The One hundred and eightieth Roving Ranger

The Tolkienist’s Roving Ranger and more nominated for ‘Best Online Content’ with the Tolkien Society Awards | THANK YOU!

Life & Works

April 6, 1963. Tolkien writes a letter to a couple he met on holiday (Abre numa nova janela).
April 7, 1928. The Tablet (Abre numa nova janela) reports about Tolkien's paper "The Chill Barbarians of the North (Abre numa nova janela)".
April 8, 1958. Tolkien writes Letters 206 (Abre numa nova janela), on the “Hobbit Dinner” (Abre numa nova janela).
April 10, 1958. Tolkien writes Letter 208 (Abre numa nova janela), on no "message" in The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela), & Death in the story.
April 11, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 137 (Abre numa nova janela), on turning in material for The Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela).
April 12, 1970. Tolkien writes a letter to Tom Shippey (Abre numa nova janela), on “The Author as Philologist”.
April 13, 1937. Tolkien writes Letter 12 (Abre numa nova janela), including a draft of the dust cover for The Hobbit (Abre numa nova janela).

• T.A. (Abre numa nova janela) 3018 (Abre numa nova janela): Samwise Gamgee (Abre numa nova janela) and Ted Sandyman (Abre numa nova janela) are in The Green Dragon (Abre numa nova janela) and gossip about the strange news. [April 12]

The Tolkien Guide has another unboxing video (Abre numa nova janela), this time on The Bovadium Fragments: Together with ‘The Origin of Bovadium’.

The Tolkien Tapestries will be shown at Angers (Abre numa nova janela) [Apr 10 - Nov 8]

The single rarest “collectable” item on all things Tolkien is being sold right now for a rather impressive sum.

Events & Shows

After its expansion into the US, German Middle-earth Enterprises licensee Burgschneider is now moving into the UK with the The Brandywine Festiva (Abre numa nova janela)l [press release; Sept 2026]

The Tolkien Society is reviving the festivities in Birmingham, organising the Sarehole Festival (Abre numa nova janela) [May 30-31]

The International Medieval Congress has 26 papers on offer if you search for Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) [Jul 6-9]

The Division at the Humanities of the University of Minnesota Morris held a Hobbit Reading (Abre numa nova janela) [Apr 1]

The Stratford’s Festival Hobbit has added a short intro (Abre numa nova janela) as well as a costume fitting for Bilbo (Abre numa nova janela) [YouTube]

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

Registration is now open (Abre numa nova janela) for June 19-21, 2026.

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Matej Cadil has Gardens in Middle‑earth: What Tolkien Teaches Us About Tending a Broken World (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Giovanni Carmine Costabile has Tolkien's Joyful Sorrow, the "Gift of Tears" of Medieval Mysticism, and John Donne's Sermon "Jesus Wept" (Abre numa nova janela) [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Elfenomeno has an Interview with Pieter Collier, from Tolkien Library (Abre numa nova janela).

Foreshadowed and Foresung has Tolkien’s “Radical” Changes Are Just Changes (Abre numa nova janela).

The Slow LotR Re-read (1): Bilbo as a folklore hero (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “What Do You Fear, Lady?” Éowyn Knows What She Fears as She Seeks For What She Desires (Abre numa nova janela) and “They Go Only Because They Would Not Be Parted From Thee- Because They Love Thee.” Some Thoughts on Éowyn’s Unrequited Love For Aragorn (Abre numa nova janela).

Miriam Ellis has Happy news: The Tolkien Society Announces my design of the Oxonmoot 2026 logo! (Abre numa nova janela)

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Origin of the Elendilmir (Abre numa nova janela) [Wordpress]

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (2): Gandalf's hat and scarf (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

doubtfulsea has Goblins and Goblin (Abre numa nova janela).

[The] Silmarillion; book-collecting minutiae has Oft Tedious: AR Book Review (Reprint (Abre numa nova janela)).

The YouTube LEGO channel Justin BoverBricks is working on a Bilbo minifig-sized Smaug - and that looks glorious (Abre numa nova janela).

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

Merchandise & Franchise

'That's Still Under Bezos' Magical Halo' — The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Reportedly Remains On-Track for 5 Seasons at Amazon as It Becomes TV's First $1 Billion Series (Abre numa nova janela) [IGN]

Amazon MGM Studios Reorgs TV “Worldbuilding” Team, Matthew King and Adrienne O’Riain Depart (Abre numa nova janela) [Hollywood Reporter]

‘A full-circle moment’ (Abre numa nova janela): why Stephen Colbert is an enticing fit for Lord of the Rings [Guardian; also Will Stephen Colbert’s Lord of the Rings film be Tom Bombadil’s time to shine?] (Abre numa nova janela)

Aragorn’s Recast In New Lord Of The Rings Movie Officially Confirmed By Andy Serki (Abre numa nova janela)s [ScreenRant]

Peter Jackson to produce yet another frankly unnecessary LORD OF THE RINGS film (Abre numa nova janela) [Wertzone]

Veteran Studio Working On New Lord of the Rings Game (Abre numa nova janela) [Insider Gaming; this is still an unsubstantiated rumour as of this moment]

Inter alia

The official broadcast for NASA's Artemis II Live Mission Coverage (Abre numa nova janela) is worth your time (at the time of publication is was available but it is now delisted; here is a look back the mission (Abre numa nova janela). Subscribe to NASA!)

Glom of Nit #51: (Pratchett) Biographers nearly killed by mobile library (Abre numa nova janela) [Substack]

Cartes imaginaires, the current exhibition at the French National Library (Abre numa nova janela) (where the most successful exhibition ever was Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela)), is showing imaginary maps - from An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland by Bernard Sleigh (Abre numa nova janela)[Steady)]to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Abre numa nova janela) [Wikipedia]

Tad Williams on Tropes, Tolkien, and Telling Better Stories (Abre numa nova janela) [Page Chewing Podcast]

If edamame and Tolkien is your thing, Tasmania should be on your bucket list - the Hobbit Hort (Abre numa nova janela) is the place to be [Facebook; see also Grown for taste and Hobbit Hort providing fresh vegetables (Abre numa nova janela)]

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

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

Then do consider using Steady (Abre numa nova janela) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Abre numa nova janela), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification (Abre numa nova janela) and nazis.

Do use my invite link (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (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.