Life and Works

October 28, 1916 After being diagnosed with trench fever the previous day, Tolkien is hospitalized.
October 30, 1936 Rayner Unwin, aged 10, writes a "Report on the Hobbit".
October 31, 1914 The Big Four - Tolkien, Wiseman, Smith and Gilson - plan to meet at Cambridge, and all but Tolkien come. Now under the lead of Barnsley and Barrowclough, the T.C.B.S. begins to crumble.
November 1, 1979 Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien is first published in the UK.
November 2, 1956 Tolkien writes Letter 193, on advice on "Accents" for a BBC Radio Program.
November 3, 2016 The Bodleian Library presented the Bodley Medal to Christopher Tolkien, the Library's highest honour.
November 4, 1954 Tolkien writes Letter 156, a response to comments on The Lord of the Rings and Gandalf, with a summary of the mythology of Middle-earth.

• T.A. 3019: Following the Battle of Bywater, restoration of the Shire begins. Frodo frees the prisoners of the Lockholes, including Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, Fredegar Bolger and Will Whitfoot. [November 4]

The restoration of the Oxford Oratory is under way, a place of meaning to JRRT, and donations are welcome. A blog is hightlighting the work being done.

Events & Shows

The 2027 Nations Cup of the Middle-earth SBG will be taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands [May 21-23; here is the rules book via Canva]

Eschertalk: What Would Tolkien Do? Hope and Responsibility in Times of Change [Zürich, Switzerland; happening right now]

Lady Margaret Hall has Tolkien and the Origins of Fantasy Literature [exhibition open by appointment; fun fact: Barbara Strachey was an LMH alumna]

The XII Concilio Tolkien by the southernmost Tolkien Society on the planet (afaik!) will take place in Punta Arenas, Chile [Nov 21-22; Instagram]

You Shall not Yass is at it again [Dec 10; Clapham Grand, London, UK; Instagram]

make it happen

“With its AI projects - AI summaries, the Gemini chatbot - Google has abandoned the practice of "connecting works with audiences." Today, Google's function is to plunder all the works on the internet and chop them up and arrange them in an unimaginably vast, multidimensional array for the explicit purpose of preventing audiences from connecting with those works.” Cory Doctorow

These days a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

An important question to ask: Do Hobbits Have Big Feet?

The Journal of Inklings Studies has just published Volume 16, Issue 2 [partially free]

Stephen C. Winter has “And in That Very Moment, Away Behind in Some Courtyard of The City, a Cock Crowed.” When The Earth Fights Back Against The Servants of Darkness.

George J. Parr has:

Jon Bilsberry has Epic Heroism for the Ordinary: Tolkien’s Reworking of Odyssean Heroism in The Hobbit [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Mercury Natis has De-Queering the Queer Villain Trope: How The Rings of Power Season 2 declawed Sauron (and nearly succeeded in recovering at the finish line) [Substack]

Nobody cares for the woods as I Care for Them by Noelia Ramos Soria is freely available [Contours of Anglo-American Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Emerging Perspectives]

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (16): When Did Buckland Become Welsh? [Substack; paywall]

Robin Reid has 2027 Conference CFPs, Links, & Info [Substack]

I am sure we will be reading more of these papers soon: One Ring to Rule Them All: An Allegory of Artificial Intelligence, Corruptive Drift, and the Limits of Organizational Governance [AIS; ICIS 2026 Proceedings]

The Encyclopedia of Middle-earth has just been published [Bador, Morelle, Potot, Stocker, Turlin, Vigot; translated from French]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Shakes Things Up for Season 3 With a Time Jump and ‘The Orc with an Arc’ [IGN]

A new Lord of the Rings game is making players cry [Polygon; on the next trick taking game]

Announcing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Trick-Taking Game [Office Dog Games]

The company is run by Zev Shlasinger, an icon of the hobby game industry.  You can find out more at www.PlayToZgames.com.  Oh, and Play To Z will have a Middle-earth game coming out in the future, so… stay tuned for that!

Golden Headliner Smaug Stolen in Huge PSA Truck Robbery [DraftSim; valuable trading cards stolen]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance studio warns fans it was hit by major cyberattack [Polygon; Warhorse is working on a Tolkien title]

A rather entertaining list, comparing “The Jackson and Lucas 25” [JW Fan]

Jackson Robinson is at it again, and again with a ridiculous percentage of oversubscription.

Inter alia

If you feel like having a pint anywhere in the UK, Brighton & Hove is way better than Oxford - which has prices only surpassed by London [Capital on Tap]

The Ashmolean Museum has highlighted how you can wear part of Oxford’s (art) history.

Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov, dies aged 90 [BBC; see also Wertzone]

Iconic BATTLESTAR GALACTICA board game to be reprinted [Wertzone]

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

Well, that may be. However, Iceland is something of a very special case.

There is the Icelandic Naming Committee.

Yes, you’ve heard this right.

The Mannanafnanefnd.¹

[I dare you pronounce this if you are not Icelandic! 😅]

The whole decision process is not that easy. And quite a few names are turned down. You have to suggest the name to the Mannanafnanefnd that will then deliberate and let you know whether you name suggestion has been accepted.

A name not already on the official list of approved names must be submitted to the naming committee for approval. A new name is considered for its compatibility with Icelandic tradition and for the likelihood that it might cause the bearer embarrassment. Under Article 5 of the Personal Names Act, names must be compatible with Icelandic grammar (in which all nouns, including proper names, have grammatical gender and change their forms in an orderly fashion according to the language's case system). Names must also contain only letters occurring in the Icelandic alphabet, and with only occasional exceptions, a name's grammatical gender previously had to match the sex of the person bearing the name. [Wikipedia]

As you can see here:

Category - Name - Decision

Boy(‘s name) - Aragorn - Accepted on Oct 16, 2026.

I have rarely had the occasion of linking an Icelandic magazine but here you go.

And one of the names turned down? Ceasar. 🥳

The decision will now make possible that the next generation in Iceland will have Aragorndóttir and Aragornsson (daugther and son, respectively.)

"The Sunship at midnight" by o palsson is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

1. I have been made aware of this cultural feat via the Tolkien Society’s Facebook group.

Events & Shows

Dimitra Fimi has announced her Inaugural Lecture as professor in Glasgow [Nov 9; Bluesky]

Celebrating a beer festival at Hobbiton, the movie set, sounds like fun [Nov 13-14]

John Howe’s first exhibition in Neuchâtel has drawn more than 50,000 visitors [Instagram]

Last week’s Tolkien Seminar at Augsburg went off splendidly, here are a few pictures [Instagram]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find by the day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Tolkien Studies 22 is now available with MUSE.

More articles have been added to the current issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research.

Tom Hillman has Faramir, Smooth Operator, Shows His Quality [Blogspot]

Jason Fisher has Robots, slaves, orcs, and dragons [Blogspot]

The Great Tolkien Reread has reached Treebeard [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has Cap-a-Pie (1).

Stephen C. Winter has “Do You Not Know Death When You See It?” In Which We Learn That Gandalf Does Not Dear Death But That The Morgul Lord Does Fear It.

Catherine Hall has Moria or Khazad-dûm? How Elvish Place Names Shape Our Perception of Middle-earth [Substack]

I recently posted…

The Inklings Project has shared its latest news.

Drooche ras hre [reddit; a thread on mistakes you can make with tengwar]

The Prancing Pony Podcast Goes to Middle-earth! [Kickstarter]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

I would love to believe that Amazon Prime Video have changed their release schedule at the last minute so I can add them to this edition of the Roving Ranger but then… 😅

It has all led to this - Forging the One Ring to Rule Them All in Season 3 Trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from Prime Video [Press release; including new posters etc.]

Also, showrunner JD Payne is now with Instagram.

Hasbro posts Q3 2026 revenue up 15% as Magic: The Gathering tops $600M; raises 2026 outlook [Trading View; mentioning MTG: The Hobbit as one reason for the success]

Gaming giant Asmodee has special events at the largest board game trade fair in the world, the Spiel at Essen, Germany [including LotR: Circle of Conflict and The Trick Game]

L.A. based polka band Die Sauerkrauts had a hobbit help them sing [yes, Billy Boyd, of course]

The camera hasn’t finished rolling yet tourists are already booking their next LOTR NZ trip [Stuff NZ]

Boardgame War of the Ring has two expansions coming up in October and December [Ares Games]

You need to realise that your fandom is a franchise when third-rate celebrities write posts like this: The Hunt for Gollum: Middle-earth’s Triumphant Return [Zeitblatt; the person in question is Mario-Max Prinz zu Schaumburg-Lippe who also participated in trash tv; please note TZ is a tabloid]

Peter Jackson Drops Big Updates On Two Lord Of The Rings Projects [ScreenRant]

The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit has amassed more than two million dollars; late pledge is now available [Kickstarter]

Euromaidan has Ukraine’s hobbit-named robot fired on targets up to 1.3 km away in a demo for border guards.

Silly mentions

There’s actually a bit in The Silmarillion where Sauron has a sing-off with Finrod. It’s not quite in the right time period but they could do some kind of homage and have Sauron in a drum-off, maybe. [Guardian interview with Charlie Vickers]

Musician Sam Fender has announced an upcoming tour with a Tolkienian skit.

Inter alia

Shawn E Marchese has That Lion! That Witch! And That Zeppelin Song! [Substack]

The 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction has been awarded.

Tad Williams in Conversation with George R. R. Martin [Youtube]

‘Medieval romance overflowed with sexually active fairies’: the surprisingly long roots of romantasy [Guardian]

Electronic Arts shuts down BioWare and cancels the next MASS EFFECT game [Wertzone]

David Zaslav Walks With $606 Million After Years Of Gutting Warner Bros., Leaving Workers To Face More Cuts [Cartoon Brew]

Netflix Spent A Record $4.8 Billion On Buybacks Before Laying Off 1,000 Employees [Cartoon Brew]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

Life and Works

Historic Oxford pub visited by Tolkien and C.S. Lewis gets upgrade [Oxford Mail; the Lamb & Flag has a new sign]

Holly Ordway has Tolkien and restoring the beauty of the Oxford Oratory [Substack]

If you want to get a feel of how Tolkien experienced the ~50 years in Oxford [Bovadium Fragments much?] here is an animated version of the city’s growth.¹

Steady News

Simple Search available If there is something you might think is I could have written about with Steady you can now use the simple search at the top of my page.

Free article available As many other sites like Substack or Medium are offering Steady has now added the ‘read one article for free’ option. And it is really just that - become a member for free to read a post you’d like, no questions asked, no responsibilities! So, if you find a paywalled post with Steady you’ll see this at the bottom of it.

Events & Shows

Royd Tolkien’s documentary There is a hole in my bucket will be shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival [Oct 21-22]

The 14th International Tolkien Mailing Competition run by the Hungarian Tolkien Society is now open for registration.

Interestingly enough, Matej Cadil has written about this: How I Won the Tolkien Mailing Competition: My Creative Submissions and the Ideas Behind Them [Substack]

The Lord of the Rings Musical is promising much right now - a European & Middle East tour² [starting Oct 8 2026], a UK & Ireland tour [no dates yet], and a North American tour [Feb 15; this tour has a new director; WhatsonStage.]

[My 2 cents all of this without explaining any further why the last leg of the preceding tour was cancelled? Given that lotr.com - which used to be the muscial’s website - is now with Middle-earth Enterprises and the official fan club is now at the new URL a few chairs seem to have been shuffled.]

Missed event: The Hobbit - Journey through Middle Eng [Instagram; Toronto Metropolitan University Engineering Society; see also EyeOpener]

The University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy has The Hobbit as its fall play [Oct 22-24; Detroit, Michigan, USA]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find by the day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

John Garth has Thanks to you, my Oxford Tolkien DPhil adventure begins! [Steady]

Tom Hillman has Of course we can't understand Tom Bombadil [Blogspot]

Jason Fisher has The things we remember, the things we forget, and the things we never knew we didn’t know [Blogspot; on Tolkien with Wikipedia etc.]

Enjoy the Editorial introduction to Mythlore issue #149, Fall 2026 and this list of its content.

The Oxford Tolkien Network now has its dedicated website.³

Stephen C. Winter has “A Very Valiant Man”. Thoughts Upon The Journey to Manhood of Peregrin Took.

Farid Mohammadi has Aragorn, ‘Kingly Valour’, and the Limits of Translation [Notes & Queries, OUP; paywall]

Adam Roberts had to do the Ring Rhyme in Latin [Substack]

doubtfulsea has Now You See Him, Now…

To better understand the right-extremist appropriation of Tolkien’s works in Italy: The “other Sixty-Eight”. Historical and cultural roots of far-right music in Italy (1968-1977) [Modern Italy; CUP]

The cultural appropriation of Tolkien, for example, reflects the need among young people on the far-right to break free from a past that was theirs only through the memories and missed opportunities of their fathers (and sometimes mothers) involved in the drama of the Second World War.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Silly mentions

Rossella (“little rose”) is in Muswell Hill and when I lived in London, I wanted to live in Muswell Hill. I knew I would leave London for Cornwall the day I awoke from a dream in which Muswell Hill looked like a medieval city state on a hill – it was white and silver, like Minas Tirith of Gondor – and the gates were shut to me. That is, I had a JRR Tolkien-inspired dream about the London property market and how the quest is never fulfilled. I couldn’t see inside the walls of what I now call Muswell Tirith, but if I had, then perhaps I would have seen a version of Rossella, because every legendarium needs a neighbourhood Italian restaurant. [Observer; my emphasis]

Merchandise and Franchise

Lord of the Rings Online’s expansion The Wolves of Mordor will be released soon - and here’s the trailer to it [Youtube]

Episode 12 of 31 in season 2026/27 of the British tv show Mastermind has a Tolkien connection [BBC; iPlayer only available in the UK; The specialist subjects are The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien…]⁴

A café in Pleasanton called Inklings has just celebrated its tenth anniversary [Patch; see also its Instagram account; California, USA]

Tourism has long since understood that franchises can drive any place or any region into global awareness - the company Wonderful Structures is offering a weekend course on their projects. Quite a few of them look like this [the mother company is from Mexico, afaik.]

Given that I used to live in Würzburg and have been to the Congress Centrum I am happy to share this recently uploaded orchestral piece from the ‘Hobbit trilogy’ - The Desolation of Smaug (Shore.) Also, it is going to be this orchestra’s 30th anniversary in 2027, Jan 15/16, and I am sure Shore will be present again.

Inter alia

Rather entertaining, just like him: ‘He punched a polar bear on the nose!’ Ninety glorious years of Brian Blessed – by Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester and more [Guardian]

Winnie-The-Pooh - one hundred years.

‘Star Trek’ Has Survived 60 Years. Its Greatest Business Lesson Isn’t Nostalgia [Inc.com]

The Magician’s Nephew by Greta Gerwig has a trailer [Youtube]

Here are the…

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

2. I have not been able to find a report of the alleged Oct 8 premiere in Istanbul. Please let me know if you have!

3. h/t Grace Khuri [Bluesky].

4. h/t Andrew Ferguson / Tolkien Guide.

Why? Because of the amazing participants in the 20 hrs live stream the Tolkien Collectors’ Guide team had brought together.

Transparency note I was one of them. 🤓

Now, you may no longer have the chance of winning something (the give aways were rather enticing!) but trust me, there were some absolutely fabulous talks, presentations, round tables and more.

Reasons to watch this.

Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, two of the most eminent Tolkien scholars, took us on a tour of their 30k+ collection. 🥳

Shawn Marchese, now with the TG team, chatted with the teams behind the Podcasts Athrabeth, Queer Lodgings, Knewbetta and the Prancing Pony Podcast (yes, the Lord of the Mark!)

Marcel, the Roving Ranger, talked about the newsletter and other things (yes, it’s a me! and by the way - I lost my train of thought at one point and that was because my weird neighbour was banging on the wall as I was too loud talking to people from all over the world 😅; proof at the bottom) /ironic.

Maggie Parke presented the first few minutes of the upcoming Verlyn Flieger documentary.

… and so on.

I entered the chat at about the 9:13:00 mark - I had promised myself to be online for 12 hrs - and that is what I did. 💪

The live stream was divided into two parts, here they are.

Part 1

Part 2

My point of pride? I was able to entertain and inform a lot of people in the chat, ending up as the #1 supporter. And yes, sometimes you do need the services of a born and raised Colognian 🥹😂

Anyway, do have a look at the videos, they are well worth your time!

Life and Works

Oct 8, 1937 C.S. Lewis reviews The Hobbit in The Times.
Oct 9, 1945 Tolkien writes Letter 102a, informing [CJRT] that the Inklings propose to consider him a permanent member.
Oct 10, 1946 Stanley Unwin reads the typescript of The Hobbit.
Oct 11, 1918 Tolkien is officially released from Brooklands Officers' Hospital, Kingston-upon-Hull.
Oct 12, 1944 Tolkien writes Letter 84, about Trouble while writing The Lord of the Rings, Leaf by Niggle.
Oct 14, 1958 Tolkien writes Letter 211, on Languages, Gondor, Númenor.

Signum Studios will be publishing The Stories that Come to Us: A Conversation with Verlyn Flieger soon - a must see on one of the most influential Tolkien scholars of all time.

