The One hundred and seventy-second Roving Ranger

-:- Strange as news from Bree -:-

Life and Works

Jan 26, 1925. Tolkien writes a letter to Professor Joseph Wright (Opens in a new window) on the occasion of his retirement.
Jan 27, 1819. John Benjamin Tolkien (Opens in a new window) dies.
Jan 28, 1949. The letter "Cardinal Mindszenty (Opens in a new window)", co-signed by Tolkien, is published in The Times.
Jan 29, 1917. Tolkien faces a Medical Board in Birmingham (Opens in a new window), but he is deemed not fit to return to war (Opens in a new window).
Jan 30, 1914. The Chequers Clubbe (Opens in a new window), founded by Tolkien, is given permission to organize dinners.
Jan 31, 1892. Tolkien is christened at the Cathedral of St. Andrew and St. Michael (Opens in a new window) in Bloemfontein (Opens in a new window).
Feb 1, 1913. Tolkien writes a postcard to Edith Bratt (Opens in a new window).
Feb 2, 1939. Tolkien writes Letter 35 (Opens in a new window), on The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window), Mr. Bliss (Opens in a new window), Farmer Giles of Ham (Opens in a new window).

Tolkien reported that the new story, The Lord of the Rings, had reached Chapter 12 and over 300 pages of manuscript. He foresaw at least 200 more pages needed to finish it and asked when was the latest date that the completed manuscript ought to reach Allen & Unwin.

• Third Age (Opens in a new window), 301 (Opens in a new window)7: Aragorn (Opens in a new window) captures Gollum (Opens in a new window) in the Dead Marshes (Opens in a new window). [Feb 1]

People seem to appreciate visiting the Tolkien statue in East Yorkshire (Opens in a new window). [reddit]

Starting Feb 1 I will be sharing “guess the place!” photos from 30+ years of fandom with Ko-Fi and do TFFs - Tolkien Fun Facts! Let me know your memories 😇

Events & Shows

Tolkien Reading Day: the theme for 2026 has been anncounced (Opens in a new window): Unlikely Heroes.

The Oxford Tolkien Network’s talks (Opens in a new window) have started for Hilary Term, the next will be "Poetic Language and the Making of Myth: Reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings through Owen Barfield" [Jan 27]

AMA Announcement! James Tauber, The Digital Tolkien Project, in /r/tolkienbooks (Opens in a new window) [Feb 4; reddit]

The Mexican Tolkien Society in cooperation with the Asociación Tolkien Católica Peruana will be hosting a chat with Edy More (Opens in a new window)l on a documentary shown on Jan 3rd on the “catholic soul” of Tolkien (Opens in a new window). [Jan 25; Facebook; Youtube]

A short video gives you a good impression of how The Hobbit at the Dobama Theatre (Opens in a new window) looks like [Yahoo News]

A Tolkien Round Table (Opens in a new window) will be happening at the University of Malta: "Tolkien’s Elvish Mirror: Language, Myth, and Europe’s Search for Self" [April 24-25]

Nominations open for Tolkien Society Awards 2026 (Opens in a new window) [until Feb 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

A number of podcasts (Opens in a new window) from last year’s Bloomsbury Oxford Fantasy Summer School have been uploaded, including Stuart Lee (Opens in a new window) and Giuseppe Pezzini (Opens in a new window).

A number of reading clubs and read throughs have started in 2025 or early 2026 to make use of the full year: A Reader of Else (Opens in a new window) and Abigail Nussbaum (Opens in a new window) are just two of many; Tea with Tolkien is on the Silmarillion (Opens in a new window) and the Year on Tolkien Book Club (Opens in a new window) with Kelly Orazi / The Middle Page is huge.

Miriam Ellis has The Joys of Old Age in The Shire as Seen from The Ivy Bush (Opens in a new window).

Stephen C. Winter has “The Darkness Has Begun. There Will Be No Dawn.” Pippin Has Nothing to Do But Wait for the Beginning of War (Opens in a new window).

Tom Birkett’s upcoming Runes: A Concise History (Opens in a new window) mentions Tolkien by name. [Oxford University Press]

Another fan film has just hit Youtube: A Ranger's Journey (Opens in a new window).

Austrian musician Anna Grob has published The Messenger (Opens in a new window) - listening closely you’ll realise who he is [Youtube]

In the German city of Kassel you could take the tram to Mordor - for a day. [It was a prank!]

Merchandise & Franchise

Why The Two Towers Is The Best Lord Of The Rings Film (Opens in a new window) [Empire]

Why Return Of The King Is The Best Lord Of The Rings Film (Opens in a new window) [Empire]

Peter Jackson’s introduction to the rereleased films shows him talking about the loss of Andrew Lesnie (Opens in a new window) (director of photography on both trilogies; Oscar recipient for FotR) [Youtube]

‘Fallout’: Amazon Says Season 2 Is Tracking As One Of Its Top 4 Returning Series, But Won’t Release Viewership Stats, Yet (Opens in a new window) [Deadline]

The streamer added that it is also currently the No. 6 TV season of all time on Prime Video. It falls behind both Seasons 1 and 2 of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Reacher Seasons 2 and 3, and the first season of Fallout.

Inter alia

Why I am with Substack and also not (Opens in a new window) [a personal note]

Get Birding with Sean Bean (Opens in a new window) looks like a promising new podcast episode - film fans have been asking only one question: how can he get killed by birds? [Dailymotion]

The Day NY Publishing Lost Its Soul (Opens in a new window) [Substack]

Ubisoft cancels six games including Prince of Persia and closes studios (Opens in a new window) [BBC]

The AI productivity paradox (Opens in a new window) [Platformer]

From ‘Fortnite’ To ‘Fallout’: Checking In From London’s Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit (Opens in a new window) [Cartoon Brew]

Still looking for books to read? Summary List of File 770 Readers Recommendations for 2025 (Opens in a new window).

Fourth Cone Restoration on their Process of Restoring Vintage Posters (Opens in a new window) [Print Mag; see their 1977 Hobbit restoration (Opens in a new window), Instagram]

Director James Cameron on why he moved to New Zealand (Opens in a new window) [Stuff]

One of the best traditions to come out of recent years: naming snow ploughs. In this case? Ursula K. Le-Plow. [Remember Snowdo Baggins!]

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

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Do use my invite link (Opens in a new window) 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 (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!)

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.