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A University of Granada project leads to the discovery of a previously unpublished document by J. R. R. Tolkien in an Oxford library (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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

Another list of the “Best Books of All Times” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), with Lord of the Rings at #1 [Collider; I usually do not share Valnet (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) content mill (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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” (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Aug 15; Substack]

The programme (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for Omentielva Minquea at Marquette University is online [Jul 30 - Aug 2]

The Hobbit to “Open at UH Mānoa's Earle Ernst Lab Theatre (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)” [Broadway World; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA]

The Spanish Tolkien Society will be present at Celsius 232 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Jul 16-18; Sydney, Australia]

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

Scholarship & Fandom

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

John Garth has How £400 funding changed Tolkien’s fortunes… and your support changes mine (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Steady]

Matej Cadil has The Dance in the Hemlock Glade That Shaped Tolkien’s Legendarium (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by Dawn Walls-Thumma [Silmarillion Writers Guild]

doubtfulsea has Towering.3 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (10): What Kind of Object Is the Ring? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

Tom Hillman has Treebeard on Tom Bombadil (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Blogspot]

Dice Monkey are having a Tolkien Month (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Miriam Ellis has Sister Wendy Beckett: A Tolkien connection and a hero of mine in the arts (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

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? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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

Robin Reid has CFP: The Mysteries of Night in Fantasy Worlds (Virtual) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

The Palgrave Handbook of Constructed Languages has Conlangs in Literature and Their Usefulness towards Realism (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [mentioning Tolkien; paywall]

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

Frank Weinreich has Stories (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack]

The Tales after Tolkien Society has #Kzoo2027 - Call For Papers! (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Blogspot]

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has delivered its production opening video [Youtube]

Lord of the Rings: Ascension (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) was funded in 4 minutes [GameFound]

Tolkien fan letters (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).)

Adventures in the million-dollar Tolkien book market (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [The Times]

War of the Ring: The Card Game (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is be getting an(other) extension titled Sieges of Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (there already is ‘Lords of Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)’) [BoardGameGeek]

It’s coming home: Welsh town wins bid to buy Tolkien letter (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) when it comes to inspiration]

British journalist Sam Moore has written There and Back Again (Öffnet in neuem Fenster): 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Stratofanatic]

AI Made Cloning Games Easier Than Ever (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [404 Media; that is, stealing them]

The loudest warning about AI and jobs yet (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Platformer]

F.C.C. Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite Outcry (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [New York Times; partial paywall; also, the Verge (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and PCMag (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Jenni Fagan: ‘Maya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope’ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Guardian; The Hobbit is beautifully mentioned]

Our British Aesculapius’: John Radcliffe and Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Oxford Libraries Trainees]

Godzilla Minus Zero (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [NPR; for an absolute classic see this Youtube short with the Count (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 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 (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) - 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 Grace Khuri (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Bluesky] ↩