Exeter College where Tolkien studied is on the shortlist for the Oxford Preservation Trust Awards for this year.¹

Events & Shows

Help the Hobbit at Odense Theater [Oct 17; Odense, Denmark]

The Mask & Mirror Community Theatre will do a live reading of The Hobbit [Oct 30-31; Tualatin, Oregon, USA]

The Oxford C.S. Lewis Society has shared its Michaelmas Term Card, including a talk by Edmund Weiner on The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the OED, twenty years later [Nov 24; Facebook]

You can register for the Lure of Middle-earth 2027 now!

A community convention to celebrate card games based on the world of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The German Tolkien Society’s Seminar has a dedicated website right now - you can still register for online participation - for free [Oct 16-18]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find by the day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Please note

The Roving Ranger has a new schedule…

… now every Wednesday evening!

Scholarship & Fandom

As ever a treasure trove of publishing information: Addenda and Corrigenda September 2026 [Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull]

The Journal of Tolkien Research is adding more articles and reviews to its rolling issue 3 to volume 24 - like Ornamental Letters in J.R.R. Tolkien's Manuscripts.

doubtfulsea has Death and the Rohirrim.

Miriam Ellis has Eryn Lasgalen: Frodo's best ecological victory?

Fun Fact On the weekend of Oct 5-7, 2007, I was among the guests of honour of the Greek Tolkien Society’s Cair Andros [where I was made an honorary member of the Prancing Pony]

The magic of reading to children [New Statesman; mentioning The Hobbit; paywall]

In Kansas City, Missouri, USA, a new group is forming, the KC Fellowship of the Read [Facebook; also on Discord]

Digital Tolkien celebrated the 46th anniversary of Unfinished Tales with a post on Bluesky.

Stephen C. Winter has “You Must Choose Between Orders and The Life of Faramir.” Pippin Acts Against Orders and For What is Right and Good.

The Great Tolkien Reread has reached The Uruk-Hai [Blogspot]

James Tauber (of Digital Tolkien fame) seems to have 36 hr days and has just posted… the Ultima V styled Middle-earth map.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

If you feel like sending me a Christmas present…

Would I have expected a major USA marching band to play the “Lord of the Rings” soundtrack? Possibly. But with Yo-Yo Ma? Not in a lifetime.

A sad day for creativity: Judge Clears Final Hurdle For Paramount-WBD Merger, And Hollywood Gets A Little Smaller [Cartoon Brew; now the film trilogies are owned by right-wing-extremists, just like the Eagle & Child]

Paramount takes over Warner Bros in $110bn Hollywood merger [BBC]

Stephen Colbert’s ‘Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past’ Hits Development Speed Bump [Knight Edge Media; the original post has had a reaction by WB…]

UPDATE: WB has reached out to reiterate that it is not “canceled” and is still in development. As we wrote, it wasn’t canceled/canned, which leaves the door open to still being made

Limited Run Announces Lord Of The Rings: War In The North Physical Release.

A piece of Middle-earth is up for sale in Otago [RNZ; on a landscape used for parts of Rohan]

The Lord of the Rings™: The King’s Gambit Kickstarter has started.

An excellent interview with all things Warhorse Studios: For Warhorse's 15th birthday, we chatted with its co-founder about the demand for 'grown-up' RPGs, AI, why games are too cheap, and his role in the collapse of communism [PC Gamer; the company involved in one of the upcoming LotR license games]

Middle-earth Enterprise is drumming up interest on all things merchandise for this weekend’s New York ComicCon, including the fact that more and more influencers are joining the official fan club.

Inter alia

Banned Books Week UK is happening.

Sarah J. Maas Reveals How ‘Buffy,’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ Inspired Her Books [Woman’s World]

A beautiful space ship and an even more interesting interview: Matt Jefferies made Star Trek look believable [Collecting Trek]²

You can now explore the Enterprise bridge online—and that's just the start of these Trek 60th anniversary projects [How to Geek]³

Werwulf Director Robert Eggers Reveals New Details About His 'Hell-Like' Medieval Horror Film [IGN]

Two Oxford English dons have advised on Middle English dialogue for forthcoming horror film Werwulf, set in the 13th century. Dr Eleanor Baker and Professor Daniel Wakelin acted as consultants for director Robert Eggers. Werwulf will be released on New Year's Day.⁴

The stupidity, it hurts: If Burnham were Frodo Baggins, Sauron would have won [Telegraph; please do not take too seriously]

Ansible 471 has been published.

Kathleen Kennedy Admits to “a Bit of Relief” in Stepping Down From Lucasfilm After 14 Years [Hollywood Reporter]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

2. h/t Michael & Denise Okuda [Facebook].

3. h/t File770.

4. h/t Oxford Clarion.

It has been some time since this has been noted but it should be mentioned anyway as the new generation(s) of members of the Tolkien family have evidently decided to deal with their assets via a major law firm so as to better represent on their franchise options. The literary heritage is very much business now, and, to be honest, that is how it has always been. It has just become bigger.

The difference are the numbers we are talking, I would assume.

The leading name in this is that of Cathleen Blackburn who had been the go-to-person on all things legal with the Tolkien family for decades.

The next step in the ‘professionalization’ of representation was turning J.R.R. Tolkien into a client of the literary agency Curtis Brown in September 2025.

I am not trying to complain here but the days when you could actually get a personal reply from the people involved have long been over - and now that the franchise has become the equivalent of at least a two digit billion dollar investment it was the ‘natural order’ of things (when it comes to end stage capitalism.)

This edition of Fingolfin’s Findings is certainly FYI.

"From approximately 1968 to 1973, several Nimoy and Star Trek fanzine writers and editors (notably contributors to Regina Marvinny's Nimoyan Federation and members of the Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans) discussed the idea of a live-action The Lord of the Rings film, with Nimoy playing Aragorn, and there was a brief letter-writing campaign."

This illustration has been scanned and is a detail of a larger illustration in this fanzine.

Many Tolkien fans know that Nimoy had a very niche and very entertaining success with The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.

This song is so popular among the different fandoms that they even had the cast from the so-called Hobbit film trilogy read out the lyrics.

Unfortunately, no piece of evidence is available digitally/ on the internet, that is, the fanzines in question. If you happen to have access to any of those please do contact me!

Life and Works

Simon Tolkien has a lovely story on a brooch worn by Mabel Tolkien that has been handed down from JRRT to Priscilla to him [Instagram]

More information on the upcoming memorial in Westminster Abbey.

Have a look at 1966 ideas of students (by students) [BBC]

Events & Shows

The UK instrumental post-rock duo Nordic Giants has announced A Journey into Middle-earth via their newsletter.¹

The Little Dipper Theatre in Langley, British Columbia, Canada has put out a casting call for their upcoming rendition of The Hobbit [Instagram; scheduled for 2027]

The Tolkien Guide 20th Anniversary will be happening this weekend.

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find by the day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Please note

The Roving Ranger has a new schedule…

… now every Wednesday evening!

Scholarship & Fandom

Stephen C. Winter has “But He is No Fool; And I Will Not Think of Dying Until He Despairs of Life.” Further Thoughts on Despair and Hope From Peregrin Took.

doubtfulsea has Minor?

Matej Cadil has Service, Sacrifice, and the Artist's Calling in Leaf by Niggle [Substack]

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (15): “Elves, sir!” [Substack; partial paywall]

The Edinburgh Bookshop has done a hilarious “reenactment” of some of the Hobbit covers.

The Great Tolkien Reread has reached The Riders of Rohan [Blogspot]

A lovely walk through the music of the 1977 animated Hobbit [JW Fans’ Network]

Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull have Of Blogs and Bots [Wordpress]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

Tolkien Scholar Giuseppe Pezzini Reveals What MTG Got Right And Wrong About The Hobbit Crossover [CBR]

Frodo returns to the Shire in first look at Andy Serkis’ Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum [Entertainment Weekly]

The Lord of the Rings franchise owner, Embracer Group, has undergone massive changes in recent years, presumably mostly thanks to a financing deal gone wrong (with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund). In a recent statement Embracer shared that the company had acquired a new revolving credit facility, based exclusively in Swedish banks.

At the time of writing the crowdfunding of The One Ring™ RPG: Bestiary, Gondor Campaign & Updated Rules has reached fourteen stretch goals [Backerkit; almost 10k supporters and more than $2 million]

heo group reveals news LotR accessories [ICv2; all things card gaming]

Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Shadow of Mordor coming to Nintendo Switch 2 [Nintendo Everything]

Middle-earth has been getting the management treatment on occasion - and now there are Management Lessons from The Lord of the Rings [Edward Elgar Publishing]

Prime Video reveals £5 billion UK investment as VP urges industry to embrace change [Press release by Amazon urging more AI and making clear the UK has been given the Big A the tax break treatment]

Well, it’s pumpkin time, so to speak. And if you wanted to make your 1,5 million pumpkins known the world over… a hobbit hole will certainly help [West Sussex, UK; Tulley’s Pumpkin Farm]

Inter alia

Whenever anyone is claiming a connection to Tolkien you should possibly have a quick look at some of these basics:

Everyone must play their part to preserve creation, say bishops [Tablet; mention of Pope Leo’s Encyclica]

An instant classic.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Lukas Ritzel.

a belated warm welcome to the month of September. I hope this post finds you well, a cup of tea or coffee in your hand - or any of your preferred beverages, really!

There are a few things I would love to share with you.

Me & one of the hilarious costumes at Sur les Terres de L’Unique.

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

Chäppi Börfdei 🤩🥳🎉

Bilbo and Frodo Baggins - September 22.

All around the world Tolkien fans are celebrating Baggins Birthday Bash (or whatever name you may have chosen! 🎂) in some shape or form.

If you feel like sharing - just let me know via email or with Bluesky and/ or Instagram and I’ll share as much as I can.

Life and Works

Westminster Abbey to honour J.R.R. Tolkien.

J.R.R. Tolkien, writer, artist, scholar and linguist is to be honoured in Westminster Abbey in Poets’ Corner alongside his close friend and fellow writer, C.S. Lewis.

'Good often does evil': JRR Tolkien on 'the most tragic moment' in The Lord of the Rings [BBC]

Events & Shows

This week, particularly the weekend of Sept 25-27, is offering amazing events for Tolkien fans all over - here are some examples.

First of all - meet the Tolkienist in Britanny at Sur Les Terres de L’Unique. Yes, it’s a me! ☺️

Second, the Austrian Tolkien Society is celebrating Lasse Lanta.

Thirdly, the Edinburgh Tolkien Society is out tonight at 7 pm (CET-1); just like my smial in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.

Fourthly, the Thuringian Tolkien Days are happening, and yes, again, my smial in Jena. [Sept 26]

And many more are happening for Bilbo and Frodo’s Birthday Week!

Don’t forget - the Tolkien Guide 20th Anniversary 20 hour livestream will be happening the weekend after! And I will be participating as well 🤩

The Lure of Middle-earth - the worlds biggest fan organised convention for Middle-earth CCG and Lord of the Rings LCG - has started registration for 2027.

A Tale of Fellowship, the musical, will be shown in Brighton [Sept 24]

The Wade Center has “Good Words for Good Work: An evening with Andrew Peterson” [online stream]

Words have great power to shape the way we think. Andrew will discuss three words from J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Wendell Berry that have recalibrated his heart’s compass over the years.

A report from the Brandywine Festival [Birmingham Post]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find by the day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Amazing things continue to happen in scholarship:

Robin Ried has Rec: “Tolkien Fanzine Dataset, 1967-2017 [Bulk 1969-1979] and “Adaptation, Substitution, Translation or Desecration?” [Substack]

And Digital Tolkien is offering The Nazgûl, together and apart.

Tom Emanuel has been interviewed by the Mexican Tolkien Socitey - Secondary Faith: Tolkien on the Limits of Belief [Substack]

Frank Weinreich has Fairy Tales - Fantastic Literature’s Nursery Room [Substack]

BLOODSTOCK founder’s artwork takes its place in George Lucas’s new museum [on Paul Raymond Gregory’s Tolkien inspired triptych, The Designs of Melkor]¹

Stephen C. Winter has “We Will Burn Like Heathen Kings Before Ever a Ship Sailed Hither From The West.” The Despair of Denethor and the Faithfulness of Faramir.

Lord of the Rings video game trilogy to drop massive free expansion in October [Battle for Middle-earth II; Gaming Bible]

All panels and presentations of MythCon 54 are online.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The current crowdfunding efforts by roleplaying developer Free League Publishing have been funded in a few minutes and has already surpassed several stretch goals and has more than 2k supporters.

Stone Blade Entertainment has opened the Pledge Manager for LotR: Ascension [GameFound]

The official films’ fan club did Hobbit Day celebrations [Sept 20-3]

Private Equity Is Coming for Authors, Dead or Alive [The Ankler; partial paywall]

Rings of Power season 3 script pages reveal Sauron’s struggle to create the One Ring [Entertainment Weekly]

The latest Dark Horse addition is…

Inter alia

File 770 recently had the excellent title Pixel Scroll 9/18/26 File The Dishes And Scroll The Plates, That’s What Bilbo Baggins Hates.

Excellent and most important: Lifting the lid on linguistic history: the toilet through the centuries [OED podcast]²

A very odd representation of Oxford’s Eagle & Child is part of the upcoming The Magician’s Nephew film by Greta Gerwig.

One of the saddest side effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the fact they are building hobbit houses [United 24 Media; report on arms defense exhibition]

xkcd does it again.

Preview image taken from the 1977 Hobbit film.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Lukas Ritzel.

2. h/t Oxford Clarion.

Strange as News from Bree

Life & Works

Sept 16-18, 1994 My first ever Oxonmoot (my apologies, I needed to add this 😇)
Sept 18, 1954 Naomi Mitchison published a review of The Fellowship of the Ring in the New Statesman.

‘It’s really super science fiction’, declared NAOMI MITCHISON after reading the first part, The Fellowship of the Ring, ‘but it is timeless and will go on and on. It’s odd you know. One takes it completely seriously: as seriously as Malory’. [Source]

Sept 19, 1931 Tolkien, Lewis and Dyson have dinner, followed by a conversation that ran until 4 a.m. the following morning that was essential for Lewis's conversion to Christianity.
Sept 20, 1982 Mr. Bliss is published in the UK.
Sept 21, 1937 Tolkien signs copies of The Hobbit and sends them to E.V. Gordon, Elaine Griffiths, Helen Buckhurst, Stella Mills, Hilary Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Katherine Kilbride.
Sept 22, 1954 Tolkien writes Letter 152, on Dialect advice for The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth on the radio.
Sept 23, 1944 Tolkien starts writing Letter 81, on New chapters for The Lord of the Rings, debased wartime language, after victory.

You can't fight the Enemy with his own Ring without turning into an Enemy; but unfortunately Gandalf's wisdom seems long ago to have passed with him into the True West. [Letter 81]

Tolkien and family stayed in Lyme Regis a number of times and the connection is with the Three Cups Hotel that has stood derelict for 35 years - and may now be renovated or changed completely [Facebook; see also Bridport News]¹

50 Years of the Silmarillion celebrated in the Beyond Bree Calendar 2027.

All information taken from Tolkien Gateway - do visit them!

Events & Shows

Sonja Virta, expert on the Tove Jansson Hobbit edition, will be giving the talk Tove Janssonin kuvitukset J. R. R. Tolkienin Hobittiin [Nov 9; Helsinki, Finland]

The Rivendell Group of the Mythopoeic Society will be celebrating Sept 22 on Sept 19 via Zoom [also in person]²

A conference on “Where is medievalism (at)?” in France, including Vincent Ferré, Thomas Honegger, and Jonathan Fruoco: [Nov 17-20]

The Hobbit will be staged at the Springhouse Youth Company [Oct 23-24; Smyrna, Tennessee, USA]

Mercyhurst Theatre's The Hobbit [Erie News; available only in the US; video of the play]

A BBC report from the Brandywine Festival, UK.

The Mount Ida Preservation Association will have a Tolkien Variety Show [Oct 24; Troy, New York, USA]³

Oxonmoot reports Elfenomeno | Matej Cadil.

John Garth will be giving a Seed Talk on The Epic History of Lord of the Rings: Journey into Tolkien’s imagination [Nov 1; Eventbrite; online]

The gloriously wonderful Anna Lapwood has announced the album “Not all those who wander are lost" for Nov 13th, including at least one concert in New Zealand [Instagram; with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, August 2027]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

case in point

I will no longer post regularly on Facebook because this is an example of the intentional limitation by Meta instead of growth that four posts a day for a month should bring - they want you to pay and they are restricting you for it.

Scholarship & Fandom

Miriam Ellis has Tolkien's Raft-elves in The Hobbit: A Glimpse of a Lovely Life and Lucy, the lamp-post, and the Lewis-Tolkien connection.

Foreshadowed and Foresung has The Silmarillion Turns 49 (and Tolkien’s Sick Machine).

Stephen C. Winter has “Nay, Nay, Whatever May Now Betide in War, My Line Too is Ending, Even The House of The Stewards Has Failed.” Some Thoughts on Hope and Expectation in The Lord of the Rings.

I never expected to have an essay published on my birthday on the tech bros' neo-fascist fantasies, the extreme right's take-over attempt with their version of the 'Kulturkampf' - and how they are abusing the names invented by my favourite author.

The rolling issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research (Volume 24, Issue 3) is beginning to fill, for example with Andrew Higgins’ Tolkien's Philological Imagination - On Aelfwine's Spelling, the AB Language and the Inner Consistency of Philological Reality.

