The One hundred and seventy-ninth Roving Ranger

📚 special Tolkien Reading Day edition 📚

Events & Shows

Waterstones in Coventry will have The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for their monthly book club. [March 25]

The Lost in Translation Show in Adelaide, Australia, will be doing its version of the film Return of the King (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on March 20.

The Winni Players Community Theatre (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will be doing a staged radio show of The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Mar 28; Meredith, New Hampshire, USA]

Greg Banks (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)' The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will be happening at the Shakespeare Tavern [Jun 6-28; Atlanta, Georgia, USA]

The Lord of the Rings is mentioned in Fantasy Characters Bring Stories to Life at Newcastle World Book Day Celebration (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Newcastle Magazine]

You can now register for the Austrian Tolkien Society’s Spring Festival (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [May 13-17]

The Fellowship of the Cards (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will return to Évry-Courcouronne (close to Paris) on May 23-24 [BoardGameGeek]

Last day to register for the Forodrim 54th Anniversary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is March 31st [May 28-31; Tolkien Society in Sweden]

Should anybody participate in the Hobbit Mosh (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) please send me a review. [April 10; Auckland, New Zealand]

The Cushing Public Library hosts a number of events, including a Hobbit Festival (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Mar 28+; Oklahoma, USA]

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

Registration is now open (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for June 19-21, 2026.

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Dimitra Fimi has For Mothering Sunday: Some brief thoughts on Faramir's mother (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

I have a short report on the second Tolkien Conference (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Switzerland I had been invited to [thetolkienist.com (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Iris Meredith has Amdir, Estel, Peter Thiel (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Nick Hubble has started a 50 Year Reread of The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Wordpress]

Jason Fisher has Generative AI, Hallucinations, and Tolkien Revisited (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Blogspot]

John Garth has The Lord of the Rings: toughest quiz ever (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Steady]

I wrote another Fingolfin’s Findings - on the Oakenshield Marionettes.

The next rolling issue of vol 23 of the Journal of Tolkien Research is beginning to fill: "Deep Down Here by the Dark Water Lived Old Gollum": The 1927 Public Opening of the Wookey Hole Show Caves and 'The Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'; “Neither Living Nor Dead”: From Nazgûl to the Sídhe in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); and Through Peaks and Troughs: Visualising the Rhythmic Sentiment of The Lord of the Rings (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Nick Polk has Ireland, Eärendil, and Tolkien Reading Day (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Substack]

Matej Cadil has Walking Further Into Middle‑earth: A New Adventure (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Tolkien Trewsday has started Year Four (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has The Damage of Dragons (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

(Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Tom Hillman has "Fled from the Company" -- Frodo and Sam not looking back (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Stephen C. Winter has “To The Stone of Erech! I Seek The Paths of The Dead. Come With Me Who Will.” Aragorn Acts Swiftly as Time Runs Out (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and “May I Not Now Spend My Life as I Will?” The Lady Éowyn Longs to Break Free From Her Cage (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Miriam Ellis has Glimpsing Bilbo's heart through his map of favorite walks (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and When Folk Little and Big Lived Together at Bree (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Tolkien seems to have been prophetic on a number of current issues - a recent piece of scholarship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) puts one of the essential neurological changes in human life at… 32.

Another Youtube video co-written by me has been published recently: Minas Ithil & Minas Morgul.

Durin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), issue 1, the comic by Turner Mohan, Sergio Artigas and Carlos Vera is available now. [deviantart; seven issues are planned]

Merchandise & Franchise

Tolkien Reading Day seems to have become the day of choice for major media to use as marketing tool (not good for the community, generally speaking, but that’s where we are right now…)

Anyway - Peter Jackson just announced the next film after "Hunt for Gollum” and it is going to be “Shadow of the Past”, in cooperation with Stephen Colbert.

Whenever I see something with the amazing Jed Brophy I need to share it: When Orcs Collide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Weta Workshop]

Kate Winslet To Play Female Lead In Andy Serkis’ ‘LOTR: The Hunt For Gollum’ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Deadline; according to this (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) she is going to play Gollum’s grandmother; Twitter]

The Royal Mail bringing the gold to the film trilogy. And stamps (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

I did not have this on my bingo card for 2026 but here we go: Fellowship of the ring: the journey to IFoA qualification (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [yes, that is, on how to become an actuary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Also not on my bingo card - a Louis Vitton fashion show review (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with a Tolkien allusion:

Set in a world that could be repurposed for a 2096 version of a JRR Tolkien saga, grass covered monoliths appeared as if they had erupted from the ground. [The Impression]

Do Middle‑earth and Westeros make sense? Climate scientists modelled them to find out (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Conversation]

Hidden Steam listing hints at The Lord of the Rings: War in the North re-releasing (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [TweakTown]

Johan Egerkrans, artist to the eye-opending Swedish editions of H, LotR, and Sil, has put up the cover illustrations as limited giclée prints (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Wooden Wisdom featuring Actor Elijah Wood bring the fantasy world to the dancefloor (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [May 31; Denver, Colorado, USA]

Elijah Wood is finally reading The Lord of the Rings 25 years after playing Frodo: 'They're incredible!' (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Entertainment Weekly]

“Delving too Deep” panel provided rare look at Lord of the Rings set details (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [TORn]

TORn also has March Madness again - this time it is Clash of the Collectibles (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Fellowship of the Ring In Concert 25th anniversary UK/IRE tour dates (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Oct-Dec; officially sanctioned by composer Shore]

It’s been a few years since the film came out but pant-less Aragorn is making a comeback:

Inter alia

Browncoats, assemble! FIREFLY animated TV series in development (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Wertzone]

High-speed combat drone production starts at new US Anduril plant in days (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Reuters]

David Bratman has A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Epic Games Lays Off Over 1,000 As CEO Frames Cuts As Cost Of Being ‘Industry’s Vanguard’ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [CartoonBrew]

Artist Michael Hague has passed away (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Down the Tubes; he did the legendary 1984 Hobbit]

Does it surprise me that xkcd has a Tolkien connection even in its “what if?” videos? No.¹

This edition has been delayed due to illness - thank you for your patience.

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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.

1. h/t Mountain King, my friend Sebastian of our German-speaking podcast SmallTolk (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