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 (Abre numa nova janela) [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 (Abre numa nova janela) or two to friends and family. Thank you! 🤩

My podcast: A Talk with the Tolkienist [Spotify (Abre numa nova janela) | YT (Abre numa nova janela) | RSS feed (Abre numa nova janela)]

Events & Shows

The 54 Years Anniversary of Forodrim (Abre numa nova janela) is open to registration. [May 28-31, 2026; Sweden; one of the oldest Tolkien fandom organisations]

The Tolkien Tage of the German Tolkien Society (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela) [Feb 20-22, 2026; medieval castle Stahleck, Germany; schedule (Abre numa nova janela) of LotR LCG & ME CCG]

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

Westmoot II is happening 2026 (Abre numa nova janela).

The Bloomsbury Publishing / Oxford English Faculty Fantasy Summer School in September podcasts are online now (Abre numa nova janela).

The Pleasure of the Perilous Woods: Byron’s Literary and Cultural Legacies (Abre numa nova janela) - Will Sherwood talking on Byron and Middle-earth. [Dec 4]

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

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 (Abre numa nova janela) (Prancing Pony Podcast) or the lovely people at the Tolkien Guide (Abre numa nova janela) (Youtube).

Tom Hillman has "So let us forgive him" -- from the stairs of Cirith Ungol to the slopes of Mt Doom (Abre numa nova janela) and "...the language ... of Mordor, which I will not utter here." (Abre numa nova janela)

The Silmarillion — Clowes First State (Cloth Binding Variant) (1977) (Abre numa nova janela)

Kaitlyn Facista has Tolkien Reading Order & Checklist (Abre numa nova janela) [Tea with Tolkien]

doubtfulsea has On the Road(s) Again—Again (Abre numa nova janela).

Miriam Ellis has The Master of Brandy Hall: Meriadoc the Magnificent (Abre numa nova janela), The Southfarthing: Home of Hobbit Luxuries (Abre numa nova janela), and Farmer Maggot of Bamfurlong: Hospitality and Mystery in the Marish (Abre numa nova janela).

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? (Abre numa nova janela)

Anke Eissman has new art (Abre numa nova janela). [Bluesky]

Rise up Comus is doing fun RPG versions of … well, look for yourself (Abre numa nova janela), or here with the Middle-earth hex crawl project (Abre numa nova janela).

Czech artist Matej Cadil now has a Substack (Abre numa nova janela) - and the first post is called The Curious Case of the Thinking Fox (Abre numa nova janela) [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 (Abre numa nova janela). [Substack]

John Garth has Deaths, beliefs and griefs observed: C.S. Lewis, Huxley and Kennedy (Abre numa nova janela). [Steady]

Lord of the Rings Online’s community is assembling the ‘biggest fellowship ever’ to walk to Mordor next month (Abre numa nova janela) [MassivelyOP]

Somewhere in Japan a hobbit hole is taking shape (Abre numa nova janela).

Kiwi Kate Hawley crowned inaugural Costume Designer of the Year (Abre numa nova janela) [RNZ]

Why ‘BBC Narnia’ Never Adapted The Last Battle: Director and Cast Speak Out in New Documentary (Abre numa nova janela) [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 (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela) [Guardian]

Young V&A Exhibition Explores the ‘Cracking Creations’ of Aardman’s Animated Favorites (Abre numa nova janela) [Animation Magazine]

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88 (Abre numa nova janela) [NPR]

Jim Henson Company Collection of Memorabilia from ‘Fraggle Rock,’ ‘Labyrinth,’ ‘The Dark Crystal’ & More Fetches $2.6 Million At Auction (Abre numa nova janela) [Deadline]

Roblox is a problem — but it’s a symptom of something worse (Abre numa nova janela) [Platformer]

Even by a Strict Definition, Elon Musk Is a Fascist (Abre numa nova janela) [UnPopulist]

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

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

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Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) and start with three months fee-free.
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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 (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).

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Abre numa nova janela)

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. ↩