Holly Ordway setting the record straight: "What Did Tolkien Really Think about Narnia?" [Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal]

German publisher Oldib Verlag has the upcoming book “Die verzauberte Vernunft (Reason Enchanted). Mythisches Denken und die Grenzen der Entzauberung/ Lévi-Strauss, García Márquez, Tolkien” [LinkedIn]

The Great Tolkien Reread has The Departure of Boromir [Blogspot]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

Empire is pulling out all the stops this year.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Is Finally Getting a 4K Blu-ray Release Ahead of Season 3 [IGN]

OwlCrate has announced a LotR-themed collection for Sept 22 (“Journey across the great lands and back again with our new store collection, featuring designs and quotes inspired by The Lord of the Rings.“)

Among the nominees for the 2026 International Gamers Awards is LotR: Fate of the Fellowship (Matt Leacock).⁴

If film cells or secretive mugs are your merchandise thing you’ll find a lot with the linked websites. Also weird (?) wooden hexagons to put up on your wall (LotR/ WotR) - and dare I mention the wall posters? Merch galore! [Trendsetter Ltd.]

And this is killing me…

The grandeur of Sir Christopher Lee in 1/6 representation.

Inter alia

Blizzard decides to release new titles in all of its major series [Wertzone]

On Being Guided [Aurambles; an interesting piece on how guidance in video games may be detrimental to the gaming experience, with a Tolkien mention, of course!]⁵

Thanks to the Map Room’s mention of next year’s Lucerne, Switzerland’s, conference on maps I stumbled over a very interesting piece on the recent UN resolution on ‘Correcting the Map’, confusingly titled Where are the Ghostbusters When You Need Them? [Mapping as a Process]

This is a project name I can get behind: Earendil - a project at NASA to provide astronauts with even better EVAs (extravehicular activity suits).

What can a ‘Star Wars’ fan expect at the Lucas Museum? Vehicles, costumes and maybe some inspiration [LA Times; Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Preview Tour]

For this I might go to the cinema again:

I. Can’t. Even. 😂 [Star Trek 60th Anniversary; see also Smithsonian | NPR |]

Thank you…

For subscribing to the Roving Ranger.

I would never have thought to reach #200, not in a million years.

And thanks to everyone for joining me in my adventure on Steady - you are the best!

Please continue sharing this newsletter so more Tolkien fans get the best of the latest news, publications and research, and particularly the amazing fandom from all over the world!

[I certainly did not expect to write this involving an unplanned hospital stay including surgery - but I am heading home tomorrow and will start working on Roving Ranger 201. I love doing this!]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 a_concerned_hobbit. Instagram.

2. h/t Fernando Careaga, Facebook.

3. h/t reddit.

4. h/t Brettspielbox.

5. h/t skytail. Bluesky.

Sept 6, 1973 A requiem Mass for J.R.R. Tolkien is held in the Church of St Anthony of Padua in Headington, Oxford. Father Robert Murray assists.
Sept 7, 1964 Tolkien writes Letter 262, on the Preface for The Golden Key (not done) that led to Smith of Wootton Major.
Sept 8, 2009 The Tolkien Estate, The Tolkien Trust and HarperCollins settle their lawsuit with New Line Cinema and the Saul Zaentz Company.
Sept 9, 154 Tolkien writes Letter 149, on First reviews of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Sept 10, 1951 First day of the Congrès Internationale de Philologie Moderne at the University of Liège, a conference in which Tolkien delivers the paper "Middle English 'Losenger'".
Sept 11, 1967 Tolkien writes Letter 298, on the Origins of the Inklings.
Sept 12, 2014 Tolkien at Exeter College: How an Oxford undergraduate created Middle-earth by John Garth is published [afaik you can still get it with the Porter’s Lodge at Exeter]
Sept 13-15, 1974 The first Oxonmoot is held at The Welsh Poney, Oxford.
Sept 14, 1950 Tolkien writes Letter 130, on a changed Riddles in the Dark.

Given Tolkien’s personal connections you might like to take a look at the Birmingham Heritage Week 2026 [Iron Room; Sept 11-20]

Events & Shows

Last weekend’s Oxonmoot was quite the event again, here are some assorted links: Namarie | Spanish Tolkien Society | Matej Cadil | German Tolkien Society | Elfenomeno | Thenorthfour [Instagram]

The Mexican Tolkien Society is celebrating its 25th Anniversary [Sept 25; Instagram]

The Brandywine Festival, UK is offering their tickets cheap early, then increasingly more expensive with every 400 tickets sold [Sep 9-13]

Aussiecon5 (Worldcon), Brisbane, Australia. $A330 reg; First Worldcon/First Nations $A250; YA (under 25 at start of convention) $A205; under-18s $A135; under-13s free; virtual TBA. WSFS membership only: $A80. Guests and other details at aussiecon.org [Jul 27-31, 2028; I am expecting Aussie and Kiwi Tolkien fans to make an appearance! ☺️]¹

Mike Glyer making advance mentions of MythCon 55 in Toronto [File770]

Aurora Players' summer production of Aurora Players' summer production of 'The Hobbit' earns 10 state theater awards [Bee News; only available in the US; Aurora Players]

My girl’s birthday present for me? A ticket to this concert series [Press Reader]

Teen Tolkien Pens are happening at the Johnson City Public Library [Sept 9; Tennesse; USA; they are also doing a fundraiser and ShireFest]

The Quality Gardens & Bloom Cafe are having a Hobbit Fest [Sept 12; Valencia, Pennsylvania, USA; Instagram]

Orta Dünya and the Hobbit festivities in Ankara, Turkey [Instagram]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Robin Reid has a Call for Papers: SWPACA, Feb. 17-20, 2027 [Tolkien in Popular Culture]

Foreshadowed and Foresung has What Tolkien Doesn’t Say.

Miriam Ellis makes note of her Stockholm Tolkien Society interview in their Medlemsbladet Member Magazine.

Stephen C. Winter has “Though the Darkness Had Reached Its Full and Grew No Deeper, It Weighed Heavier on Men’s Hearts, And a Great Dread Was On Them.” Tolkien Describes The Darkest Moments of The Siege of Minas Tirith.

“Weird” is a weird word [Dead Language Society; Substack]

[The] Silmarilion; book-collectiong minutiae has 50. Paper Shadows [Blogspot; with a lovely Tolkien connection]

doubrfulsea has Fan/Finn Fiction.

Check out me and my friend Mountain King’s podcast for more info on Society of the Lost & Found (in German):

From Peter Gilliver (Ring of Words: Tolkien & the OED etc.)

FUN MENTIONS

The department claimed the average annual report and accounts of some businesses now run to 98,000 words, and compared it to the length of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit, which is more than 95,300 words. ²

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

[PSA: Please always refrain from taking merchandise companies’ information on Tolkien too seriously and prefer scholarly research.]

‘The Lord of the Rings’ crowned UK’s favourite film score in 25th anniversary year [for the fourth time in a row; ClassicFM]

Longtime Victoria shoe shop, Baggins closes final chapter with warehouse sales [Vancouver Island Free Daily; British Columbia; Canada]

Warhorse Studios on their upcoming LotR-based game (a pity they are still with Xitter):

Inter alia

One of the most wholesome ‘franchises’ out there is turning 50: London, Lightroom: Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More – Opening 14 October 2026 and 50 Years of Aardman Animation [Youtube; BBC; also Aardman Is Auctioning More Than 220 Puppets, Props, And Artworks For Its 50th Anniversary (Cartoon Brew)]³

How to Be the Most Annoying Person at Worldcon, 2026 Edition [Scalzi]

Netflix cancels FORGOTTEN REALMS TV show mid-development, pivots to RAVENLOFT [Wertzone]

Lovely to see in this Ansible edition that Oxonmoot is at the top.

Have some fun with the Bodleian Library’s LinkedIn Hell:

Picture credit: St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. Jpbowen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Ansible 470.

2. h/t Guardian: Ministers plan to slash paperwork rules for small UK businesses.

3. h/t INDAC.

The Worlds of Christopher Tolkien will be published Nov 11.

We now have the essays’ list thanks to editor Vincent Ferré:

1 Baillie Tolkien, Preface: “Christopher’s Worlds”
2 Vincent Ferré, “Christopher Tolkien: revealing, unveiling, inventing… the world”

Part I
3 Thomas Honegger, “Between Fathers and Sons: The Presence of Christopher in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fictional Works”
4 Leo Carruthers, “From Théoden to Beorhtnoth: The Old English Heroic Tradition as a Link Between Father and Son”
5 Jean-Philippe Qadri, “‘Well – Start Writing a Story!’ or How to Resist the Mechanisation of the Imagination”

Part II “Christopher Tolkien: Artist and Writer”
6 Laurence Lebourg, “Christopher Tolkien and the Maps of Middle-earth: Between Fidelity and Reinvention,”
7 Vivien Stocker, “Christopher Tolkien and the Challenge of the Silmarillion: Chapter 22 and the Rediscovered Letter”
8. Lucas Zembrzuski, “Unfinished Tales: A Turning Point in Christopher Tolkien’s Literary Career”
9 Damien Bador, “Christopher Tolkien and the Elvish Languages: Five Decades of Work”
12 Isabelle Pantin,“Journeys through Time and Mysterious Transitions from History to Legend and Myth: An Investigation Following the Ariadne’s Thread Prepared by Christopher Tolkien”

Part III
13 Alan Lee, “Christopher Tolkien”
14 Christine Laferrière, “All is as it is”
15 Chris Smith, “In Memory of Christopher Tolkien”
16 Richard Ovenden, Bodley medal award speech (May 2017)

17 Envoy: Vincent Ferré “For Christopher”

With 16 photos by Christopher Tolkien.

A new critter has been named, inspired by Tolkien’s works, in this case Microcaulisoculus durini [pdf; Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay]

Events & Shows

EstelCon 30 is happening (Spanish Tolkien Society) and this Instagram post has possibly one of the coolest shortened URLs I have seen so far: nazg.eu [Sept 24-27; El Anillo Unico]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Nick Polk [Tolkien Pop] has written an excellent open letter to the editorial team of Amon Hen that has, rather unfortunately, allowed someone to argue pro-genAI. Robin Reid highly recommends it [Substack]

Miriam Ellis has a second book out: A Shire Walking-Party is now published!

Tom Hillman has Gandalf in Latin by Way of Pope Leo [Substack]

David Bratman has Worldcon day 1: one panel. [Blogspot]

Abigail Nussbaum has The Great Tolkien Reread: Unfinished Tales.

The Tales after Tolkien Society has You Guessed It: More Calls for Papers [Blogspot]

Stephen C. Winter has “You Will Be Needed Here, For Other Things Than War.” Gandalf Speaks to Faramir of a Bigger Story Than The War of the Ring.

I did not have the time to read it but the title is catchy: From page to pixel: Reshaping literary experience through video games in Tolkien’s Middle-earth [pdf; ResearchGate, master thesis]

Deborah Sabo has Tolkien’s Medievalism in Ruins: The Function of Relics and Ruins in Middle-earth (2025) edited by Nick Katsiades and Carl Sell [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Matej Cadil has…

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The official Xbox Youtube channel has The Lord of the Rings™ War in the North™ Legacy Edition Fear No Darkness Trailer.¹

The Oxford Drinker has some information on the renovation of the Eagle & Child but nothing beyond the publicity bladibla of a billion dollar US company with too close ties to the Orange Clown. Opening is still set for 2027.

Stephen Colbert sent a message from “the end of the world…”

Inter alia

Star Trek Boldly Celebrates 60 Years: Everything You Need To Know for September 8 [Star Trek]

Tim Curry is gone [Cartoon Brew | Wertzone]

And Dolly Parton, too [Instagram]

CD Projekt Red unveil THE WITCHER III: SONGS OF THE PAST and THE WITCHER III REMASTERED [Wertzone]

Matt Lucas and Hugh Bonneville among actors calling for law on AI voice cloning [BBC]

The Hugo Award Winners have been announced [File 770; see also WIZARD OF EARTHSEA wins the 2026 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic; ComicsBeat]

If you need something wholesome…

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, the (independent) bookshops of my personal trust (one with a Tolkien connection!)

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work, have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 reddit.

The Tolkien Society of Kansas City goes all out on a Trivia Night at the WWI Museum and Memorial [Oct 16]

Missed event: The Hobbit at the University of Hawai‘i [Aug 21]

The Swiss Society for Cartography also makes note of next year’s conference in Lucerne [March 13, 2027]

For a chronological list of events check out the Tolkien Guide (where most of the events mentioned here are listed.)

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Nicholas Birns has Refusing Artificial Coherence: Christopher Tolkien's Philology and his Editorial Practice on His Father’s Legendarium [Journal of Tolkien Research]

Christian S. Trenk has “then plan / how we may help his journey”: The Female Rule, Hospitality, Gift-Giving, and the Passing of Paradise in Tolkien and Homer [thetolkienist.com]

Environmentalism in Tolkien's Middle-earth is no. 58 in the Cormarë Series of Walking Tree Publishers.

Tom Hillman has Tolkien's Imaginary Time and Our Real World [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has Solution (2).

Stephen C. Winter has “Yet My Heart Guessed That Frodo and Gollum Would Meet Before the End. For Good or For Evil.” Gandalf Speaks of the Weaving Together of Frodo and Gollum’s Fates.

Tolkien Oddments has Tolkien, “The Golden Key,” and “On Fairy-stories” [Substack]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

Timely reminder: The Global Eye or Foucault Rewired: Security, Control, and Scholarship in the Twenty-first Century. [De Gruyter/ Brill, open access.]

Free League Publishing will be promoting The One Ring™ RPG: Bestiary, Gondor Campaign & Updated Rules via Backerkit in four weeks.

Ares Games (‘War of the Ring’) Hit By First-Ever DDoS Attack, Reviews Site Security [God is a Geek]

MTG artist Matt Stewart talks Tolkien artwork in Magic: The Gathering [Magic Untapped; Youtube]

Hasbro MAGIC Business Is Booming: Can Marvel and Hobbit Extend Growth? [Yahoo Finance]

Tom W. Ayling has the David Best Archive for sale - at £35k.

Inter alia

Ukrainian publishers call for support after Russian attacks destroy 10m books [Guardian]

Library Thing has Books That Made Us Laugh Out Loud.

Paramount Exec Touts “Next Iteration” Of Star Trek TV: “It’s Imperative” [TrekMovie].

The best way to visit Oxford?

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

a belated warm welcome to the month of August. I hope this post finds you well, a cup of tea or coffee in your hand - or any of your preferred beverages, really!

There are a few things I would love to share with you.

A photo from this year’s Tolkien Thing of the German Tolkien Society.

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

The Mercyhurst Institute for Arts & Culture will be showing The Hobbit [Sep 10-13; Erie; Pennsylvania; USA]

The Alberta Theatre Projects will do The Hobbit [Dec 1, ‘26 - Jan 3, ‘27; Calgary, Alberta, Canada]

The Orlando Family Stage will do The Hobbit [Mar 6-28, ‘27; Orlando, Florida, USA]

Powder Springs Library is offering a family-friendly Hobbit Afternoon Tea [Sep 19; Georgia; USA]

The Misty Mountains Smial aka the Utah Tolkien Society have a number of events coming up [Aug 29 next]

If you feel like helping out as a volunteer with the Thüringer Tolkien Tag (which I happily co-founded) then this is your chance [OTZ; Thuringia, Germany]

For a chronological list of events check out the Tolkien Guide (where most of the events mentioned here are listed.)

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Foreshadowed and Foresung has Hope Against Hope: Amdir and Estel.

Thoughts on Tolkien has Umbar and Wyrd [Wordpress]

Forgotten Ground Regained, a quarterly journal of alliterative verse, has just published issue 11, Summer 2026, including verse almost exclusively based on Tolkien’s writings.¹

Misselbereth has The Dwarven Conundrum: Artistic Statement or Load-Bearing Columns in Moria’s Mines? [Medium]

Stephen C. Winter has “Cirith Ungol!” He Muttered. “Why That Way, I Wonder?” Did Gandalf Have a Better Way in Mind For Frodo and Sam?

Elvish, Klingon and Pig Latin: What can invented languages teach us about the human brain? [Phys.org]²

A group of Gandalfs (yes, you read that right!) recently protested in front of one of Thiel’s houses [Buenos Aires, Argentina]³

The Spanish smial Lórien has some great photos from Middle-earth in Barcelona [see also Barcelona Magazine]

The Great Tolkien Reread has reached The Great River, The Breaking of the Fellowship [Blogspot]

Reading Tolkien in the Anthropocene [Ohio Link.edu; pdf]

This thesis examines the ecological potential of twentieth-century fantasy literature in the context of the contemporary environmental crisis through the framework of strategic presentism. While the environmental humanities often privilege contemporary texts, this project argues that earlier fantasy works, specifically Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, offer valuable proto-ecological models for rethinking human/environment relations.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

What new devilry is this?

Ralph Bakshi’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Remains the Best Spiritual Sequel Ever Made [IndieWire]

Amazon is severing ties with two other MMOs [engagdet; any LotR MMO seems to be off the table now]

Youtube channel TolkienTalk mentioned that the 25th Anniversary festivities for the first film trilogy in Brazil will be with one of the largest conventions in the world, CCXP [São Paolo]

Wizards of the Coast reveals ‘MTG: The Hobbit Superdrop’ [ICv2; my only reason to share is Second Breakfast and Beyond!]

