The One hundred and sixty-fifth Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

The Galician-Castilian dictionary from Tolkien's personal library with the date and his beautiful signature (Opens in a new window) [reddit]

It’s the time of the year - and you can help me continue offering the Roving Ranger and all the other things I am working on by gifting a membership (Opens in a new window) or two to friends and family. Thank you! 🤩

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Opens in a new window) | YT (Opens in a new window) | RSS feed (Opens in a new window)]

Events & Shows

The 54 Years Anniversary of Forodrim (Opens in a new window) is open to registration. [May 28-31, 2026; Sweden; one of the oldest Tolkien fandom organisations]

The Tolkien Tage of the German Tolkien Society (Opens in a new window) are selling out tickets quickly. [May 28-31, 2026; the world’s largest Tolkien-centred event with 15,000+ expected]

The Lure of Middle-earth is open to registration (Opens in a new window) [Feb 20-22, 2026; medieval castle Stahleck, Germany; schedule (Opens in a new window) of LotR LCG & ME CCG]

The Oxford Botanic Garden has a Christmas Fair (Opens in a new window) - with the BLACK PINE COLLECTION available only there! [Dec 6-7; this is about ‘Tolkien’s favourite tree (Opens in a new window)’]¹

Westmoot II is happening 2026 (Opens in a new window).

The Bloomsbury Publishing / Oxford English Faculty Fantasy Summer School in September podcasts are online now (Opens in a new window).

The Pleasure of the Perilous Woods: Byron’s Literary and Cultural Legacies (Opens in a new window) - Will Sherwood talking on Byron and Middle-earth. [Dec 4]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

It gives me great pleasure to release another podcast, this time on a new publication by Michael Drout: The Tower & the Ruin.

It is amazing to see the community supporting Mike in this - you can also listen to Alan and Sara’s interview with him (Opens in a new window) (Prancing Pony Podcast) or the lovely people at the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window) (Youtube).

Tom Hillman has "So let us forgive him" -- from the stairs of Cirith Ungol to the slopes of Mt Doom (Opens in a new window) and "...the language ... of Mordor, which I will not utter here." (Opens in a new window)

The Silmarillion — Clowes First State (Cloth Binding Variant) (1977) (Opens in a new window)

Kaitlyn Facista has Tolkien Reading Order & Checklist (Opens in a new window) [Tea with Tolkien]

doubtfulsea has On the Road(s) Again—Again (Opens in a new window).

Miriam Ellis has The Master of Brandy Hall: Meriadoc the Magnificent (Opens in a new window), The Southfarthing: Home of Hobbit Luxuries (Opens in a new window), and Farmer Maggot of Bamfurlong: Hospitality and Mystery in the Marish (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “Under All There Was There Was a Great Joy: a Fountain of Mirth Enough to Set a Kingdom Laughing.” Who is Being Described Here? (Opens in a new window)

Anke Eissman has new art (Opens in a new window). [Bluesky]

Rise up Comus is doing fun RPG versions of … well, look for yourself (Opens in a new window), or here with the Middle-earth hex crawl project (Opens in a new window).

Czech artist Matej Cadil now has a Substack (Opens in a new window) - and the first post is called The Curious Case of the Thinking Fox (Opens in a new window) [please note this font does not have the symbols to properly spell his name; you’ll find it with his new online home.]

Merchandise & Franchise

Dimitra Fimi has Tolkien Tuesday: Nathaniel Chanticleer and Bilbo Baggins (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

John Garth has Deaths, beliefs and griefs observed: C.S. Lewis, Huxley and Kennedy (Opens in a new window). [Steady]

Lord of the Rings Online’s community is assembling the ‘biggest fellowship ever’ to walk to Mordor next month (Opens in a new window) [MassivelyOP]

Somewhere in Japan a hobbit hole is taking shape (Opens in a new window).

Kiwi Kate Hawley crowned inaugural Costume Designer of the Year (Opens in a new window) [RNZ]

Why ‘BBC Narnia’ Never Adapted The Last Battle: Director and Cast Speak Out in New Documentary (Opens in a new window) [NarniaWeb]

… and then Paul did go off to see Christopher Tolkien with a view to doing ‘The Hobbit’, and he met Christopher Tolkien in the south of France, and was quite astounded because Christopher had no television set, wasn’t aware of anything that the BBC… even existed! So wasn’t at all interested in letting ‘The Hobbit’ go. But it’s a shame really, because I think we could have done ‘The Hobbit’ justice.

Inter alia

The beautiful Vaults & Garden Café (Opens in a new window) in Oxford had to close - but the good news is, they do have a new location!

‘We used a beachball as an alien!’ John Carpenter on his gloriously shonky sci-fi comedy Dark Star (Opens in a new window) [Guardian]

Young V&A Exhibition Explores the ‘Cracking Creations’ of Aardman’s Animated Favorites (Opens in a new window) [Animation Magazine]

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88 (Opens in a new window) [NPR]

Jim Henson Company Collection of Memorabilia from ‘Fraggle Rock,’ ‘Labyrinth,’ ‘The Dark Crystal’ & More Fetches $2.6 Million At Auction (Opens in a new window) [Deadline]

Roblox is a problem — but it’s a symptom of something worse (Opens in a new window) [Platformer]

Even by a Strict Definition, Elon Musk Is a Fascist (Opens in a new window) [UnPopulist]

He is weaponizing Tolkien to promote violence by ‘hard men’ against Asian immigrants.

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

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

Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Threads (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

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 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 to David Charlton for letting me know about this. ↩