The One hundred and ninety-second Roving Ranger

Life & Works

A University of Granada project leads to the discovery of a previously unpublished document by J. R. R. Tolkien in an Oxford library (Abre numa nova janela).

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has published a piece (Abre numa nova janela) commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Particularly interesting: The Tolkein [sic] Education Pack (Abre numa nova janela) (pdf). They have also done a special on Robert Quilter Gilson (Abre numa nova janela).¹

Another list of the “Best Books of All Times” (Abre numa nova janela), with Lord of the Rings at #1 [Collider; I usually do not share Valnet (Abre numa nova janela) content mill (Abre numa nova janela) material but this is for the sake of completeness]

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

The annual German Tolkien Society’s “Thing” (Abre numa nova janela) is happening this weekend [July 16-19; I might make a surprise appearance; guest society is Tolkiendil / France]

Tolkien & Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition Update (Abre numa nova janela) [Aug 15; Substack]

The programme (Abre numa nova janela) for Omentielva Minquea at Marquette University is online [Jul 30 - Aug 2]

The Hobbit to “Open at UH Mānoa's Earle Ernst Lab Theatre (Abre numa nova janela)” [Broadway World; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA]

The Spanish Tolkien Society will be present at Celsius 232 (Abre numa nova janela) [Jul 14-18; Avilés, Spain; Smial Ered Luin]

Jaws, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings: Why we love the greatest movie scores so much (Abre numa nova janela) [Jul 16-18; Sydney, Australia]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Two excellent pieces of news from Tom Hillman: Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring a finalist (Abre numa nova janela) (with the Mythopoeic Society) and there is a now an audio version (Abre numa nova janela) of it [Substack]

John Garth has How £400 funding changed Tolkien’s fortunes… and your support changes mine (Abre numa nova janela) [Steady]

Matej Cadil has The Dance in the Hemlock Glade That Shaped Tolkien’s Legendarium (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey (Abre numa nova janela) by Dawn Walls-Thumma [Silmarillion Writers Guild]

doubtfulsea has Towering.3 (Abre numa nova janela).

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (10): What Kind of Object Is the Ring? (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Tom Hillman has Treebeard on Tom Bombadil (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

Dice Monkey are having a Tolkien Month (Abre numa nova janela).

Miriam Ellis has Sister Wendy Beckett: A Tolkien connection and a hero of mine in the arts (Abre numa nova janela).

Stephen C. Winter has “Ever Your Desire is To Appear Lordly and Generous as a King of Old”. Is This True of Faramir? What is The Difference Between Appearance and Reality? (Abre numa nova janela)

Announcing the 2027 "Beyond Bree" Calendar! [Tolkien Guide]

Robin Reid has CFP: The Mysteries of Night in Fantasy Worlds (Virtual) (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

The Palgrave Handbook of Constructed Languages has Conlangs in Literature and Their Usefulness towards Realism (Abre numa nova janela) [mentioning Tolkien; paywall]

"Then Daddy began a story": Storytelling in Tolkien’s home and our own (Abre numa nova janela) [Journal of Tolkien Research; vol. 24, issue 2 (Abre numa nova janela)]

Frank Weinreich has Stories (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

The Tales after Tolkien Society has #Kzoo2027 - Call For Papers! (Abre numa nova janela) [Blogspot]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Abre numa nova janela). 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum (Abre numa nova janela) has delivered its production opening video [Youtube]

Lord of the Rings: Ascension (Abre numa nova janela) was funded in 4 minutes [GameFound]

Tolkien fan letters (Abre numa nova janela) sell at auction for £103k [BBC]

Amazon Prime Video have announced their setup for San Diego Comic Con, including Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Abre numa nova janela) [press release; why they would present it with Blade Runner 2099 I am at a loss to say]

It has been a long way for LotR.com (Abre numa nova janela) - from its earliest beginnings in December 1998 to a recent change of ownership - as according to Spanish website El Anillo Unico Middle-earth Enterprises have recently taken over the URL (Abre numa nova janela) and are offering a waiting list for more news about the site. Rumours abound. (P.S. It used to be the official website for the musical which is now with lotrmusical.com (Abre numa nova janela).)

Adventures in the million-dollar Tolkien book market (Abre numa nova janela) [The Times]

War of the Ring: The Card Game (Abre numa nova janela) is be getting an(other) extension titled Sieges of Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela) (there already is ‘Lords of Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela)’) [BoardGameGeek]

It’s coming home: Welsh town wins bid to buy Tolkien letter (Abre numa nova janela) [Nation.Cymru; this will surely spawn another tourism craze as in Ireland after this seriously overpriced auction; also note that Tolkien lived close to Crick Road in Oxford (Abre numa nova janela) when it comes to inspiration]

British journalist Sam Moore has written There and Back Again (Abre numa nova janela): the unofficial oral history of The Lord of the Rings films [October 2026]

Inter alia

Dennis Wilson Wise has an UPDATE on my book on Del Rey Books (Abre numa nova janela) [Stratofanatic]

AI Made Cloning Games Easier Than Ever (Abre numa nova janela) [404 Media; that is, stealing them]

The loudest warning about AI and jobs yet (Abre numa nova janela) [Platformer]

F.C.C. Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite Outcry (Abre numa nova janela) [New York Times; partial paywall; also, the Verge (Abre numa nova janela) and PCMag (Abre numa nova janela)]

Jenni Fagan: ‘Maya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope’ (Abre numa nova janela) [Guardian; The Hobbit is beautifully mentioned]

Our British Aesculapius’: John Radcliffe and Oxford (Abre numa nova janela) [Oxford Libraries Trainees]

Godzilla Minus Zero (Abre numa nova janela) has a teaser trailer [Youtube]

The best thing to come out of the UK in recent years: Count Binface: The intergalactic warrior who could upend Britain's strangest election (Abre numa nova janela) [NPR; for an absolute classic see this Youtube short with the Count (Abre numa nova janela) photobombing right-wing twat Tommy Robinson]

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

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 Grace Khuri (Abre numa nova janela) [Bluesky] ↩