An excellent tech writeup on the recent release of the ‘remastered’ (read: port) LotR: War in the North [reddit; see also the review with HardcoreGamer]

‘The Lord of the Rings: War in the North’ Dev Warned Warner Bros. Not to Go Up Against Skyrim Back in 2011 [IG]

Inter alia

Here’s the Scientific Reason We’re Drawn to Certain Books—And What Each Genre Does to Your Brain [Reader’s Digest]

Space-Based Power Has Sci-fi Appeal but May Never Be Feasible [National Interest; with a Tolkien connection]⁴

xkcd does it again.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 reddit.

2. h/t File770.

3. h/t Bluesky.

4. h/t Bluesky.

This weekend will see the Bree Crossroads Tolkien & Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition [Aug 15]

Five streets in Gràcia will transform this year into a small journey through Middle-earth during the Festa Major de Gràcia [Aug 15-21; Barcelona, Spain]¹

A talk on The Art of Pauline Baynes will take place in Brighton [Aug 23]

Omentielva 2028 will take place in Chartres, France [more info coming soon]

The New Jersey Tolkien Society will meet up at the Princeton Public Library [Sept 12]

The next German Tolkien Society’s Seminar has the the theme Environment, Ecosphere, Community: Tolkien and Enworldment [Oct 16-18; registration open]

One of Germany’s major stages, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, will be doing The Hobbit [Nov 21 - Dez 26]

The Dresden Smial of the German Tolkien Society is offering a Middle-earth inspired games day [Aug 10; Instagram]

After last week’s summer moot it is time to get registered for the Finnish Tolkien Society’s Autumn Moot [Oct 9-11]

For a chronological list of events check out the Tolkien Guide (where most of the events mentioned here are listed.)

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is very much needed. Share it, let people know, become a subscriber, and support me via Steady!

Scholarship & Fandom

Queer and back again has Fascism and Faërie [Substack]

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (12): Why does Gollum not look up? [Substack; partial paywall]

More additions to the current number of the Journal of Tolkien Research like “He Had Named Himself the Stranger”: From 'Germanic' Heroic Hospitality to Elvish Memorial Mediation in Tolkien’s Book of Lost Tales.

[The] Silmarillion; book-collecting minutiae has The Silmarillion — Billing First State (1977) [Blogspot]

On Sam Gamgee and the Value of Everyday Life [Co-Geeking]

doubtfulsea has Solution (1).

Society of the Lost & Found, a New Zealand short film, has been successfully funded [Kickstarter]

Robin Reid has Styling it: the problem of Tolkien's initials [Substack]

Douglas A. Anderson has A Tale of Trees: The Woods and the World in J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium [Substack]

The Great Tolkien Reread has arrived at The Great River, The Breaking of the Fellowship [Blogspot]

Stephen C. Winter has “Is There Any Hope? For Frodo, I Mean; Or at Least Mostly for Frodo.” Pippin Wonders if There is Any Hope Remaining.

Ships That Come Not Back: Gene Wolfe, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Ripples of Inspiration [Fellowship & Fairydust]

Subterranean geographies: fantasy underworlds as spatial hinges of power [Journal of Cultural Geography; pdf; including The Hobbit]

Musical Chapters from The Hobbit will be available Sept 4.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Link recommendation

A new section suggesting places, topics, or writings you might like to visit.

Coming across Listening to the Trees - A Metareflection on Design Considerations During the Creation of a “Trees and Forests” Literary Thematic Package [PDF; published with Climate Literacy in Education, Volume 4, Issue 2 (Summer 2026)] I thought Tolkien fans would be interested in having a closer look at this.

Trees are powerful entry points for teaching systems thinking, climate science, and reciprocal ecological relationships. For educators, stories about forests provide rich opportunities to integrate literacy with science, social studies, and social-emotional learning while helping students develop a more personal connection with nature. [Trees and Forests in the Classroom:A Climate Literacy Thematic Teaching Package]

Merchandise and Franchise

Weta Workshop have done a fun review video of what they presented at San Diego Comic Con [Youtube]

If you feel like spending money on LotR: Ascension and their Gamefound crowdfunding - today is the day to do it [with the funding goal reached in a bit over four minutes and more than $1,5 million in all…]

LotRO's The Wolves of Mordor Expansion Brings Two Ambitious New Systems To Middle-earth This Fall [MMORPG]

Tolkien Pop has The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition - Surprise Release and GIVEAWAY! [Substack; some more info with IGN]

The Washington DC, USA, restaurant La Bohème has a JRRT themed menu from July to October [4 courses $99 or 6 courses $135 - fan reviews highly welcome!]

Of herbs & stewed rabbit - braised rabbit leg pressé, thumbelina carrots, pearl onions, crispy carrot tops, rabbit jus; 24 Sciaccarellu, Domaine St Armettu, Corsica

Inter alia

Absolutely essential for your next visit: the Oxford public toilets guide by the Clarion.

The TOAD is returning to Oxford; have a look at their Facebook presence [if you need to why this is here, read up on my post]²

Ansible 469 has been published.

Lost Film, Finally Found [Library of Congress; on a Méliès film]³

Star Wars dubbed into Welsh for first time for S4C broadcast [Guardian]

GRRM writes Better Late Than Never [Not a Blog]

'Spectacular' Game of Thrones stage spin-off opens at home of Shakespeare [BBC]

Google removes access to legally bought Lord Of The Rings movies [Film Stories]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Elfenomeno.

2. h/t Oxford Clarion.

3. h/t File770.

The Spectator has a piece titled: We should all find the time to smoke. Guess the photo with the online edition? [paywall; please note the media bias below¹]

And it demands contemplation as you do so. On this point, I’ll get the obvious out the way immediately: both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were devoted pipe smokers, which is an argument in the pipe’s favour if ever there was one. [Spectator, July 25, 2026]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever. Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

The Stratford Perth Museum has Sharing An Adventure: Exhibit Celebration Event [Aug 13; Ontario, Canada; ongoing exhibition until spring 2027]]

The Hobbit will be staged at the Edinburgh Fringe by teens from Martha’s Vineyard [Aug 7-12]

Registration for the Austrian Tolkien Society’s Lasse Lanta is now open [Sept 25-27]

For a chronological list of events check out the Tolkien Guide (where most of the events mentioned here are listed.)

Scholarship & Fandom

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (11): The Ring and the Fish [Substack]

Robin Reid has AI issues and Éowyn: The Expanded Edition [Substack]

David Bratman has a Mythcon report [Blogspot]

The Great Tolkien Reread: Farewell to Lórien [Blogspot]

Tea with Tolkien has The Rings of Power Returns to San Diego Comic-con (2026).

doubtfulsea has More Troy?

Foreshadowed and Foresung has Galadriel, Celeborn, and the Third Wheel of Sauron.

Stephen C. Winter has “A Fool’s Hope”. Denethor’s Reflections on Frodo’s Mission to Take the Ring to Mount Doom.

Lingwë - Musings of a Fish has Fifteen years! [Blogspot]

Miriam Ellis has What Does a Mallorn Tree Look Like? A Visual Guide to Seeing Tolkien's Mellyrn in Nature and Elwing, Ulmo, and Second Chances in Tolkien.

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Once and Future Beowulf Scholar [Wordpress]

2026 Mythopoeic Awards Winners Announced.

Frank Weinreich has Myth - the World Explanation Machine [Substack]

Rui Mateus has Mapping Middle-earth: Cartographic Representations and Transmedia Storytelling in The Lord of the Rings Online [PDF; VIA PANORAMICA Vol. 15 N.º 1 "NEW PERSPECTIVES ON GAME STUDIES: Victorian and American Frames of Reference for Digital Games]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

IGN has The Rings of Power Exclusive Balrog Preview [Youtube]

You can meet the Rings of Power “Nazgnagôl” with Empire.

And… ‘LOTR: Rings Of Power’ Slays Comic-Con Revealing Simon Pegg Casting, Connection To ‘The Hobbit’, A New Season 3 Trailer & More [Deadline]

Press release on Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from SDCC [Amazon MGM Studios]

Free League Publishing have New The One Ring™ Expansions Explore Gondor, Rohan, and the Forces of the Enemy.

'Lord of the Rings; War in the North' Release Leaks Online—Here's What to Expect [Player One]

Inter alia

An Ancient Historian’s Breakdown of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ [Tales of Times Forgotten]

Preview of Game of Thrones play cancelled hours before curtain [BBC]

Atari Makes Universal Movie Deal For 10 Iconic Game Properties; First Up Is Original Script By Matt Reilly & Carl Hampe, With Entertainment 360 Producing [Deadline]²

The editor of the Oxford Drinker stated: Future of pubs is in your hands.

Sent from...

IC2156 on the way to Cologne Central station.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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. The Spectator has a right-center bias/ right; it is owned by Paul Marshall, owner of GB News, one of the most influential figures in UK far right politics.

2. h/t PhantaNews.

It gives me great pleasure and it is an absolute honour to have this amazing guest in new podcast, A Talk with the Tolkienist: Michael Drout from the USA.

Listen on Steady

Show Notes

If you want to know more about why Mike is one of the most important Tolkien scholars in recent decades have a look at his entry with Tolkien Gateway.

Jul 24, 1915 Tolkien writes the poem The Happy Mariners.
July 25, 1938 Tolkien sends an angry letter to a German publisher, after being asked whether he was Aryan or not.
July 26, 1973 Lord Halsbury visits Tolkien.
July 27, 1966 Tolkien receives the unexpected visitors J.S. Ryan and Hans-Jörg Modlmayr.
July 28, 1947 Rayner Unwin reports on the first version of The Fellowship of the Ring.
July 29, 1938 E.V. Gordon, a later colleague of Tolkien, dies.
July 31, 1917 "Tea Cake" Barnsley is killed near Ypres while consoling a captured prisoner.
August 1, 1997 The German Tolkien Society Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft e.V. is founded [what a day!]
August 2, 1966 Tolkien is interviewed by William Cater.

The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and those who are going to read them.

William Cater, The Sunday Times (UK)

The BBC Lord of the Rings radio play will have a re-release as “Vinyl and CD” [Tolkien Guide; Brian Sibley himself informed the community via Facebook]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever. Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

The third Tolkien Conference in Switzerland will happen in Lucerne; topic will be 'Maps and Landscapes in Tolkien's Middle-earth' [Mar 13, 2027]

If you are up for some San Diego Comic Con energy but can’t get there - Weta Workshop will livestream their reveals on Youtube [6:30pm PDT / 3:30 am CET / 1:30pm NZT; with me it’s July 23rd]

Falešné společenstvo (“a group of czech Tolkien fans that have been writing and performing Tolkien songs, and later full musicals, since 2001”) will be celebrating their 25th Anniversary [throughout August; tumblr]¹

For a chronological list of events check out the Tolkien Guide (where most of the events mentioned here are listed.)

Scholarship & Fandom

It gives me great pleasure to share another guest post, this time by Christian S. Trenk on Odysseus and Aragorn.

The Journal of Tolkien Research continues with more interesting pieces: Getting Tolkien Right: Middle-earth in the National Review or Some notes on a Tolkien’s manuscript linked to ‘Leaf by Niggle.’

Marie Bretagnolle has What is she Tolkien about? Or a summary of my PhD thesis [Hypotheses.org]

In search of Aquinas in Middle-earth: pedagogical potentials for Thomistic virtue ethics through The Lord of the Rings [British Journal of Religious Education; paywall]

Proof-of-Concept: Visions of Peace and Nonviolence in Pop Culture (ed. Jennifer Kling) has a chapter titled Nonviolent Activism in The Lord of the Rings.

Adam Roberts is set to publish An A-Z of J. R. R. Tolkien [Jan 2027; Bloomsbury]

Andrew Higgins has Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Language of Barsoom [Substack]

Dimitra Fimi has informed readers of her blog that she will share her future work on Substack only.

The Austrian Tolkien Society has moved its communication to its very own Discord server.

doubtfulsea has Arboricidal and Prismatic.

Interview with Janet Brennan Croft, editor of Mythlore [Elfenomeno]

Stephen C. Winter has “If You Had Received This Thing, It Would Have Overthrown You.” Because Denethor Desires the Victory of Gondor Above Everything He Has Not the Strength to Resist the Ring.

Shawn E Marchese has Word-Nerdery: The Etymology of "Fantasy" [Substack]

Robin Reid has 2027 International Congress on Medieval Studies (Hybrid) and The Middle Ages in the Modern World [Substack]

The British Fantasy Society Journal has put out a Call for Submissions on “Gender in Fantasy.”

Miriam Ellis has…

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

In advance to the San Diego Comic Con which has been used for years now as the best way of promotion there are a few things on Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Jamie Campbell Bower Is Celeborn – Elf Lord And Galadriel’s Husband – In The Rings Of Power S3 | The Rings Of Power Season 3 Will Finally See Sauron Forge The One Ring In Mordor: ‘No-One Is Safe’ | ‘Gandalf Has Arrived’ In The Rings Of Power Season 3 – And He’s ‘The Wizard We All Love’ [Empire]

Another German franchise offering, this time spice seller Ankerkraut with a whole range on anything Lord of the Rings. [Their tag line says it all: Some heroes do not wield a sword, a magic staff or ring - but the cooking spoon.]²

The LotR fan club is slowly opening its gates. I have just received this email:

My comment Let us see what the future brings but at the moment the fan club seems to be what was to be expected - as many companies have been realising for some time being in locked platforms like Youtube, Facebook and Instagram etc. is not good for their business. So they are now opening their own locked platforms to entice fans to join them [enshittification will surely follow; see TORn]

TORn also has a list of things Tolkienian at SDCC.

Lord of the Rings: Ascension has surpassed $1 million in crowdfunding (3,700+ backers) [GameFound]

Inter alia

Foreshadowed and Foresung has Christian Nationalists Are the Apostates from C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce.

Should you have ever asked yourself that question… Did elephant energetics decide Hannibal’s Alpine crossing route? [University of Oxford; it is Oliphaunt-adjacent so fair game]³

OpenAI says its AI went rogue and launched 'unprecedented' cyber-attack [BBC; what is ‘unprecedented’ about this?]

Harry Potter publisher to receive millions in Anthropic copyright settlement [Guardian]

Dua Lipa has opened the Manifesto Library in one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world [Livraria Lello, Porto; banned books and others]

Disney Lays Off Hundreds of Staffers, Pixar Hit Hard [The Wrap]⁴

Inside Paramount and WBD, employees are on edge as David Ellison's mega-merger hits resistance [Business Insider]

Bethesda confirm FALLOUT remasters and new games from themselves and Obsidian Entertainment [Wertzone]

[July 18, 1971] The Tragedy of John W. Campbell (1910-1971) [Galactic Journey]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Laisrinel; Tolkiendil Discord.

2. The founders had sold their company to brute force capitalist Nestlé in 2022 which had led to a shitstorm of unseen proportions - this year they bought it back. Let’s hope they’ll stay independent and return to their mission of sustainability, protection of the environment, and transparency - a very Tolkienian way of thinking.

3. h/t Oxford Clarion, July 14, 2026.

4. h/t INDAC.

A University of Granada project leads to the discovery of a previously unpublished document by J. R. R. Tolkien in an Oxford library.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has published a piece commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Particularly interesting: The Tolkein [sic] Education Pack (pdf). They have also done a special on Robert Quilter Gilson.¹

Another list of the “Best Books of All Times”, with Lord of the Rings at #1 [Collider; I usually do not share Valnet content mill material but this is for the sake of completeness]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

The annual German Tolkien Society’s “Thing” is happening this weekend [July 16-19; I might make a surprise appearance; guest society is Tolkiendil / France]

Tolkien & Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition Update [Aug 15; Substack]

The programme for Omentielva Minquea at Marquette University is online [Jul 30 - Aug 2]

The Hobbit to “Open at UH Mānoa's Earle Ernst Lab Theatre” [Broadway World; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA]

The Spanish Tolkien Society will be present at Celsius 232 [Jul 14-18; Avilés, Spain; Smial Ered Luin]

Jaws, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings: Why we love the greatest movie scores so much [Jul 16-18; Sydney, Australia]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Two excellent pieces of news from Tom Hillman: Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring a finalist (with the Mythopoeic Society) and there is a now an audio version of it [Substack]

John Garth has How £400 funding changed Tolkien’s fortunes… and your support changes mine [Steady]

Matej Cadil has The Dance in the Hemlock Glade That Shaped Tolkien’s Legendarium [Substack]

Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey by Dawn Walls-Thumma [Silmarillion Writers Guild]

doubtfulsea has Towering.3.

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (10): What Kind of Object Is the Ring? [Substack]

Tom Hillman has Treebeard on Tom Bombadil [Blogspot]

Dice Monkey are having a Tolkien Month.

Miriam Ellis has Sister Wendy Beckett: A Tolkien connection and a hero of mine in the arts.

Stephen C. Winter has “Ever Your Desire is To Appear Lordly and Generous as a King of Old”. Is This True of Faramir? What is The Difference Between Appearance and Reality?

