-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-
Life and Works
February 10, 1939. Tolkien writes Letter 36 (Opens in a new window), on The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window) & Farmer Giles of Ham (Opens in a new window).
[Tolkien] planned to make a special effort to finish it before June 15 since Furth had said that they needed the new story no later than that time to publish it by Christmas.
February 11, 2008. The Tolkien Estate (Opens in a new window), The Tolkien Trust (Opens in a new window) and HarperCollins (Opens in a new window) file a lawsuit against New Line Cinema (Opens in a new window) and the Saul Zaentz Company (Opens in a new window).
February 12, 1960. Tolkien writes letter 222b (Opens in a new window), on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, The Silmarillion, and Ancrene Wisse.
Tolkien wrote to Unwin to inform him that work on his translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl had to be paused while he was getting The Silmarillion typed out.
February 13, 1923. Tolkien writes Letter 6 (Opens in a new window), with thanks for an off print, and on measles in the household.
February 14, 1896. Tolkien dictates a letter to his father (Opens in a new window).
I am so glad I am coming back to see you it is such a long time since we came away from you I hope the ship will bring us all back to you Mamie and Baby (Opens in a new window) and me ... I am got such a big man now because I have got a man's coat and a mans [sic] bodice ... Auntie Gracie [Grace Mountain née Tolkien] has been to see us I walk every day and only ride in my mailcart a little bit ... your loving Ronald.
February 15, 1896. Arthur Tolkien (Opens in a new window), J.R.R. Tolkien's father, dies.
Events & Shows
The German Tolkien Society in cooperation with the German National Library, the German Literature Archive Marbach, and German Tolkien Publishers Hobbitpresse (plus the German voice actor of Elijah Wood) will be starting off a nation-wide series titled ‘Literature as self-defense’ with an evening under the heading off: “I wish it need not have happened in my time (Opens in a new window).” [Hybrid; sold out in-person; Instagram]
Registration for Oxonmoot 2026 (Opens in a new window) is open.
Consider registering for the 54th Anniversary of the Swedish Tolkien Society Forodrim (Opens in a new window). [May 28-31]
Last chance to get a ticket for Lure of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) [Feb 20-22; Castle Stahleck, Germany]
Erik Jampa Andersson will give his talk at Corpus Christi College, Oxford: "Tolkien's 'Luxuriant Animism': Unseen Beings and the Animacy of Arda" (Opens in a new window) [Feb 10, today; ]
A musical inspired by Tolkien’s World War I experiences, Una luz en la oscuridad (Opens in a new window), will be shown on Feb 28 in Spain at the Diocese of Getafe (Opens in a new window).1
For all events check out the Tolkien Guide (Opens in a new window).
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)]
Scholarship & Fandom
Wayne Hammond has Book Notes, July 2022–December 2023 (Opens in a new window) [Wordpress]
Thomas Hillman has Túrin's "tide of ill" in The Book of Lost Tales (LT II.87) (Opens in a new window), Foalókë & The Digital Tolkien Project -- How it Helps my Work, part 2 (Opens in a new window), and "I will bear Frodo, though I do not know the way." (Opens in a new window) [Blogspot]
Andrew Higgins has Exploring Invented Languages (Opens in a new window). [Substack]
[The] Silmarillion; book-collecting minutiae has Preface to an Imagined Catalogue: Why Collect The Silmarillion? (Opens in a new window) [Blogspot]
David Bratman has dissing on sf cons, again (Opens in a new window). [Blogspot]
Dimitra Fimi has Why did Tolkien mention a plate in his "On Fairy-stories" lecture? (or, Mabel Lucie Attwell's fairies and why Tolkien hated them! (Opens in a new window)) [Substack]
Stephen C. Winter has “I Must Go Down Also to Minas Tirith, But I Do Not Yet See The Road.” Aragorn Ponders His Way Ahead (Opens in a new window).
Miriam Ellis has Frodo's Authorship: A Work of Effort and Hope (Opens in a new window).
Between Mount Doom and the wall of "likes". Part One: Christian values in the work of Tolkien (Opens in a new window) [Elfenomeno]
Tolkien’s Macaroni (Opens in a new window) led me to a review of the Bovadium Fragments (Opens in a new window).
Merchandise & Franchise
The D20 Kickstarter for Foes of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) has started.
In an interview with Stephen Colber (Opens in a new window)t Ian McKellen mentioned filming of ‘Hunt for Gollum’ would begin this summer - which would be unfortunate as that is winter in New Zealand. [Youtube]
Three artists have obviously come together to produce Stonefoot (Opens in a new window), a graphic novel inspired by Tolkien’s works. [Instagram; publication imminent]
Inter alia
Another excellent piece by Bret Devereaux on ‘Ancient Migrations’ (Opens in a new window).
BALDUR'S GATE TV series in development at HBO from LAST OF US team (Opens in a new window) [Wertzone, Blogspot]
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has The “Gorm” in Gormenghas (Opens in a new window)t.2 [Substack]
Hobbit-Inspired Startup Becomes First New Bank Greenlighted by Trump 2.0 (Opens in a new window) [Wall Street Journal; paywall]
Becoming obsessed with the idea of what if Robert E Howard wrote LoTR (Opens in a new window) [Bluesky]
Why the infinite-scroll childhood may be coming to an end (Opens in a new window) [Platformer]
I love xkcd so much.
https://xkcd.com/3204/ (Opens in a new window)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.
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General info
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!)
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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.
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Date
February 10, 2026
Topic
The Roving Ranger
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