The One hundred and seventy-ninth Roving Ranger

📚 special Tolkien Reading Day edition 📚

Events & Shows

Waterstones in Coventry will have The Hobbit (Opens in a new window) for their monthly book club. [March 25]

The Lost in Translation Show in Adelaide, Australia, will be doing its version of the film Return of the King (Opens in a new window) on March 20.

The Winni Players Community Theatre (Opens in a new window) will be doing a staged radio show of The Hobbit (Opens in a new window) [Mar 28; Meredith, New Hampshire, USA]

Greg Banks (Opens in a new window)' The Hobbit (Opens in a new window) will be happening at the Shakespeare Tavern [Jun 6-28; Atlanta, Georgia, USA]

The Lord of the Rings is mentioned in Fantasy Characters Bring Stories to Life at Newcastle World Book Day Celebration (Opens in a new window) [Newcastle Magazine]

You can now register for the Austrian Tolkien Society’s Spring Festival (Opens in a new window) [May 13-17]

The Fellowship of the Cards (Opens in a new window) will return to Évry-Courcouronne (close to Paris) on May 23-24 [BoardGameGeek]

Last day to register for the Forodrim 54th Anniversary (Opens in a new window) is March 31st [May 28-31; Tolkien Society in Sweden]

Should anybody participate in the Hobbit Mosh (Opens in a new window) please send me a review. [April 10; Auckland, New Zealand]

The Cushing Public Library hosts a number of events, including a Hobbit Festival (Opens in a new window) [Mar 28+; Oklahoma, USA]

Please note I am the Guest of Honour of this year’s Lustrum of the Dutch Tolkien Society, Unquendor.

Registration is now open (Opens in a new window) for June 19-21, 2026.

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Dimitra Fimi has For Mothering Sunday: Some brief thoughts on Faramir's mother (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

I have a short report on the second Tolkien Conference (Opens in a new window) in Switzerland I had been invited to [thetolkienist.com (Opens in a new window)]

Iris Meredith has Amdir, Estel, Peter Thiel (Opens in a new window).

Nick Hubble has started a 50 Year Reread of The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window). [Wordpress]

Jason Fisher has Generative AI, Hallucinations, and Tolkien Revisited (Opens in a new window) [Blogspot]

John Garth has The Lord of the Rings: toughest quiz ever (Opens in a new window) [Steady]

I wrote another Fingolfin’s Findings - on the Oakenshield Marionettes.

The next rolling issue of vol 23 of the Journal of Tolkien Research is beginning to fill: "Deep Down Here by the Dark Water Lived Old Gollum": The 1927 Public Opening of the Wookey Hole Show Caves and 'The Hobbit (Opens in a new window)'; “Neither Living Nor Dead”: From Nazgûl to the Sídhe in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) (Opens in a new window); and Through Peaks and Troughs: Visualising the Rhythmic Sentiment of The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window).

Nick Polk has Ireland, Eärendil, and Tolkien Reading Day (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Matej Cadil has Walking Further Into Middle‑earth: A New Adventure (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Tolkien Trewsday has started Year Four (Opens in a new window) [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has The Damage of Dragons (Opens in a new window).

(Opens in a new window)

Tom Hillman has "Fled from the Company" -- Frodo and Sam not looking back (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “To The Stone of Erech! I Seek The Paths of The Dead. Come With Me Who Will.” Aragorn Acts Swiftly as Time Runs Out (Opens in a new window) and “May I Not Now Spend My Life as I Will?” The Lady Éowyn Longs to Break Free From Her Cage (Opens in a new window).

Miriam Ellis has Glimpsing Bilbo's heart through his map of favorite walks (Opens in a new window) and When Folk Little and Big Lived Together at Bree (Opens in a new window).

Tolkien seems to have been prophetic on a number of current issues - a recent piece of scholarship (Opens in a new window) puts one of the essential neurological changes in human life at… 32.

Another Youtube video co-written by me has been published recently: Minas Ithil & Minas Morgul.

Durin (Opens in a new window), issue 1, the comic by Turner Mohan, Sergio Artigas and Carlos Vera is available now. [deviantart; seven issues are planned]

Merchandise & Franchise

Tolkien Reading Day seems to have become the day of choice for major media to use as marketing tool (not good for the community, generally speaking, but that’s where we are right now…)

Anyway - Peter Jackson just announced the next film after "Hunt for Gollum” and it is going to be “Shadow of the Past”, in cooperation with Stephen Colbert.

Whenever I see something with the amazing Jed Brophy I need to share it: When Orcs Collide (Opens in a new window) [Weta Workshop]

Kate Winslet To Play Female Lead In Andy Serkis’ ‘LOTR: The Hunt For Gollum’ (Opens in a new window) [Deadline; according to this (Opens in a new window) she is going to play Gollum’s grandmother; Twitter]

The Royal Mail bringing the gold to the film trilogy. And stamps (Opens in a new window).

I did not have this on my bingo card for 2026 but here we go: Fellowship of the ring: the journey to IFoA qualification (Opens in a new window) [yes, that is, on how to become an actuary (Opens in a new window)]

Also not on my bingo card - a Louis Vitton fashion show review (Opens in a new window) with a Tolkien allusion:

Set in a world that could be repurposed for a 2096 version of a JRR Tolkien saga, grass covered monoliths appeared as if they had erupted from the ground. [The Impression]

Do Middle‑earth and Westeros make sense? Climate scientists modelled them to find out (Opens in a new window) [Conversation]

Hidden Steam listing hints at The Lord of the Rings: War in the North re-releasing (Opens in a new window) [TweakTown]

Johan Egerkrans, artist to the eye-opending Swedish editions of H, LotR, and Sil, has put up the cover illustrations as limited giclée prints (Opens in a new window).

Wooden Wisdom featuring Actor Elijah Wood bring the fantasy world to the dancefloor (Opens in a new window). [May 31; Denver, Colorado, USA]

Elijah Wood is finally reading The Lord of the Rings 25 years after playing Frodo: 'They're incredible!' (Opens in a new window) [Entertainment Weekly]

“Delving too Deep” panel provided rare look at Lord of the Rings set details (Opens in a new window) [TORn]

TORn also has March Madness again - this time it is Clash of the Collectibles (Opens in a new window).

The Fellowship of the Ring In Concert 25th anniversary UK/IRE tour dates (Opens in a new window) [Oct-Dec; officially sanctioned by composer Shore]

It’s been a few years since the film came out but pant-less Aragorn is making a comeback:

Inter alia

Browncoats, assemble! FIREFLY animated TV series in development (Opens in a new window) [Wertzone]

High-speed combat drone production starts at new US Anduril plant in days (Opens in a new window) [Reuters]

David Bratman has A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility (Opens in a new window).

Epic Games Lays Off Over 1,000 As CEO Frames Cuts As Cost Of Being ‘Industry’s Vanguard’ (Opens in a new window) [CartoonBrew]

Artist Michael Hague has passed away (Opens in a new window) [Down the Tubes; he did the legendary 1984 Hobbit]

Does it surprise me that xkcd has a Tolkien connection even in its “what if?” videos? No.¹

This edition has been delayed due to illness - thank you for your patience.

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

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 Mountain King, my friend Sebastian of our German-speaking podcast SmallTolk (Opens in a new window). ↩