The One hundred and nineteenth Roving Ranger

Life & Works

Jan 11, 1943. Michael George Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, is born.
Jan 12, 1928. A New Glossary of the Dialect of the Huddersfield District (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with foreword by Tolkien.
Jan 14, 1956. Tolkien writes Letter 180 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on the sub-creation process.
Jan 17, 1937. Tolkien writes Letter 10 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on illustrations for Hobbit & Mr. Bliss.

Events & Shows

There are tengwar courses with Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in March & April [h/t Vincent Ferré]

Líre Itarildeo (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (song translated by Christopher Gilson) [Youtube]

Tolkien Stage Adaptations - Performance Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for January.

1962: Tolkien on LotR (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - Writers & Wordsmiths with BBC Archive [Youtube]

GIFCon at Glasgow University will be taking place 7-9 May (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Check the list of events with Signum University for 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Boise, Idaho, has a new smial (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). As well as New Zealand (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

TolkienCon is happening in Prague, Jan 17-19 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Scholarship & Fandom

Douglas A. Anderson has Borges on Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - including a very lively discussion in the comments.

John Garth has A mathom on Tolkien’s birthday (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
[consider supporting John’s Garth with Steady - I convinced him to be there!]

Andrew Higgins has Explorations into Tolkien's Elvish Languages (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Black Metal fans might like that Summoning (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Facebook] have reissued Lugburz, Minas Morgul and Dol Guldur (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) as picture discs. [Napalm Records]

The Lembas 2025 issue (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) will be published in April, including proceedings to last year’s seminar Evil in Eä. [Facebook, h/t Renée Vink]

My report on the fan screening of “War of the Rohirrim (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)” in Lucerne.

Kristine Larsen has J.R.R. Tolkien – Geologist? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Roberto Arduini has Receiver of a Tolkien’s letter discovered (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

If ever need to Cite.Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Digital Tolkien]

Mike Glyer of File770 collected What’s your favourite Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for #TolkienBirthdayToast.

The Wertzone has The Longest SFF Novels of All Time (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)(2025 update), including The Lord of the Rings.

doubtfulsea has Bacon and Eggs, Etc. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

The Tolkien Society has changed its status to better serve its members and the community - here is the “new” TS’ entry (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with the charity commission.

Volume 20, issue 2, of the Journal of Tolkien Research is filling up nicely (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

John D. Rateliff has Happy Tolkien Day (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with David Bratman answering. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
[Let’s see whether someone adds another perspective in mentioning that modern writers do not use “South Africa” as a geographical umbrella term but always as a term for the Republic of South Africa 😃]

Taruithorn: The Oxford Tolkien Society is reviving its magazine Miruvor (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - contributions are welcome. [Instagram]

Merchandise & Franchise

Beast Kingdom has Gandalf (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Making ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Nearly Killed Its Director (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [IndieWire] | ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’: A Tokyo Take (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [AWN]

The Silent Hill 2 Remake Team Pitched A Lord Of The Rings Horror Game (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [80lv]

Ex-Annapurna Staff Reportedly Form New Company to Inherit Private Division IPs (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [about Tales of the Shire]

Check out Morgan’s Tolkien collection, selling via Tradera now (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Sweden]

The Roving Ranger and other of my ventures are reader-supported publications. To receive additional posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
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Inter alia & Back in the Day

Fun Fact Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) premiered on Jan 3, 1993, thirty-two years ago. Tolkien was born on Jan 3.

Our culture isn't fantasy - so stop misusing it for mystical books (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [BBC News]

The Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic at Glasgow Uni has Fantasy in the Midst of War: Perspectives from Ukraine (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) coming up Feb 26.

I love xkcd.

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If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Bluesky (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Threads (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Mastodon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

As this is 2025 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 average time of curating this newsletter ranges from 12-16 hours for the bi-weekly edition and 6-8 hours for the weekly one.

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