Announcing the 2027 "Beyond Bree" Calendar! [Tolkien Guide]

Robin Reid has CFP: The Mysteries of Night in Fantasy Worlds (Virtual) [Substack]

The Palgrave Handbook of Constructed Languages has Conlangs in Literature and Their Usefulness towards Realism [mentioning Tolkien; paywall]

"Then Daddy began a story": Storytelling in Tolkien’s home and our own [Journal of Tolkien Research; vol. 24, issue 2]

Frank Weinreich has Stories [Substack]

The Tales after Tolkien Society has #Kzoo2027 - Call For Papers! [Blogspot]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum has delivered its production opening video [Youtube]

Lord of the Rings: Ascension was funded in 4 minutes [GameFound]

Tolkien fan letters sell at auction for £103k [BBC]

Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Brings an Epic New Season Three Teaser Trailer, Exciting News and Lots of Surprises to San Diego Comic-Con’s Iconic Hall H [press release]

It has been a long way for LotR.com - from its earliest beginnings in December 1998 to a recent change of ownership - as according to Spanish website El Anillo Unico Middle-earth Enterprises have recently taken over the URL and are offering a waiting list for more news about the site. Rumours abound. (P.S. It used to be the official website for the musical which is now with lotrmusical.com.)

Adventures in the million-dollar Tolkien book market [The Times]

War of the Ring: The Card Game is be getting an(other) extension titled Sieges of Middle-earth (there already is ‘Lords of Middle-earth’) [BoardGameGeek]

It’s coming home: Welsh town wins bid to buy Tolkien letter [Nation.Cymru; this will surely spawn another tourism craze as in Ireland after this seriously overpriced auction; also note that Tolkien lived close to Crick Road in Oxford when it comes to inspiration]

British journalist Sam Moore has written There and Back Again: the unofficial oral history of The Lord of the Rings films [October 2026]

Inter alia

Dennis Wilson Wise has an UPDATE on my book on Del Rey Books [Stratofanatic]

AI Made Cloning Games Easier Than Ever [404 Media; that is, stealing them]

The loudest warning about AI and jobs yet [Platformer]

F.C.C. Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite Outcry [New York Times; partial paywall; also, the Verge and PCMag]

Jenni Fagan: ‘Maya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope’ [Guardian; The Hobbit is beautifully mentioned]

Our British Aesculapius’: John Radcliffe and Oxford [Oxford Libraries Trainees]

Godzilla Minus Zero has a teaser trailer [Youtube]

The best thing to come out of the UK in recent years: Count Binface: The intergalactic warrior who could upend Britain's strangest election [NPR; for an absolute classic see this Youtube short with the Count photobombing right-wing twat Tommy Robinson]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Grace Khuri [Bluesky]

July 8, 19630 Tolkien's paper "English and Welsh" is published in Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures.
July 19, 1990 George Allen and Unwin is bought by HarperCollins.
July 11/13/15, 1972 Tolkien writes Letter 340, on headstone for his wife, success of his stories.
July 12, 1973 Tolkien is awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Edinburgh.¹
July 14, 1916 The 11th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers (including Tolkien) is sent into action at the Somme front.
July 15, 1919 Tolkien is officially released from service, well over a year after the war's end.

• Third Age 1944: The Disaster of the Morannon. [July 12]

The unlikely pen pal who shaped Tolkien’s later years [Observer]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

Bedrock Gardens are having their 10th Annual Fairy & Hobbit House Festival [July 17-19]

The Brooklyn Comedy Club has Read to Filth presents: The Hobbit [July 26; 21+]

The Amon Hen Art Challenge is happening in August [Bluesky]

The Feria Medieval will see the possibly most southern Tolkien Society in the world in action, the Sociedad Tolkien Magallanes [Instagram; Punta Arenas, Chile]

The Call for Papers is out for the June 2027 MAMO Conference: The Middle Ages in the Modern World [Oxford, UK]²

The Fantasy Forest festival in Sudeley, UK, is not only offering a LotR Camp but I would also love to participate in the tomato tossing [July 17-19]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

The YouTube channel Emulated Vintage Gaming has followed up on last year’s “Lord of the Rings LotRO” adventure… Now you can follow “The Hobbit” through all the MMO’s Middle-earth [Youtube]³

The Journal of Tolkien Research has started issue 2 of vol. 24, including The Pope, American Politics, and the Battle for Tolkien’s Soul in the Twenty-First Century and Invisible Histories: Dwarf-women and the Material Landscape of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Shawn E. Marchese has Found Folklore: Middle-earth on the Bayou [Substack]

Douglas A. Anderson has More on Madlener [Substack]

doubtfulsea has Towering.2.

[The] Silmarillion; book-collecting minutiae has some beautiful rebindings - Gebrochene Rücken: University Press Dummy.

Robin Reinder has The T.C.B.S. and 'Allowable Distance Apart' at the Oxford English Graduate Conference 2026 [Substack]

Aaaand another addition to the list of names inspired by Tolkien - Laurinque Elenya: “Coral among stars: A new octocoral family (Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Malacalcyonacea) from seamounts in the tropical eastern Pacific” [ZooKeys]

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (9): Gandalf the Parent—Power, Persuasion, and Letting Go [Substack]

The podcast Words do Things by Sørina Higgins has Jason Fisher as guest [Podbean]

Miriam Ellis has Tuor in the Rainbow Cleft and Tolkien's Gifts of Beauty.

The Topography of Grendel’s Moor in a Scandinavian context has quite a few mentions of Tolkien [Nordic Journal of English Studies]

David Bratman has Tolkien in the old days [Blogspot]

Stephen C. Winter has “A Captain That Men Would Follow.” Some More Thoughts on Faramir of Gondor and Leadership.

Abigail Nussbaum has The Great Tolkien Reread: A Journey in the Dark, The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm [Blogspot]

Robin Reid has Cruising The Archive [Substack; AO3 & Tolkien]

Idiosophy has Trans-Disciplinary.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise and Franchise

The Language of Archetypes in Film Franchises: Exploring symbolic consumption structures through narrative archetypes [Bachelor thesis; University of Gothenburg; on the LotR film franchise]

Inter alia

Donated first edition of The Hobbit sells for £38k [BBC]

Lovely to see that for Kiwis these terms have become everyday pejorative terms for the people on the Left: 'Stop laundering these lies, you breathless Hobbits': Shane Jones fires back on limo expenses [NZ Herald; Youtube; this comment is no surprise as it is coming from a NZ First politician]

Ansible 468 has been published.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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. See the letter by Tolkien thanking Prof. Campbell of the University of Edinburgh⁴

2. h/t Dr Laura Varnam [Instagram]

3. h/t Filmstarts.de

4. h/t to TolkienGuide.

June 30, 1972 Tolkien writes Letter 339, published in The Daily Telegraph as "Beautiful place because trees are loved".
July 1, 1916 Robert Gilson is one of the first of the 360,000 British casualties of the Battle of the Somme when he is hit by a shell at La Boiselle.
July 2, 1966 An issue of Saturday Evening Post is published, containing the an interview with Tolkien.
July 3, 1956 Tolkien writes Letter 190, on translations.

Tolkien's most important demand was that the word hobbit stayed unaltered; no more "Hompen".

July 4, 1966 The Jerusalem Bible is published.
July 5, 1967 Tolkien writes Letter 108, on publishing Farmer Giles of Ham.
July 7, 1944 Tolkien starts writing Letter 75, on latest personal news, bullfinches and beer, the failure of machines.

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

A review of RGS Worcester and their rendition of The Hobbit.

In western Hungary “KeszthelyFest Will Be the Region’s Largest Festival This Year” [in cooperation with the Hungarian TS; July 3-5]

If this is not for you, you might join in the full week with Tolkien Tabor of the Hungarian TS [Aug 7-16]

A correction from last week: The Great Haywood Tolkien Weekend is happening July 11/12.

Sarehole Mill is offering this [Jul 26/ Aug 30]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Was it a pleasure to write this? No.
Do we need to know more about this? Absolutely yes.

The Ælfwine Essay Awards are happening [Spanish Tolkien Society]

Matej Cadil has The Drúedain: Who Are Tolkien's Wild Men and What Forgotten Past Do They Reflect? [Substack]

John Garth has Three is company? What WW2 records reveal about Tolkien’s enrolment as an air raid warden [Steady]

The Inklings Project has put out a Call for Proposal for their Fellowship for 6-12 Teachers.

doubtfulsea has Gundulf.

John Garth has The heatwave summer that hatched Tolkien’s T.C.B.S. [Steady]

The most excellent Dimitra Fimi has announced: A Summer Confession: Two Books, and the Vaults Are Open [Substack]

Thoughts on Tolkien has Samwise the Bard [Wordpress]

The Road to Nowhere has Well, I’m Back [or rather Diary of a City Guard]

Stephen C. Winter has “He Was a Captain That Men Would Follow, That He Would Follow, Even Under the Shadow of The Black Wings.” Some Thoughts on Leadership as Faramir Returns to Minas Tirith.

Chen's Crazed Cast and Crew Cheat Sheet is a love letter for the Kiwi production crew of the films [JWFan.com; and yes, it has been a franchise for some time!]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

The truly weird stuff is coming out now and no mistake: “RingConn, a leading smart ring brand” is now joining in the 25th Anniversary editions and I am not sure what to say - it is almost as bad as the Royal Mint and its Evil Eye 50p coin. [See also Verge; partial paywall]

Lord of the Rings: Ascension is continuing to share info ahead of the July 14th Gamefound crowdfunding start.

Embracer Group Files Trademarks For Middle-Earth: Shadow of War [The Phrasemaker; please note that 95% of the text is nothing but wild guesses without substance]

Roll for Second Breakfast with The Hobbit D20 dice [TORn]

Free League Publishing has its Summer Sale until July 16, including several LotR products.¹

The International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conference 2026 in Monserrat has seen a talk last weekend titled: (Over) Tourism and Tolkien’s Doors of Durin: Challenges And Opportunities for St Edward’s Local Parish Church [Please note: There is no proof at all these doors were an inspiration of any kind to Tolkien; rather, people with vested interests in Stow-on-the-Wold are known to make claims for tourism’s sake]

Inter alia

One of my favourite places in Oxford will finally be back next year: TOAD (The Oxford Artisan Distillery) is returning as the Oxford Spirit Group! [Youtube; here is the reason why I like it!]

The 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Shortlist has been announced.

Radiating fresh off the press:

Hobbit is an outstanding UK beatboxer, here is his 2026 Worldwide Cup Showcase [Youtube]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 PhantaNews.

a belated warm welcome to the month of June. I hope this post finds you well, a cup of tea or coffee in your hand - or any of your preferred beverages, really!

There are a few things I would love to share with you.

The Golden Pin of Unquendor & me

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

June 22, 1911 Tolkien and several other cadets of King Edward's School's Officer Training Corps line the route at the Coronation of George V. Tolkien stands near Buckingham Palace.
June 23, 1945 Tolkien is elected Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.
June 24, 2022 The Great Tales Never End: Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien is published.
June 25, 1957 Tolkien writes Letter 200, on the nature of Sauron.
June 26, 1968 Tolkien writes Letter 305 to Rayner Unwin, telling him he broke a leg falling down the stairs at home which would prove disastrous for his work and arrangements.
June 27, 1916 Tolkien leaves Étaples, and goes to the Somme front.
June 28, 1919 The Treaty of Versailles is signed and the First World War officially ends.
June 29, 1972 The Daily Telegraph describes actions of the Forestry Commission as bringing a "Tolkien gloom". Tolkien responds.

HarperCollins are following up on publishers in Germany and France and their editions of The Hobbit with Tove Jansson illustrations - all you need to know about this you can listen to in the first ever episode of A Talk with the Tolkienist and read up on the German edition I presented with Frankfurt Book Fair.

The rather clickbaity 100 best novels of all time by the Guardian [May 18, 2026] has led to quite some - certainly intended - engagement on the web and beyond. It has been kept alive by a number of consequent articles, including this particular statement:

The same might be true of the now unfashionable postwar writers: there’s no CS Lewis, William Golding or Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings was the nation’s favourite in the BBC’s Big Read). [my emphasis; Who’s in, who’s out]

On June 6, the readers’ top 100 novels of all time came out.

#1. Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.

James Tauber of the Digital Tolkien Project has done a beautiful comparison of the two polls.

[I am working on an exhaustive list of awards Tolkien has been named in with Steady.]

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

Please make a note of October 3-4, 2026, for the 20th Anniversary celebrations with the TolkienGuide, one of the best websites on Tolkien for… twenty years!

July 11-12, 2026 will see the Great Haywood Tolkien Weekend, organised by local historian David Robbie [youtube] in cooperation with the village councils involved.¹

Brandon Sanderson delivered 2026 J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature: 'On Fantasy' [Pembroke College]

The German Inklings’ Society will hold its conference “Enmonsterisations in the Fantastic” [Jun 26-28]

Tabletop fans should have a look for tournaments at Tabletopturniere.de [Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic]

I will be participating in this year’s EuroCon in Berlin (organised via MetropolCon) with my podcast SmallTolk - our topic will be a “Ranking insults in Tolkien’s Legendarium” [Jul 3; yes, this is not a serious live show!]

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

A Tolkien letter up for auction with Christie’s is offering two interesting tidbits: Ents in the Shire seem to have been a thing and the name of the hobbit village Crickhollow was meant to refer to the Welsh town Crickhowell [Dimitra Fimi makes note of this; Substack]

Now, Middle-earth and Wales have been reason for quite a few studies but this letter will only turn the Tolkien Tourism notch up a bit, with the landlord of Treebeards Bar in Crickhowell having started a crowdfunder to keep the letter in Wales [Nation Cymru]

Fearing that the letter could, again, get lost to time, local business owner Frank Ady has launched an online fundraiser with the hopes that the precious letter can find a final resting place in the charming Powys town and perhaps act as a draw for future visitors.

Perhaps researchers should keep in mind that Tolkien lived two streets down from Crick Road in Oxford where the Haldane family had their home (Naomi Mitchison belonged to that family), one stress across from Dragon School which both Christopher and Simon Tolkien attended; and if Tolkien wanted to go for a walk or a bike ride to/ through the University Parks he would have passed Crick Road. Inspirations may have many sources.

Miriam Ellis has also written about this.

Tom Emanuel has:

Stephen C. Winter has “Take All These Things and Bear Them to Good Fortune!” Merry and The Importance of Being Dressed For Battle.

Abigail Nussbaum has The Great Tolkien Reread: The Ring Goes South [Blogspot]

Dawn Walls-Thumma of the Silmarillion Writers Guild can be heard with the BBC’s Conversation: Fan fiction: a writer's playground.

John Garth has Tolkien, the critics, and why I’m starting an Oxford doctoral project on The Lord of the Rings and war [Wordpress.com]²

Tim Bolton has done Imladris - The Tolkien license infographic 2026 Update [Blogspot]

About 50 Polish fans made a trip to England and Wales [add. photos]

Vivien Stocker has “A Description of the Island of Númenor”: a reconstruction [English translation of article with Tolkiendil; TolkienGuide]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Everyone, including Amazon, is being extremely weird about the Lord of the Rings MMO [Massively Overpowered]

Comic artist and editor Scott Dunbier mentioned in a Facebook post that “the Tolkien Estate” had shut down a project bringing The Lord of the Rings to the comic world.

[My comment: I highly doubt that the “Estate” was responsible - at the time Tolkien Enterprises (now Middle-earth Enterprises) had free reign to do such a comic; the Estate would have had no legal means to stop this as this is supposedly part of the rights’ deal made with TE/ MEE)]

Inter alia

Stronghold 4 is coming [Youtube]

Fox’s $22 Billion Roku Acquisition Continues Concerning Trend Of Media Consolidation [Cartoon Brew]

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Trotter from TolkienGuide for letting me know about a mistake on the Great Haywood date and misspelling Treebeards Bar. Thank you, they have been corrected with this online edition.

2. Also wonderfully noted with the Clarion.

Maybe it’s Matt Damon, maybe it’s Sean Bean - maybe I’m a sucker for an interesting science fiction premise: an astronaut stranded on Mars - and how do we get him home?

Imagine my surprise when I stumbled over a short passage in the film with a Tolkienian background.

Yup.

Project Elrond.

see also

Community | Chicago Fire | Firefly Lane | Scrubs | Gilmore Girls | House M.D. | Marvel [public] | Minions & More, volumes 1 + 2 | Brooklyn 99 [public] | Loudermilk | Lucifer.

And here is the script version.

ANNIE What the hell is “Project Elrond?”

VINCENT I had to make something up.

ANNIE “Elrond?”

MITCH (realizing) Because it’s a secret meeting.

ANNIE How do you know that? Why does “Elrond” mean “secret meeting?”

BRUCE The Council of Elrond. From Lord of the Rings. It’s the meeting where they decide to destroy the One Ring.

ANNIE I so quit right now. TEDDY (entering) If we’re calling something Project Elrond, I would like my codename to be “Glorfindel.”

ANNIE Oh my god I hate every one of you.¹

Now, whoever came up with the casting ideas deserves to be praised in all eternity…

Why?

Because Bruce is Sean Bean.

Sean Bean says: “The Council of Elrond. From Lord of the Rings. It’s the meeting where they decide to destroy the One Ring.“

I was there, people. I was there a gazillion films ago! 😅

Am I ten years late with this? Sure. But who cares?

This is the Tolkien References Project.

As many of them as possible.

