The One hundred and seventy-second Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Jan 26, 1925. Tolkien writes a letter to Professor Joseph Wright (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on the occasion of his retirement.
Jan 27, 1819. John Benjamin Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) dies.
Jan 28, 1949. The letter "Cardinal Mindszenty (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)", co-signed by Tolkien, is published in The Times.
Jan 29, 1917. Tolkien faces a Medical Board in Birmingham (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), but he is deemed not fit to return to war (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Jan 30, 1914. The Chequers Clubbe (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), founded by Tolkien, is given permission to organize dinners.
Jan 31, 1892. Tolkien is christened at the Cathedral of St. Andrew and St. Michael (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Bloemfontein (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Feb 1, 1913. Tolkien writes a postcard to Edith Bratt (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Feb 2, 1939. Tolkien writes Letter 35 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), on The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Mr. Bliss (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Farmer Giles of Ham (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tolkien reported that the new story, The Lord of the Rings, had reached Chapter 12 and over 300 pages of manuscript. He foresaw at least 200 more pages needed to finish it and asked when was the latest date that the completed manuscript ought to reach Allen & Unwin.

• Third Age (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 301 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)7: Aragorn (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) captures Gollum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in the Dead Marshes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Feb 1]

People seem to appreciate visiting the Tolkien statue in East Yorkshire (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [reddit]

Starting Feb 1 I will be sharing “guess the place!” photos from 30+ years of fandom with Ko-Fi and do TFFs - Tolkien Fun Facts! Let me know your memories 😇

Events & Shows

Tolkien Reading Day: the theme for 2026 has been anncounced (Öffnet in neuem Fenster): Unlikely Heroes.

The Oxford Tolkien Network’s talks (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) have started for Hilary Term, the next will be "Poetic Language and the Making of Myth: Reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings through Owen Barfield" [Jan 27]

AMA Announcement! James Tauber, The Digital Tolkien Project, in /r/tolkienbooks (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Feb 4; reddit]

The Mexican Tolkien Society in cooperation with the Asociación Tolkien Católica Peruana will be hosting a chat with Edy More (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)l on a documentary shown on Jan 3rd on the “catholic soul” of Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Jan 25; Facebook; Youtube]

A short video gives you a good impression of how The Hobbit at the Dobama Theatre (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) looks like [Yahoo News]

A Tolkien Round Table (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will be happening at the University of Malta: "Tolkien’s Elvish Mirror: Language, Myth, and Europe’s Search for Self" [April 24-25]

Nominations open for Tolkien Society Awards 2026 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [until Feb 1]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | YT (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | RSS feed (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Scholarship & Fandom

A number of podcasts (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) from last year’s Bloomsbury Oxford Fantasy Summer School have been uploaded, including Stuart Lee (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Giuseppe Pezzini (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

A number of reading clubs and read throughs have started in 2025 or early 2026 to make use of the full year: A Reader of Else (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Abigail Nussbaum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are just two of many; Tea with Tolkien is on the Silmarillion (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and the Year on Tolkien Book Club (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with Kelly Orazi / The Middle Page is huge.

Miriam Ellis has The Joys of Old Age in The Shire as Seen from The Ivy Bush (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Stephen C. Winter has “The Darkness Has Begun. There Will Be No Dawn.” Pippin Has Nothing to Do But Wait for the Beginning of War (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tom Birkett’s upcoming Runes: A Concise History (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) mentions Tolkien by name. [Oxford University Press]

Another fan film has just hit Youtube: A Ranger's Journey (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Austrian musician Anna Grob has published The Messenger (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - listening closely you’ll realise who he is [Youtube]

In the German city of Kassel you could take the tram to Mordor - for a day. [It was a prank!]

Merchandise & Franchise

Why The Two Towers Is The Best Lord Of The Rings Film (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Empire]

Why Return Of The King Is The Best Lord Of The Rings Film (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Empire]

Peter Jackson’s introduction to the rereleased films shows him talking about the loss of Andrew Lesnie (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (director of photography on both trilogies; Oscar recipient for FotR) [Youtube]

‘Fallout’: Amazon Says Season 2 Is Tracking As One Of Its Top 4 Returning Series, But Won’t Release Viewership Stats, Yet (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Deadline]

The streamer added that it is also currently the No. 6 TV season of all time on Prime Video. It falls behind both Seasons 1 and 2 of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Reacher Seasons 2 and 3, and the first season of Fallout.

Inter alia

Why I am with Substack and also not (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [a personal note]

Get Birding with Sean Bean (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) looks like a promising new podcast episode - film fans have been asking only one question: how can he get killed by birds? [Dailymotion]

The Day NY Publishing Lost Its Soul (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Ubisoft cancels six games including Prince of Persia and closes studios (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [BBC]

The AI productivity paradox (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Platformer]

From ‘Fortnite’ To ‘Fallout’: Checking In From London’s Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Cartoon Brew]

Still looking for books to read? Summary List of File 770 Readers Recommendations for 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Fourth Cone Restoration on their Process of Restoring Vintage Posters (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Print Mag; see their 1977 Hobbit restoration (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Instagram]

Director James Cameron on why he moved to New Zealand (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Stuff]

One of the best traditions to come out of recent years: naming snow ploughs. In this case? Ursula K. Le-Plow. [Remember Snowdo Baggins!]

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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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Bookshop.org (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), or Genialokal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Threads (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Mastodon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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.