The One hundred and forty-sixth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

July 19, 1915. Newly-commissioned Second Lieutenant (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) J.R.R. Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) enters army training camp.
July 20, 1954. Tolkien receives a D.Litt. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) from University College Dublin.
July 21, 1946. Tolkien writes Letter 105 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), promising to work on The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
July 22, 1925. Tolkien writes Letter 8 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), announcing his election to the Rawlinson and Bosworth professorship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
July 24, 1971. Tolkien writes Letter 326 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), with Tolkien lamenting that, because Rayner Unwin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) took over his father (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s position at Allen & Unwin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), they could not spend much time together anymore.
July 25, 1938. Tolkien sends an angry letter (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to a German publisher, after being asked whether he was Aryan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) or not.

• Third Age (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), 301 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)9: The funeral procession of king Théoden (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) sets out from Minas Tirith (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [July 19 or 22¹]

Parma Eldalamberon 12 “Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon" is available again on demand. [Great British Bookshop (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Barnes & Noble (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

New and improved public transport maps (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for Oxford and beyond are now available for those of you planning on visiting these spaces.

Events & Shows

Teatru Salesjan in Malta will have a Tolkien Fest (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [kids-oriented; Aug 22-24]

Sarehole Mill in Birmingham will have Heritage and Habitat (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) events every Friday [Jul 25 - Aug 29]

The New York Tolkien Conference is happening July 31 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The German Tolkien Society’s “Thing” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (aka Moot) is happening this weekend, with me being in attendance. Guest society is Bri (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (Copenhague, Denmark.)

The Lasse Lanta of the Austrian Tolkien Society can now be registered for (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Sept 12-14]

Giuseppe Pezzini is giving a talk Tolkien and the changes of Times at the Atkinson in Southport (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [July 28]

The Roving Ranger coming live to you from the German Tolkien Society’s “Tolkien Thing (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)”, with greetings - and also from the Finnish Tolkien Society’s Summer Moot (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

Verlyn Flieger’s latest publication is out:

Stephen C. Winter has “The Gleam Faded From His Eyes, and They Went Dim and Grey, Old and Tired.” Did Gollum Come Close to Repenting of The Evil He Planned to Do to Frodo and Sam? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as well as “Is This The Only Way, Sméagol?” Frodo Prepares to Enter Shelob’s Lair (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Miriam Ellis has Of Wild Woods, Wild Hobbits, and the Withywindle (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Did Hal See An Ent Beyond The North Moors of the Shire? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Dr. Lauren Tucker has I’m Just a Hobbit. But Even Hobbits Can Save the Shire (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Medium; paywall]

Dimitra Fimi has A rare Tolkien volume in Tim Sullivan's The Bookseller. [Substack]

Tom Emmanuel’s notes that his recent talk for the Oxford Tolkien Seminar is now online (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

Adam Roberts has Gondolin: Siege Perilous (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Horn and the Sword (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Several conference papers have been added to the current issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research:

The Light of Learning: Medieval Scholar-Kings and Loremasters in the Line of Eärendil (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Beowulf and Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods of Hrothgar and Gandalf (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
No One Listens to Melian: When Women Speak and Men Ignore Them in Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Tantalizing Fragments of a Larger Linguistic Tapestry: Exploring Nala Lambë, Mago/Magol, and the Dunlendish Languages in Tolkien's World-Building (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Merchandise & Franchise

Lord Of The Rings Online's July Letter From Orion Previews 2025's Updates, Which Has More Birds But Not Fish (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [MMORPG]

Tales of the Shire Reveals New Character Ahead of Launch (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [GameRant; spoiler: it’s Old Noakes!]

LotR: Shadows of Mordor will, in all probability (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), never be worked on again but this recent video of an eleven year old game on a top tier pc proves it was pretty decent in terms of graphics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Funko Pop now has The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring Deluxe Moment 09 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Entertainment Earth; the hobbits hiding from the Nazgûl]

Sauron’s helmet for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is on auction (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)… among other things. [Hollywood Reporter]

There’s a Middle Earth-inspired cocktail bar hidden (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in SF’s newest escape room² [San Francisco Standard]

Legendary artist Michael Whelan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by the World Fantasy Awards. His “The Eagles are coming!” was a highlight in the 1980 Tolkien Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). His Gollum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is frightening to this very day. Although I am not overly fond of this podcast episode when it comes to actual Tolkien research and knowledge, Michael Whelan teamed up with David Wenzel of Hobbit comic fame this year on Tolkien Reading Day (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Inter alia

When Novels Mattered (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [New York Times]

Excellent write-up: Has ‘Star Trek’ Lost Its Way? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Rolling Stone]

Psychedelic Tolkien is an… experience (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Charlie Potesky, Instagram]

The first ever appearance of George Lucas with (a) (San Diego) ComicCon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Variety]

10 Desktop Publishing Tools That Didnt’t Make it (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Tedium]

HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Reveals First Costumed Photo; Casts Neville and Dudley (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Hollywood Reporter]

If you are interested… Best Places to live in the UK 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [The Times]

Frankenmoa and the fantasy of undoing extinction (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [The Press; after GRRM now PJ offering up… odd genetics.]

Something different: Chiang Yee’s Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)³ [Oxford Sausage]

An absolutely exceptional read! [Five Books]

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

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

Do use my invite link (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (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).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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 average time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours for the bi-weekly edition and 6-8 hours for the weekly one.

1. See this note with TolkienGateway (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

2. h/t The Carrock - Northern California Smial (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Discord] ↩

3. h/t Clarion Weekly (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), July 18, 2025. ↩