[And yes: I know that this is rather probably a film reference, not a book reference. But there you go. It’s the 21st century.]

1. h/t Script Slug.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s Soul’s Ward: A critical edition of his unpublished translation of the early Middle English homily Sawles Warde [OUP]

Dimitra Fimi notes on Bluesky [plus manuscript pages]

NEW TOLKIEN JUST OUT: delighted to see “JRR #Tolkien’s Soul’s Ward: A critical edition of his unpublished translation of the early Middle English homily Sawles Warde” edited by Andoni Cossio and Nelson Goering (…) Chuffed to have played a minor role in this…

Telegraph (paywall)

make it happen

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

Visit this year’s EuroCon and meet me 😇

The Tolkien Society has announced its seminar date and topic: Tolkien’s Invented Languages [Nov 21; CfP deadline is 31st July]

History came alive for third-graders at Heritage Elementary, Byron Center, Michigan, USA [School News Network; including Tolkien]

If you are in the Rochester (New York, USA) area check out this request on Craigslist to start a Tolkien reading group.

Reviews on the Stratford Festival’s Hobbit: The Road Goes On, But the Adventure Never Quite Arrives for Stratford’s “The Hobbit” [Front Mezz Junkies] | Stratford Festival’s unimaginative ‘Hobbit’ strips the colour and heart from the beloved novel [Toronto Star] | The Stratford Festival's The Hobbit is an Exciting Adventure [Broadway World]

Composer & Sound Designer Debashis Sinha Talks About The Hobbit At The Stratford Festival [Ludwig Van]

The Family Pinecone Book Club in the Art Center East has a number of reading performances of The Hobbit in June [La Grande, Oregon, USA]

The Hobbit will be staged at the Alberta Theatre Projects [Dec 1 - Jan 3, 2027; Calgary, Canada]

The Zephyr Theatre will do an outdoor edition of The Hobbit [July 23 - Aug; Stillwater, Minnesota, USA]

Bedrock Gardens are having their Annual Fairy and Hobbit Festival again [Jul 17-19; Lee, New Hampshire, USA]

come to nl!

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

A documentary about the Tolkien Society Forodrim is now live with Kickstarter.

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (7): "hobbit talk" and non-standard English as well as The Slow LotR Re-read (8): Sam Gamgee, folklore, and the numinous [Substack]

Robin Reid has Pope Leo, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Peter Thiel¹,

Shawn E Marchese has Dispatch from Westmoot 2026 [Substack]

French Tolkien scholar Vincent Ferré has participated² in Les mondes et les peuples de la fantasy, a Radio France four part documentary podcast on fantastic worlds.

The 2026 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists have been announced.³

Tolkien Guide has an interview with Giuseppe Pezzini, editor of J.R.R. Tolkien and G.B. Smith [Youtube]

A new book has been announced: Tolkien's Material Culture by Marie Loughlin [Bloomsbury; it seems to be an expansion of this Tolkien Studies article]

John Garth has Tolkien, the critics, and why I’m starting an Oxford DPhil on Lord of the Rings and war [Steady]

A new special issue with the Journal of Tolkien Research has the topic Asexuality in Tolkien's Legendarium.

Tom Hillman has "Galadriel," he murmured [Blogspot]

The Silmarillion — Clowes Intermediate Second State (1977) [Blogspot]

Delving too deep: Morphological and molecular description of the cave-dwelling Dolichopoda balrogi sp. nov. [Journal of Othoptera; new type of cave cricket]

Matej Cadil has Mushrooms in Middle-earth [Substack]

Miriam Ellis has Galadriel's Weavers and Glorious Glimpses in The Lord of the Rings and Edith's Dance for J.R.R. Tolkien at Roos and the problem of war.

Anke Eissmann has…

Abigail Nussbaum has The Great Tolkien Reread: The Council of Elrond, Part 2 [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has Tennis, Anyone?

Stephen C. Winter has “The Red Arrow Has Not Been Seen in The Mark in All My Years.” Rohan Receives The Call for Aid From Gondor. The Importance of Strong Ritual and “So We Come To It in The End… The Great Battle of Our Time, in Which Many Things Shall Pass Away.” A Great Cloud Comes From Mordor That Simplifies The Mind of Théoden.

Distant reading of The Lord of the Rings: visualization and statistical analyses of its character network [Springer Nature]

Audiobook Review: The World of Tolkien [by Dimitra Fimi]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

As one of the early Tolkienian-named companies (and now licensee of MEE) Rivendell Mountain Works have recently shared their new Lupine day packs [read up on their early days as Middle-earth fans; and if any of you feel like Xmassing me - it’s either wine & coyote or brown & navy!]

Free League Publishing has shared: Available Now: New Middle-earth RPG Releases Explore Saruman, Isengard, and the Shire [Mailchimp]

Stone Blade Entertainment have shared a first update on The Lord of the Rings: Ascension [GameFound; some of the artwork from the game]

Brick Fanatics has LEGO Minas Tirith Siege Tower instructions revealed.

Brick Tap has leaked the next major LotR LEGO project: the Oliphaunt [Instagram]

Amazon Still Wants to Make a Lord of the Rings Game Despite Canceling the MMO It Was Working On [IGN]

German heo group has announced additional Hobbit Squaroes items - like Radagast [a brand of the Ultimate Group]

Dark Horse the latest publisher to unionize [icV2; part of Embracer and offering Middle-earth related merch like Gollum]

Exciting news of film exploring the magic of fandom and friendship [TORn; on Wise Sam Gamgees]

The Board Games Insider has episode #421 The One About Small Publishers Getting Tolkien Licenses.

German podcasters Annika Röttinger & Tobias M. Eckrich (chairman of the German TS) have started a project for #PrideMonth titled “Das Auenland ist bunt” with a message of diversity and inclusion.

Inter alia

John Boorman’s son mentioned that for the Lord of the Rings film project sheep were supposed to replace… extras [Instagram]

Numbers from the UK: Publishing reaches highest ever revenue in 2025 [Publishers Association]

My favourite webradio is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with a new look for its website and quite a few other perks if you support it: Radio Rivendell.

You may consider them a traditional feature of Oxford colleges but they really aren’t as you migth believe: Should colleges scrap the quad? [Oxford Blue]

One way of following Oxford’s cultural history was Nightshift - and the last issue has hit the stands and the web.⁴

SFWA Announces 61st Annual Nebula Awards Winners.⁵

YouTube Is Taking Over Hollywood: How Three Films From Online Creators Are Dominating the Box Office Right Now [Comic Basis]

‘The Mandalorian And Grogu’ Will Set An Unfortunate ‘Star Wars’ Record [Forbes]

RIP John Blanche [Wertzone; he also did Tolkien illustrations, found with the Bestiary]

Benny Johnson's advice for Trump on Iran: Be like Smaug from The Hobbit. “You got to go full dragon in Lord of the Rings, and scorched-earth the entire town” [Media Matters]

Ansible 467 has arrived. My favourite quote?

Terry Pratchett’s works are apparently teetering on the brink of oblivion, according to someone called Helen Lewis: ‘One of England’s funniest writers is in danger of being lost to history.’ (The Atlantic, May) The point of the clickbait headline is that Lewis feels there’s never been a successful screen adaptation and Terry’s reputation can’t possibly survive on the strength of mere old-fashioned books.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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. Robin is so kind as to mention my talk at the 2019 Birmingham Tolkien Conference.

2. h/t LinkedIn.

3. h/t File770.

4. h/t Oxford Clarion, Jun 2, 2026 edition.

5. h/t File 770.

May 26, 1955 Tolkien writes Letter 162a, in which he addresses Rayner Unwin with an apology for the delays caused by the completion of the Appendices for The Return of the King.
May 27, 1930 The University Press of Oxford sends Tolkien a copy of A Middle English Reader.
May 28, 1964 Tree and Leaf is first published in the UK.
May 29, 1930 Tolkien's "The Oxford English School" is published in The Oxford Magazine.
May 30, 2014 Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey is published.
May 31, 1944 Tolkien writes Letter 72, on an Inklings meeting, work on The Lord of the Rings, Hobbits names, wartime bigotry.

Pope Leo XIV

The Holy See has published the encyciclal letter MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS of his holiness POPE LEO XIV ‘on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.’

One might find it of note that the Pope has something to say on this topic - including the fact that J.R.R. Tolkien gets a mention in §213¹.

The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”

Many voices have been trying to make sense - or often no sense at all - of this and here are a few links for you:

Pope Leo XIV quotes The Lord of the Rings in 'Magnifica Humanitas' (Kaitlyn Facista) | Against the Machine: Tolkien, Pope Leo XIV, and the Age of AI (Matej Cadil)

make it happen!

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever.
Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

THIS WEEKEND Tolkien Tage, Germany - the largest Tolkien-centred fan-organised event in the world (afaik!) Meet me there - I am introducing Roverandom and co-hosting the German-speaking Tolkien podcasts. My personal highlight: the first ever audience performance of Paul Corfield Godfrey - Lord of the Rings Opera [info & tickets]

THIS WEEKEND The Sarehole Festival of the Tolkien Society.

THIS WEEKEND The 54 Year Jubilee of the Swedish Tolkien Society Forodrim!

If the Birmingham Museums are ever thinking of inviting Tolkienists to some of their events… THIS is my dream 🥂🤩

The Tales after Tolkien Society has From #Kzoo2026 and Looking towards #Kzoo2027...and Maybe #Kzoo2028 [Blogspot]

Andrew Higgins also has news from Kalamazoo [Substack]

Smial moot preparations are well under way for Mithlondrim (Chester & North Wales) [Jun 20; Blogspot]

Verlyn Flieger is giving two more online talks with Politics & Prose, this time on Tolkien’s roots in myth [Jul 19 + 26]²

According to the latest Lure of Middle-earth newsletter the Italian Lord of the Rings LCG convention - Weathertop III - will take place at Costa di Dente [October 2-4, 2026]

The Jobsite Theatre in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, will be staging The Hobbit [Jul 14 - Aug 8, 2027]

RGS Worcester’s Lower School is preparing The Hobbit as well [Jun 17-19; Worcestershire, UK]

Fun fact: “Tracing its origins back to the 7th century, it is the sixth oldest school in the world.”

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

John Garth has Book news: Tolkien and the Smith who helped forge his future path [Steady]

Tom Hillman is on a roll: "What really happened," or, "Was hat Ranke mit Tolkien zu tun?" as well as Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age and last, but not least: Tolkien and Clarke's Third Law: a Corollary [Blogspot]

"Any sufficiently advanced Art is indistinguishable from Enchantment."

G. Connor Salter has interviewed Inklings Scholar David Bratman [Fellowship & Fairydust]

Another Fingolfin’s Findings has Frodo - the free, portable C64 emulator [Steady; paywall]

Miriam Ellis has Tolkien and the Old Wives.

doubtfulsea has Blood Money and Making Money.

Thoughts on Tolkien has Tolkien’s Poetic Imagination [Wordpress]

The Italian ‘hobbit’ - Nicolas Gentile - who is building a Shire now has his very own documentary [Youtube; trailer]

I am very glad to see that LEGO stills are finally replacing the film aesthetics 😅: The Great Tolkien Reread: The Council of Elrond, Part 1 [Blogspot]

The Journal of Tolkien Research has added a number of posts to its issue 2 of volume 23:

• Hope and the Handiwork of Varda: Celestial Signposts of the Music’s Mending; Kristine Larsen

• The Machine for Its Own Sake: Tolkien's Critique of Instrumental Reason and the Modern Ecological Ethos; Ahmad J. El-Youssef

• Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Inklings: Tolkien and Lewis’s Relative Dimensions in Space-Time; Kristine Larsen

• Beyond the Stars: Voyaging into the Void in Tolkien’s Early Cosmologies; Kristine Larsen

• Wanted: More Feminist Queer Medievalists in Tolkien Scholarship: Robin A. Reid

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Czech gaming studio Warhorse has announced two new games, and one of them is an open world RPG set in Middle-earth [Instagram; please note - whatever website is telling you about the game, nobody knows anything yet]

Possibly one of the worst choices the Royal Mint could have gone for: Royal Mint releases 'Lord of the Rings’ 50 pence coin [Reuters; Youtube; see also BBC]

Dark Horse is giving us Merry, Boromir, and Pippin from the Bakshi film.

‘Lord Of The Rings’ & ‘Tomb Raider’ To Be Housed At Fellowship Entertainment After Embracer Spin-Off [Deadline; consequences for Austrian/ German industries]

In an open letter Lars Wingefors (Founder and Chair Embracer Group AB) said:

I think the assets held by Fellowship Entertainment are among the most undervalued in the industry and I feel it’s my duty as the largest shareholder to change this and create a structure to realize their full potential.

This echoes the statement by then Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav that “Lord of the Rings” is “underused.” [The Wrap]

This means we will see a flood of new merchandise and franchise projects in the next months [imho.]

‘The Rings of Power’ Season 4 in Development, Eyes Filming in Early 2027 [Hollywood Reporter]

Inter alia

Carton Brew has Before Pixar, There Was ‘The Works’: A Lost Chapter In The History Of Computer Animation.

Should you love the art of Alphonse Mucha as much as me this Kickstarter might be for you: ILSEE Art Nouveau occult fantasy romance 1897.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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. You can jump quickly to it via this link.

2. h/t Wendell Wagner, email.

However, every time I look at the backend statistics here with Steady…

THIS IS POST 500.

I do not even know what to say right now but…

THANK YOU!

To all of you who have made this possible, are making it possible, and to those of you will join me in my adventures in the future.

May 18, 1972 Tolkien writes Letter 335, telling a fan “that if he wanted to finish The Silmarillion, he did not have time for answering fan-letters.”
May 19, 2006 The Ring of Words is published.
May 20, 1965 Tolkien writes Letter 270, on Smith of Wootton Major, (&) revising The Lord of the Rings to fight Ace Books.
May 21, 2013 The Fall of Arthur is published.
May 22, 2014 Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary is published.
May 24, 1932 R.W. Chambers sends J.R.R. Tolkien an inscribed copy of Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem.
May 25, 1944 Tolkien writes Letter 71, on Africa, The Lord of the Rings writing, Orcs, dislike of Dorothy Sayers' works.

make it happen!

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever. Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

The Société française d’héraldique et de sigillographie has an exceptional online event coming up: “Tolkien héraldiste. Place et histoire des armoiries dans les œuvres de J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)” [May 21; via Zoom]¹

Olympia Family Theater is showing ‘The Hobbit’ [until Jun 7; Olympia, Washington, USA]

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Katie from Bree Crossroads has "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure!" - an invitation to a global Tolkien fan community space via Discord.

Robin Reid has Handout on Scene 20 (EE) The Two Towers as well as Recent Queer Tolkien Scholarship [Substack]

David Bratman has Tiptree on Tolkien [Blogspot]

The Joy of Old Books has I own a book that Tolkien scribbled in [Substack]

doubtfulsea has Saruman’s Sigh.

Stephen C. Winter has “Speak Not The Soft Words of Wormtongue in My Old Ears”. Théoden Thinks About Ageing and Death in Harrowdale.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

500 posts in 5 years with Steady. More on this next week.

Merchandise & Franchise

Charles III and the film trilogy go hand in hand with the Royal Mint - here you can register your interest.

Inter alia

File770 has the Grauniad list but just the fantasy/ scifi novels named.

'It's a Real Shame' — Peter Jackson, Architect of the Much-Loved Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs, Laments the Decline of Physical Media [IGN]²

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Sarah C. Schaefer.

2. h/t File770.

If I remember correctly my first ever console I played stuff on was with my then best friend - an Atari 2600. Shortly after that, he was given a Commodore C64, the bestselling desktop computer of all times.

With the money I received at my confirmation I was eventually able to buy my very first own computer, the Commodore C128.

The story of Commodore is quite the drama in itself - for a while it was the largest home computer company in the world - but let it be enough to say it no longer exists.

Well, that is note quite true: last year the C64 returned in all of its glory.

If you are not opting to buy an old one, a revamped one, a new one…

You will have to use an emulator.

And this is where FRODO comes in.

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

Particularly when you are trying to (quickly) type something on your smartphone - and Fellowship of the Ring turns into something else.

Like for example this.

Yup, the Fellowship of the Strings.

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

According to Jackson he has been in talks with the Tolkien Estate on allowing for additional rights to film more Middle-earth material beyond the original agreement.

This is taken from the Deadline video interview as seen in this article from this year’s Cannes film festival (Peter Jackson On How Stephen Colbert Boarded ‘Lord Of The Rings: Shadow Of The Past’ As Scribe.)

So those rights [i.e. to material beyond Hobbit and Lord of the Rings] have never been able, but Christopher passed away recently … and the younger Tolkiens, the next generation are now running the Estate, and they are much more open to talking. So, the combination of Warner and us have been talking to the younger Tolkien members of the board about the possibility of actually licensing rights to some of the other books. It would be nice to get away from the appendices and get something more meaty, you know.

Not much of a surprise, to be honest, as it was expected that the Tolkien Estate’s policies would change substantially without Christopher Tolkien’s influence.

So…

Deadline at Cannes: © 2026 Deadline Hollywood, LLC

Thanks to Will / Varking for alerting me to this.

