The One hundred and eighty-first Roving Ranger

Life & Works

All you need to know as south Birmingham's three new railway stations open (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Bromsgrove Standard; easier access to Moseley Bog]

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

Events & Shows

The new Schwarzman Centre in Oxford will host an open day festival (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [April 25; have a look at the Tolkien bust]

Theatre in the Round (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will stage the Hobbit [May 8-31; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA]

Given that my favourite Oxford-based publication mentions it - Lord of the Rings film trilogy marathon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (EE) at the Ultimate Picture Palace [Apr 25; Oxford, UK]¹

The Princeton Theological Seminary (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is honouring three retiring faculty members - and the Dr. George Hunsinger Farewell Lecture is titled “Barth and Tolkien” [Apr 24; Princeton, New Jersey, USA]

Photos from the Tolkien Tapestries exhibition in Angers show them displayed in all of their glory (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Villactu.fr]

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

Registration is now open (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for June 19-21, 2026.

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

Scholarship & Fandom

Parma Eldalamberon 16: Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 1 is available again on demand [Great British Bookshop (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Barnes and Noble (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]²

Galen Miller-Atkins has Entiscum yrfe Ealdniflunga: Meter and Poetic Style in Tolkien’s Old English Attila (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Long Shadow of Bilbo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Wordpress]

The Children's Literature Association Quarterly has a ‘special issue on Tolkien and childhood’: Volume 50, Number 2, Summer 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Kelly | TheMiddlePage has "A marvel of wizardry": Enchantment, longing, and sorrow in Tolkien's early poetry (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Substack; partially paywall]

The X International Conference on Myth in the Arts (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) has put out a CfP [deadline May 8; event itself Nov 17-20; hybrid]³

Jeff LaSala has Making The Silmarillion User-friendly: Characters (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Stephen C. Winter has “Then She Fell on Her Knees, Saying: ‘I Beg Thee!” Éowyn is So Desperate That She is Prepared to Humiliate Herself. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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

Merchandise & Franchise

The social media channels of Warner Bros. and other involved parties (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB reel] just shared this, reminding fans of Emiliana Torrini’s rendition of Gollum’s Song (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [end titles to The Two Towers] and the still being from the prologue to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Check out the actors via Wikipedia: Ian McKellen (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Kate Winslet (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Jamie Dornan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Leo Woodall (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Lee Pace (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Elijah Wood (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) | Andy Serkis (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction and Fantasy (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is on auction, with some exceptional Tolkien items [For more information see Tolkien Guide (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Not sure how to put this into context but it feels incredibly cheap to ask for the building plans to a hobbit home for $50, right (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)? [Upwork]

Inter alia

Fun Fact A new fad of Youtube-published AI slop is “I built myself a hobbit hole!” A special field is turning steel containers into hobbitish living spaces… 🤪

Libraries Alliance formally launched at British Academy (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [including the Bodleian Libraries, National Library of Scotland, the Cambridge University Library and many more.]

A loss, indeed: Journey’s End — Máire Brennan (1952–2026) and Clannad (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Foreshadowed & Foresung]

Always one of my favourites: the College Cats of Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Oxford Clarion]

Hollywood stars sign open letter against Paramount-Warner deal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Inquirer.net (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Fantasy Authors Are Not Playing: Creators Increasingly Call Out “Unfaithful” Adaptations (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Hollywood Reporter; on social media they added: Amazon Studios has to be at least a little thankful that J.R.R. Tolkien is no longer around.]⁴

Some people online have mentioned this banner reminds them of the Argonath in the Jackson trilogy.⁵

The Theory of Related-ivity: Segment I (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) starts serialized article(s) exploring the history of the Best Related Work Hugo category in its various names and versions. [File770]

Senior NHS officials warned staff over criticising rollout of Palantir platform (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Financial Times]

Alan Moore Interview: Magical Consciousness, Disowned Works, and the Long London Quintet (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [RetroFuturista]

While the comics medium is an astonishing art-form, the full potential of which has been barely scratched, I fear that my personal experiences in the comics industry during a not especially enjoyable career, have led to me disowning all of the work that I do not own – around 95% of it – and not wishing to be associated with comics any longer.

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

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

Do use my invite link (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and start with three months fee-free.
[Transparency note: I get a small referral bonus with no extra costs to you.]

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 Oxford Clarion (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Apr 10, 2026. ↩

2. h/t Christopher Gilson, Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

3. h/t Robin Reid (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩

4. h/t Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Hollywood Reporter. ↩

5. h/t Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). ↩