If you want to know more about the changes with the Tolkien Estate:

Roving Ranger+: The latest on the Tolkien Estate, Trust and more [Feb ‘26; paywall]

RR+: An important change with the Tolkien Estate & Trust [April ‘25; paywall]

A change with the Tolkien Estate… [Jan ‘25; paywall]

Most importantly:

Please consider supporting my work by becoming a supporter here with Steady (think Patreon, just better!)

May 11, 1926 #OTD 100 years ago - J.R.R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis meet for the first time. Lewis lated noted in his diary:

“a smooth, pale, fluent little chap — can’t read Spenser because of the forms — thinks the language is the real thing in the school — thinks all literature is written for the amusement of men between thirty and forty — we ought to vote ourselves out of existence if we were honest — still the sound-changes and the gobbets are great fun for the dons. No harm in him: only needs a smack or so.”¹

May 12, 1933 Tolkien writes Letter 68, on the way to Mordor in The Lord of the Rings.
May 13, 1937 Tolkien writes Letter 13, on Houghton Mifflin’s interest in publishing The Hobbit and having US artists do illustrations for it; he agrees under the condition that he could “veto anything from or influenced by the Disney studios (for all whose works I have a heartfelt loathing).”
May 15, 1945 Tolkien writes Letter 99, expressing his sympathy for Mrs. Williams' loss.
May 18, 1912 Tolkien pays his Oxford Union Library fees.

Northmoor Road Middle-earth meets Modern Living [Essential Install]²

Funnily enough The place Tolkien lived in in Leeds is up for sale [yes, they have the Blue Plaque to prove it].³

make it happen!

The way the internet is going reliable information will be more difficult to find every day - so a curated newsletter like the Roving Ranger is more needed than ever. Share it, let people know! Thank you 😊

Events & Shows

The Tolkien Society’s Sarehole Festival is looking for volunteers [May 30-31; via Facebook]

Spain’s EstelCon has its date and loads of news on its updated website: Sept 24-27.

Lure of Middle-earth has set its next date: Feb 12-14, 2027.

The University of Exeter Tolkien Society has a movie marathon [May 17; Instagram]

Taruithorn, the Oxford Tolkien Society, is offering a Quenya presentation [May 13] and next week they’ll go punting [Instagram]

Switzerland’s Fantasy Basel will see Lukas Ritzel (Eredgiliath regulars table, Lucerne) and podcast Typisch Ravenclaw talk about Tolkienian topics, including A NEW HOBBIT TRANSLATION! [May 15-16]

The Greek Tolkien Society is doing what a lot of fans love to do - a pub quiz! [May 17; Instagram; Lucky Sparrow Club, Athens]

Oxford Lifelong Learning has none other than John Garth offering two summer courses - Tolkien: The Great War and the Beginnings of Middle-Earth and Building Middle-Earth: Tolkien's Geography and the Power of Place.

Sentieri Tolkieniani is taking place June 12-14 [Macello, Italy]

Cartoons on the Bay, the Italian International Animation and Transmedia Festival by Rai Com, will host a Tolkien exhibition [May 27-30]

The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert will have “People as Things: Pratchett, Tolkien, Le Guin and the Problem of Evil” [May 24; available online]

FanExpo in Philly has Dark Side Burlesque at the FAN EXPO: A Tolkien Burlesque Show [Mai 30; my fav is Onyx Ondyx as Gollum]

Into the Shire: Desert Hobbit Workshop is happening in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA [May 16, etc.]

In Kansas City, Missouri, USA, an event report: Grade 6 Journeys into World of "The Hobbit."

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

It’s been a pleasure writing Fingolfin’s Findings LXXXII: The ALA's Celebrity READ poster campaign [Steady]

Good luck to the person to get this job: One Calleva Centre Postdoctoral Researcher: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: A Scholarly Reappraisal.

Magdalen College proposes to appoint a Postdoctoral Researcher to work on the project C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: A Scholarly Reappraisal, led by Professor Simon Horobin (Magdalen College) and Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (Corpus Christi College), based at the Calleva Research Centre. The post will commence on 1 October 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter and will be for three calendar years.

This project aims to undertake a reassessment of the scholarly legacy of one of Magdalen College’s foremost fellows, the English literary scholar C.S. Lewis, in the context of his professional, intellectual and personal relationships with his friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien.

Dimitra Fimi has The Slow LotR Re-read (4): Bilbo's decluttering as well as part 5: the “true story” of Bilbo’s ring [Substack]

John Garth has On encountering yourself in the wild [Steady; partial paywall]

Robin Reid has the CFP: “Tolkien, Barfield and the Inklings: Questions of Influence” (F2F) [Substack]

Miriam Ellis has Glorfindel upon the other side: one of Tolkien's most glorious glimpses in The Lord of the Rings.

Brad Eden has The library of Michael H.R. Tolkien (1920-1984): dispersal, reconstruction and partial bibliography [Journal of Tolkien Research]

These days even the Harvard Law School has something ‘Tolkienian’ to say: A last lesson from ‘Lord of the Rings.’

The Lord of the Rings trilogy in concert - anthems for a world in peril [Observer]

Abigail Nussbaum has reached Rivendell on her Great Tolkien Reread [Blogspot]

Andrew Higgins has Exploring Invented Languages [Substack]

Stephen C. Winter has “I Am Forgetting Them!” Merry Thinks of Frodo and Sam in The Midst of His Loneliness.

Ramblings on my Bookshelves has J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis in Puffin [Wordpress.com]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

“The new era” of Middle-earth merchandise & franchise is making a huge push this week.

Peter Jackson, recipient of the Palme d’Or [more about him]

Amazon MGM Studios has set the premiere date for season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Nov 11, 2026. [press release; see also Jeff LaSala’s Rauron’s Return]

Asmodee announces its first slate of partner publishers in the Middle-earth Enterprises™ (MEE) category management program [press release]

LEGO has started promotion for one of its biggest sets yet: Minas Tirith. [preview photo: © Lego]

[Oh, and you are getting GROND as well!]

• Age: 18+

• RRP: £579.99 / €649.99 / $649.99

• Pieces: 8,278

• Dimensions: over 23.5 in. (59cm) high, 24.5 in. (62 cm) wide, and 14.5 in. (37 cm) deep

• Availability:
  LEGO Insiders Early Access: 1st June 2026

  For all: 4th June 2026

Collectibles company Pure Arts’ The Lord of the Rings Nazgul King Art Mask Exclusive Edition will only set you back €1.349,00 [Youtube promo]

If you are a gambler you you can go for The Lord of The Rings 25th Anniversary Series 2 Blind Bag Figural Bag Clip [content is random; developer Monogram has also done War of the Rohirrim]⁴

The Royal Albert Hall welcomed a very special guest for its Wicki concerts of the film trilogy soundtracks [Instagram]

Tolkien and his Medieval Sources - a course with Medievalists.net [get a 15% discount for a limited time]

Mountain Runner Events in South Africa is hosting the Hobbit Trail Runs.

Ian McKellen: ‘Of course Gandalf would beat Dumbledore in a fight’ [Guardian]

Still More Magic: The Gathering Plagiarism [Plagiarism Today]⁵

Andy Serkis: The Hunt for Gollum ‘Absolutely Will Be Like’ How They Made Lord of the Rings [Den of Geek]

TORn has Colbert on writing a new LOTR movie: “every moment has been a joy so far.”

You can Read An Excerpt From ‘The Inklings Detective Agency’ by John R. Kelly [Nerd Daily]

Free League Publishing continues to provide fans with great RPG materials.

We're thrilled to announce that not one, not two, but three upcoming Middle-earth roleplaying releases will be launched on June 2.

The June lineup includes Hands of the White Wizard for The One Ring™, the official tabletop roleplaying game based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien; Trials of Saruman, its 5E counterpart for The Lord of the Rings™ Roleplaying; and Hobbit™ Tales, a supplement for The One Ring™ featuring five ready-to-play adventures across the four farthings of the Shire.

Inter alia

For those of you with an interest in language, dictionaries, and the OED in particular - there is now a podcast about it: Lexipoddery [Spotify]

The New York Times has done it again - damaging decent, often desperately needed criticism’s reputation in one fell swoop: Rick Beato Versus the NY Times [Ted Gioia’s Substack]

Christopher Lockett has The Implausibility of Galactic Empires [Substack]

Data centers are ruining the planet in many, many ways: The AI Hard Drive Shortage Is Making It More Expensive and Harder to Archive the Internet [404 Media; see also There’s a reason data centers don’t look like castles, the Shire, or a spa (Fast Company)]

ICE Agents Have List of 20 Million People on Their iPhones Thanks to Palantir [404 Media]

Do also read Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record [Internet Archive]

GRRM is happy to share The Mad King Meets the Stage – Tickets on Sale Now [Not a Blog]

Should you consider finally giving up on things like Goodreads - do have a look at LibraryThing. They do amazing work and you can put your own collection for free on the internet with TinyCat. You can find my library here.

I asked about the original artist drawing the hobbits in the D&D 1st edition.

And as always… Tom Gauld ftw.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 All my road before me: the diary of C.S. Lewis, 1922-1927, p. 393.

2. h/t Andrew Wells, FB.

3. h/t Nick Kingsley, Tolkien Society FB group.

4. h/t MGCoco, Bluesky.

5. h/t Trotter from the Tolkien Guide team.

a warm welcome to the month of May. I hope this post finds you well, a cup of tea or coffee in your hand - or any of your preferred beverages, really!

There are a few things I would love to share with you.

Twenty years of friendship, almost to the day - thanks to Tolkien & Mike Drout. You can read up on me & Trevor with our 18 yrs reunion.

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

Once again browsing the internet - and at some times reddit can belong to the more interesting parts of the internet - I found something that I had somewhere in the back of my mind but that did not reach me, consciously, as it is culturally different to how libraries are doing things in my country.

There is no judgment here, just to be clear, as libraries in the United States have to fight a different fight every single day than the libraries in Germany - but fight they must, all of them, wherever they are.

Anyway.

[I am a huge supporter of #GLAM and I have been so for all of my life. In a different life I would have become a librarian or archivist. Libraries made me who I am and they are a second home to me.]

This is what I saw.

This particular sub, r/TerribleBookCovers, has a very telling name.

Bad book covers. Sometimes books have covers that are just bad. Please post them here.

And what drew my attention was not really Cindy Crawford - I have always been a Tatjana Patitz kind of guy, particularly since George Michael’s Freedom! ‘90 is my go-to-karaoke song¹ - but the comment underneath the link:

This sub's Ricky Gervais Hobbit cover was featured on Cindy Crawford's READ poster in the 90s.

I am saddened to see Ricky Gervais named anywhere near any Tolkienian book cover - he may be hilarious at times and witty af, but in connection to a story like The Hobbit this does not really make any sense at all.

It is most certainly one of the weirdest covers out there, the ’50th Anniversary’ Ballantine Edition (1987). Particularly The Hobbit in its mass market paperback edition.

Why prolific US artist Michael Herring came up with this - he did other Tolkien book covers that do not seem so odd to day - will never be answered, possibly?

Have a look at this work with isfdb.

[And maybe you’ll get lucky and can buy one of his originals.]

When I started to figure out what the title READ meant and what magazine (?) it was I obviously could not make the simple connection for a lot of US citizens - that it was a poster campaign by ALA.

One that you can buy in the ALA’s shop right now - and for the best of reasons! - is…

Right now there are 34 celebrity posters available in the shop.

One of the best reading campaigns I have ever seen.

I mean, I would have expected to find Jess there (GG fans, unite!)… and then I realised I needed to work on my own prejudices. The joy of reading is given to so many people, I should not be surprised with any of the people on this current list.

And there are almost 200 going back in history.

In 2024, Literary Hub published this list:

And yes, Orlando Bloom did the campaign as well in 2004 - with The Lord of the Rings.

The first celebrity READ poster, featuring popular actor/comedian Bill Cosby, appeared in 1985. Since then, more than 180 stars have lent their support including Orlando Bloom, Eva Mendes, Daniel Radcliffe, Rachel McAdams, Hugh Jackman, and Oprah Winfrey.

The concept has become so hugely popular and successful that you can do your very own READ poster.

And there is a list of people who have supported the ALA so far [PDF].

Crawford did the poster in 1997, Bloom - as mentioned before - in 2004.

What is missing, in a sense, are three photos from Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, and Liv Tyler, obviously in connection with the films, used as bookmarks (you can see them in this TORn post.)

This was done in connection with Teen Read Week.

Oh, and by the way - I am not sure whether this is still current - but you could possibly buy the Cindy Crawford one [PDF] 😅

It might be limited to US customers but I am sure you’ll be able to find a Tolkienist in the States helping you out to have Cindy and ‘the almost Ricky Gervais’ Bilbo on your wall!

Do support the ALA and any other libraries, wherever and whenever you can.

The ALA is celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year, here’s to 150 more!

1. Reworked in 4k glory.

May 4, 1944 While writing on The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien sees a new character arrive on the scene. He later comments: "(I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, brother of Boromir".
May 5, 1977 J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography is first published in the UK.
May 6, 1968 Tolkien writes Letter 303, on the importance of Sarehole Mill.
May 9, 1907 Tolkien receives the book Dictionary in Englysshe and Welshe.
May 10, 1966 Tolkien writes Letters 287 and 288, on dealing with fan telephone calls and his commemorative bust.
May 11, 1922 A Middle English Vocabulary, Tolkien's first book, is published.

please note

After a longish bout of illness I am returning to the usual schedule - that is, Monday, around 9pm CET.

Thank you for your patience!

Events & Shows

The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) is happening as we speak [Wordpress]

Last chance to register with the Austrian Tolkien Society’s Spring Festival [May 13-17; registration available until May 6, 4pm CET]

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson is now with Substack.¹ Have a look at his first post on Books Dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien During His Lifetime.

Stephen C. Winter has “I Summon You to The Stone of Erech!” On the Breaking of Oaths and The Authority of The Heir of Isildur.

Kelly | The Middle Page has Derry-dol, merry-dol! An Introduction to Tolkien's The Adventures of Tom Bombadil [Substack]

[The] Silmarillion; book-collecting minutiae has Copy-Specific: NZ Distributed Clowes, Remaindered.

The Green Girdle has Courage in the Tale of Beren and Lúthien.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Promotional products company AODACI (a daughter company to Testa Group, based in Portugal) has a Tolkien pen - part of a larger range of author-name-based products (like Sartre, Hawthorne, and Lewis). Not quite sure about the ©, though.

[At least they are claiming to commit “to a better, more eco-conscious world.”]

Olivia Wilde addresses comparisons to Lord of the Rings' Gollum after viral interview: 'I'm not dead' [Entertainment Weekly]

Hobbiton Movie Set Tours has been offering quite a few jobs in recent weeks - like Gardener & Nursery Worker.

Magic: The Gathering has officially revealed the upcoming Hobbit cards.

See also: ‘Magic: The Gathering Arena’ Developers Tap Into Collective Power, Convoke To Unionize With CWA [Cartoon Brew]

Kingdom Come devs respond to Lord of the Rings game rumour: "I cannot disclose details but I can tell it is a huge, immersive RPG" [RocketPaperShotgun]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developers Warhorse Studios are refusing to confirm or deny a rumour that they're making a Lord of the Rings game for Embracer. This could indicate one of two things: firstly, they are making a Lord of the Rings game for Embracer. And secondly, they are not making a Lord of the Rings game for Embracer. [DUH!, my emphasis]

Inter alia

Ansible 466 has been published.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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. see his Tolkien Gateway profile (“History of the Hobbit”, among other things.)

Tolkien would have appreciated this: A New Early-Ninth-Century Manuscript of Cædmon’s Hymn [also Guardian]¹

Tolkien Society Award Winners

Best Artwork “The Long Winter, 1158: Gandalf Helps the Hobbits” by Miriam Ellis
Best article ‘The Tides Of Time, The Tides Of Fate, And The Power Of Song‘ by Tom Hillman (published in Journal of Tolkien Research)
Best book The Tower and the Ruin, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation by Michael Drout
Best Online Content Tea with Tolkien (Kaitlyn Facista)
Outstanding Contribution Award Jessica Yates

Congratulations to the winners, all of them well-deserved! I am particularly happy to say that - except for Miriam, we should remedy that! - I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting all of these amazing people. Thus I can add that they are also quite wonderful in person, besides being incredibly creative and diligent in all of their work! [Jessica has earned her award many times over, congratulations!]

As for me: third time pays for all! Keep nominating me, it may work next time - thank you! 😇

Events & Shows

Donato Giancola will be at LobsterCon [May 1-2; Cambridge, Mass., USA]

The burlesque community has taken a liking to certain parts of Middle-earth [May 9, +bingo!; Orlando, Florida, USA]

Middle Earth [sic] is coming to Utah: Hale Centre Theatre announces 2027 season with ‘Lord of the Rings’ headliner [ABC4]

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Luna Press will be publishing A Hobbit’s Holiday: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Journeys in the Belle Époque.

The Piano Makers: An exploration of the musical history of the Tolkien family [IAML]

doubtfulsea has Planting.

Will Tell has The Two Chairs: An Extreme Tolkien Theory [Substack]

Mercury Natis has Updates from the Road: GIFCon + Publications [Substack]

Tea with Tolkien has won the 2026 Tolkien Society Award for ‘Best Online Content’ [also: What We Can Learn From Tolkien’s Catholic Imagination with Kaitlyn Facista; Jesuits.org]

Stephen C. Winter has “Here is a Thing Unheard of! An Elf Will Go Underground and a Dwarf Dare Not!” Gimli’s Secret and Very Personal Dark Journey.

Connor Salter was kind enough to mention to me that the romance bookstore, The Ripped Bodice, is selling Martina Juričková’s Cardinal Vices in Middle-earth, with ‘vices’ possibly having been misunderstood.

Iowa Professor Explores J.R.R. Tolkien’s Influence on ’60s Counterculture [For Iowa]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

Active development on Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria has ended.

The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-earth is still offering late pledge options, after having gathered more than $900k+ with close to 3,000 supporters [GameFound]

Office Dog games has Interview with artist, Lorenzo Colangeli [The Hobbit: There & Back Again]

NZ tourism up against the algorithm [Otago Daily Times]

Andy Serkis shares Viggo Mortensen's reaction to Jamie Dornan being cast as Aragorn in LOTR: The Hunt for Gollum [Entertainment Weekly]

Stone Blade Entertainment will crowdfound The Lord of the Rings: Ascension later this year [the precursor]

The Spectator invited people to write critiques on fictional hotels, restaurants, or pubs - with the Prancing Pony getting special mention, but not a review.

Uttar Pradesh (largest state in India) is planning on increasing tourism to their part of the world - and part of their campaign shall be hobbit houses [Travel Trade Journal]

Inter alia

This was not the marketing campaign’s consequences as imagined, I am sure: moleskine’s ai lord of the rings collection can only mock.

Starting May 2, the Oxfordshire Artweeks are happening [Oxford Clarion; three weeks in all]

'A remarkable time capsule': The enchanting history of Oxford University's 750-year-old medieval library [BBC]

Predating the Aztec Empire, Merton College Library in Oxford has been used by everyone from celebrated 14th-Century mathematicians to JRR Tolkien. In an exclusive interview with the BBC for its 750th birthday, its librarian describes what makes it so special.

Science Fiction at 100 [University of Liverpool Library]

Fun Fact from Digital Tolkien Project creator James Tauber who is moving to Germany on a research project (the German Tolkien fandom is rather excited!):

Author Lavie Tidhar made note that Tolkien is mentioned in A Man Lies Dreaming.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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 Nelson Goering with the TS FB group

a warm - belated! - welcome to the month of April. I hope this post finds you well, a cup of tea or coffee in your hand - or any of your preferred beverages, really!

There are a few things I would love to share with you.

Keep on reading by becoming my member here on Steady.

Continue reading on Steady

The Tolkien Society licensing bid for Sarehole Recreation Ground [Yahoo News]

Vote for me 😇

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

Events & Shows

As Michael Drout and Corey Olsen are involved I need to note Biblioventures | Tolkien, Beowulf, and Faerie - but it costs $100 [May 4]

Matej Cadil has opened an exhibiton of his work titled “Two Worlds with One Brush” [Church of St John the Baptist in Horní Žďár near Trutnov; official communal note]

A Tolkien Weekend is happening in Great Haywood [July 11-12]

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Six Damn Fine Degrees #282: The BBC Radio Lord Of The Rings Part Three: Stephen Oliver, The Composer For The King [A Damn Fine Cup]

Stephen C. Winter has “This is An Evil Door”. Some Thoughts on The Dark Journeys of The Lord of the Rings as Aragorn and his Company Enter The Paths of the Dead.

The Journal of Inklings Studies Vol. 16, Issue 1, has been published, with several articles with public access like Honegger’s review of Pezzini’s latest book.

doubtfulsea has Subterranean.

A thousand students from a school in Granada set a record reading The Hobbit [Elfenomeno]

The Oxford Tolkien Network has shared more videos with Youtube [check out the official website]

My grand­father the pro­fessor, his friend JRR Tolkien, and a beloved island idyll [Pressreader; Sunday Independent Ireland]

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

When someone at GameSpot notices a legendary scene from the film trilogy in Resident Evil: Requiem - you check back with your girlfriend: It is true!¹

It makes me - personally - incredibly happy that The Princess Bride has won out over The Return of the King as the best literary film adaptation of the last fifty years [Literary Hub]

Gamegenic is going to release sleeves, playmats, deckboxes for MTG: The Hobbit. [StarCityGames]

The third season of LotR: The Rings of Power is set to premiere later this year [Hollywood Reporter; rumours go for a november release]

Among April’s Humble Bundle Choices is LotR: Return to Moria.

There is also a Steam sale happening for LotR: Return to Moria until May 2nd.²

The Connecticut Renaissance Faire has added a themed weekend for September: ShireFolk.

TheOneRing.net’s Merchandise March Madness 2026 had Geek Orthodox’ stained glass win out over the film trilogy’s DVD Argonath edition.

Inter alia

Close to Cumberland in British Columbia (Canada) the Cumberland Community Forest Society is trying to save… Middle Earth.

You may never have noticed you crossed paths with John Baskerville but this research project will tell you about it: The Baskerville Punches [The Iron Room, Library of Birmingham]

With this year’s Doc Edge film festival in New Zealand Royd Tolkien can finally show There’s a Hole in my Bucket.

These 6 book cover designs show what Gen Z actually wants to buy [Creative Boom]

Christopher Lockett has On Bookmarks [Substack]

xkcd is always right.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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. my girl Susi ❤️ and me were recently watching German YT gaming legend Gronkh’s walkthrough of Resi: Requiem and she confirmed it! Thank you, love 🤩

2. h/t Bluesky.

[A new column with rants on things that annoy the living Thangorodrim out of me.]

It is one of a gazillion examples.

In the age of AI slop any attention is needed, irrespective of quality (there is a reason for Gresham’s Law of Social Media [Medium]).

Facebook has an extraordinarily high amount of groups with hundreds of thousands of followers simply taking other people’s work without declaring it.

If you see a FB group with 100k+ members your default expectation should be one of wariness. Sad but true.

While trudging through the net for another edition of the Roving Ranger I came across this one:

If you happen to have a Facebook account you can have a look at it, with many people joining in the fray, declaring the “Tolkien scholars” a bunch of… [enter favourite expletive.]

If you have been on tumblr at any given time you can instantly tell this is taken from it. And well, here we are:

Given the fact that there is no “Tolkien Historical Society” nor has there ever been one (afaik!) I was immediately sure this was another example for one of those tremendously successful shit posts making the rounds to other parts of the internet.

So, more than seven years after the fact a “DND” group takes something out of context to have… fun.

You might be thinking “Why worry about this? It’s just silliness?"

That is very true.

And trust me, tumblr has brought forth an insane amount of such shit posts. Many of them are wayyyy hilarious.

Unfortunately, there is a difference between 2019 tumblr and 2026 Facebook.

And this example is making this clear - as long as you post anything you are getting something.

And not a single person in that “discussion” mentioned that this was simply taken from somewhere else. Written by someone else.

Other people’s work is free to take and (ab-) use. 🤷

Have a good day!

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

Vote for me 😇

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 [April 25; have a look at the Tolkien bust]

Theatre in the Round 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 (EE) at the Ultimate Picture Palace [Apr 25; Oxford, UK]¹

The Princeton Theological Seminary 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 [Villactu.fr]

come to nl!

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

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

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

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Long Shadow of Bilbo [Wordpress]

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

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

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

Jeff LaSala has Making The Silmarillion User-friendly: Characters.

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.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

Merchandise & Franchise

The social media channels of Warner Bros. and other involved parties [FB reel] just shared this, reminding fans of Emiliana Torrini’s rendition of Gollum’s Song [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 | Kate Winslet | Jamie Dornan | Leo Woodall | Lee Pace | Elijah Wood | Andy Serkis

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

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? [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 [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 [Foreshadowed & Foresung]

Always one of my favourites: the College Cats of Oxford [Oxford Clarion]

Hollywood stars sign open letter against Paramount-Warner deal [Inquirer.net]

Fantasy Authors Are Not Playing: Creators Increasingly Call Out “Unfaithful” Adaptations [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 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 [Financial Times]

Alan Moore Interview: Magical Consciousness, Disowned Works, and the Long London Quintet [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.?

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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, Apr 10, 2026.

2. h/t Christopher Gilson, Bluesky.

3. h/t Robin Reid.

4. h/t Bluesky, Hollywood Reporter.

5. h/t Bluesky.

Vote for me 😇

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

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

The Tolkien Guide has another unboxing video, this time on The Bovadium Fragments: Together with ‘The Origin of Bovadium’.

The Tolkien Tapestries will be shown at Angers [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 Festival [press release; Sept 2026]

The Tolkien Society is reviving the festivities in Birmingham, organising the Sarehole Festival [May 30-31]

The International Medieval Congress has 26 papers on offer if you search for Tolkien [Jul 6-9]

The Division at the Humanities of the University of Minnesota Morris held a Hobbit Reading [Apr 1]

The Stratford’s Festival Hobbit has added a short intro as well as a costume fitting for Bilbo [YouTube]

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

Registration is now open for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Matej Cadil has Gardens in Middle‑earth: What Tolkien Teaches Us About Tending a Broken World [Substack]

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

Elfenomeno has an Interview with Pieter Collier, from Tolkien Library.

Foreshadowed and Foresung has Tolkien’s “Radical” Changes Are Just Changes.

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

Stephen C. Winter has “What Do You Fear, Lady?” Éowyn Knows What She Fears as She Seeks For What She Desires 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.

Miriam Ellis has Happy news: The Tolkien Society Announces my design of the Oxonmoot 2026 logo!

Thoughts on Tolkien has The Origin of the Elendilmir [Wordpress]

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

doubtfulsea has Goblins and Goblin.

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

The YouTube LEGO channel Justin BoverBricks is working on a Bilbo minifig-sized Smaug - and that looks glorious.

Now on WhatsApp

If you are more comfortable following me and my ventures via WhatsApp - here’s the Travelling Tolkienist Channel. 📝

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 [IGN]

Amazon MGM Studios Reorgs TV “Worldbuilding” Team, Matthew King and Adrienne O’Riain Depart [Hollywood Reporter]

‘A full-circle moment’: 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?]

Aragorn’s Recast In New Lord Of The Rings Movie Officially Confirmed By Andy Serkis [ScreenRant]

Peter Jackson to produce yet another frankly unnecessary LORD OF THE RINGS film [Wertzone]

Veteran Studio Working On New Lord of the Rings Game [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 is worth your time (at the time of publication is was available but it is now delisted; here is a look back the mission. Subscribe to NASA!)

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

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

Tad Williams on Tropes, Tolkien, and Telling Better Stories [Page Chewing Podcast]

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

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 - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter, it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better. It is based in Germany, free of enshittification and nazis.

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

It is difficult for me to describe the joy I experienced the moment I heard about my nomination on April 2nd, 2026.

Things have not been easy for me the last year or two for a number of reasons - particularly professionally, having to more or less give up my work as a freelance translator - and to be honoured like this is humbling and reinvigorating at the same time, to say the least.

My sincere thanks to the panelists in this category (Hannah McDonald, Lyn Wilshire, James Tauber, and Matt Graf) and to all of you lovely people who nominated me. 🤩

The Nominees for Best Online Content

ArdaCraft (ArdaCraft team)

Athrabeth Podcast (Athrabeth team)

The Tolkienist’s Roving Ranger and more (Marcel R. Bülles)

Tea with Tolkien (Kaitlyn Facista)

An Long Expected Soundscape – The Lord of the Rings (Jordan Rannells)

The Guide to Tolkien’s Letters (TolkienGuide team)

Voting

Every member will be able to vote once in each category via the Members’ Area of this website (that is, the Tolkien Society website; my annotation./ Marcel)

You have until midnight on Friday 24th April to vote.

If you’re not a member but would like to take part, join the Society now.

A few thoughts on the nomination and beyond…

Almost six years ago, caught like everyone else in the throes of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, and after having just separated from my partner of 14+ years, I desperately needed something good to look forward to. A motivation that would give me strength to continue my ventures in my favourite fandom and essentially return to it with all of my heart.

That is when I started my Patreon account to have a place to work from - and the Roving Ranger, the all things Tolkienian newsletter, with Tinyletter. At the time it sounded like a good idea.

I started writing and managed to provide my supporters with 149 original posts and 78 Roving Rangers before deciding that this was not my place after all - you can read up on my reasoning with this post from Jan 3rd, 2023.

So I moved to Steady, this crowdfunding platform.

One of the reasons - or motivations - to make the change was my first nomination with the Tolkien Society Awards (April 6, 2022).

At the time both the Roving Ranger and my blog over at TheTolkienist.com were nominated - together with the Digital Tolkien Project and the Prancing Pony Podcast, the eventual winner of the ‘Best Online Content’ category.

I may not have won back then but let my try and explain to you how much being nominated meant to me - even thinking about it makes me cry again.

It gave me hope at a time when I was at a personal low. My divorce had been finalised in January, 2022; I had lived on my own in Jena for a year during the pandemic with most interactions only happening online; and the professional disruptions - not being able to participate in the book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig - had seriously limited my ability to make a living as a translator.

Now, four years later, my professional career my have taken a break but I have found a new partner whose support and encouragement is a source of strength for me and there is a number of incredibly kind people willing and able to lend me their hands with this project of mine.

It is thanks to you that I have been able and gratefully happy to do the work thas has led to this nomination.

May this be a good sign for all the work to come.

global events map

Events & Shows

Waterstones in Coventry will have The Hobbit 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 on March 20.

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

Greg Banks' The Hobbit 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 [Newcastle Magazine]

You can now register for the Austrian Tolkien Society’s Spring Festival [May 13-17]

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

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

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

The Cushing Public Library hosts a number of events, including a Hobbit Festival [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 for June 19-21, 2026.

For all events check out the Tolkien Guide.

Scholarship & Fandom

Dimitra Fimi has For Mothering Sunday: Some brief thoughts on Faramir's mother [Substack]

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

Iris Meredith has Amdir, Estel, Peter Thiel.

Nick Hubble has started a 50 Year Reread of The Lord of the Rings. [Wordpress]

Jason Fisher has Generative AI, Hallucinations, and Tolkien Revisited [Blogspot]

John Garth has The Lord of the Rings: toughest quiz ever [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'; “Neither Living Nor Dead”: From Nazgûl to the Sídhe in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (1954); and Through Peaks and Troughs: Visualising the Rhythmic Sentiment of The Lord of the Rings.

Nick Polk has Ireland, Eärendil, and Tolkien Reading Day. [Substack]

Matej Cadil has Walking Further Into Middle‑earth: A New Adventure [Substack]

Tolkien Trewsday has started Year Four [Blogspot]

doubtfulsea has The Damage of Dragons.

Tom Hillman has "Fled from the Company" -- Frodo and Sam not looking back.

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 and “May I Not Now Spend My Life as I Will?” The Lady Éowyn Longs to Break Free From Her Cage.

Miriam Ellis has Glimpsing Bilbo's heart through his map of favorite walks and When Folk Little and Big Lived Together at Bree.

Tolkien seems to have been prophetic on a number of current issues - a recent piece of scholarship 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, 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 [Weta Workshop]

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

The Royal Mail bringing the gold to the film trilogy. And stamps.

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

Also not on my bingo card - a Louis Vitton fashion show review 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 [Conversation]

Hidden Steam listing hints at The Lord of the Rings: War in the North re-releasing [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.

Wooden Wisdom featuring Actor Elijah Wood bring the fantasy world to the dancefloor. [May 31; Denver, Colorado, USA]

Elijah Wood is finally reading The Lord of the Rings 25 years after playing Frodo: 'They're incredible!' [Entertainment Weekly]

“Delving too Deep” panel provided rare look at Lord of the Rings set details [TORn]

TORn also has March Madness again - this time it is Clash of the Collectibles.

The Fellowship of the Ring In Concert 25th anniversary UK/IRE tour dates [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 [Wertzone]

High-speed combat drone production starts at new US Anduril plant in days [Reuters]

David Bratman has A Guide to Terms of Address for British Nobility.

Epic Games Lays Off Over 1,000 As CEO Frames Cuts As Cost Of Being ‘Industry’s Vanguard’ [CartoonBrew]

Artist Michael Hague has passed away [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.

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

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

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

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, Bookshop.org, or Genialokal, 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 : Facebook : Bluesky : Instagram : Threads : Mastodon - and have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far.

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.

With this one I had a feeling I might have heard about this - but then this is such a unique and singular experience, it was next to impossible to find out stuff about it.

My thanks go out to Gregory Daurer aka Gregory Ego¹ who wrote this:

And then he realised something else.

The Oakenshield Marionettes

This group obviously was a local group of performers as their name never came up anywhere else.

In fact, the only easily accessible online newspapers has only one photo² and the mention³ that their nine shows were all sold out.

They obviously happened on October 3-5, 1974 (Thu-Sat) with the report showing the photo on October 7.

Is that tension or merely absorption we see on young faces as they watch the dragon, nasty trolls and evil orcs at Sunday’s matinee performance of The Hobbit by the Oakenshield Marionettes. All nine performances in the UMC Ballroom this weekend were completely sold out.

When Bilbo came to Boulder

In time for the first so-called Hobbit film - Dec 2012 - journalist Clay Evans wrote this piece, explaining a lot of the details to this fascinating piece of puppetry.

One of the important names in this venture is Bill Johnk.

And just to save you the disappointment at the end: