The One hundred and twenty-ninth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

March 21, 1967. Tolkien writes a letter to Humphrey Carpenter (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), on turning The Hobbit into a children's musical play.
March 22, 1916. Tolkien & Edith Bratt get married in the church of St Mary Immaculate (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Warwick.
March 24, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 136 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
March 27, 1972. Rayner Unwin (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) organizes a party in celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien's CBE the following day (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

• Third Age. The destruction of the One Ring, downfall of Barad-dûr (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and passing of Sauron (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [3019, March 25.]

The Hobbit takes a Welsh twist (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) at Morriston Library [Swansea Bay News]

Events & Shows

I am part of the A Long-Expected Soundscape Tolkien Reading Day 2025 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with many amazing speakers [March 23rd, Noon Eastern, Youtube]

The Tolkien Society will be hosting its Tolkien Reading Day event with their Discord server today (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The Racine Theatre Guild (Wisconsin) will be staging the Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (again.) [Apr 10-19] Great opportunity to also see Marquette!

The Academy of Children's Theatre, in Richland, Washington, is also up to the Hobbit (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [March 21-30; Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

Tickets for the Tolkien Lecture of 2025 are now available (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Pembroke College, Oxford info (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

[Lost and found] I must have missed this Nova Scotia theatre festival rendition of the Hobbit, somewhere out in the woods (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)! [August 2022, Keppoch Mountains, by the Festival Antigonish (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); see information on Youtube (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). Tolkien Reading Day (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is being celebrated globally.

Scholarship & Fandom

doubtfulsea has Doom (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Jason Fisher has Hallucinations (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Miriam Ellis has The Fairbairns of Westmarch - Traditions Worth Keeping (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Stephen C. Winter has “I Declare You Free in The Realm of Gondor to The Furthest of its Ancient Bounds.” Why Does Faramir Set Frodo Free? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Nick Polk has Resonances of Universalism in Tolkien's Legendarium (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Merchandise & Franchise

Why not take part in a Hobbit pot glazing workshop (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Pennsylvania?

Lord of the Rings Online’s 64-bit server transfers begin to catch up as devs acknowledge server load stress (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Massively OP]

The Lord of the Rings musical has opened in Perth, Australia (Öffnet in neuem Fenster); see its trailer with Gandalf, Galadriel, and Frodo going for a walk around town (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Instagram]

Not commenting on the relevance of the claim but the Evesham Festival of Words has “Bikes and Books” - a bike ride with connections (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) to “writers such as JM Barrie, JRR Tolkien and William Morris.” [July 19, 2025]

LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIE MARATHON FESTIVAL is Coming to The Park Theatre (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Mar 30; Broadway World]

Inter alia

Fun Fact Terry Pratchett passed away ten years ago and in memoriam I had requested to have footnotes added to the Steady backend - which has now happened¹! Glorious! 😇

What It Was Like to Write on George Lucas’ Unproduced Star Wars Show (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Gizmodo]

‘Something must have gone wrong with us’: David Cronenberg and Howard Shore on four decades of body horror (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Guardian]

A Humble Bundle is happening on Dragonlance (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

The British Science Fiction Association announced the shortlist of nominees (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)for the BSFA Awards, including several nominations for Luna Press, a UK specialist publishing house with many Tolkien-related titles (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [File 770]

The Royal Mail has issued stamps from MYTHS AND LEGENDS (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), including Beowulf and Grendel.

The TV fantasy gold rush is over. Now maybe Wheel of Time can finally be itself [Polygon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]

In Memory of Professor Vincent Gillespie (1954 – 2025) (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford]

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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.

1. If you would to know why Terry Pratchett is well-known to be the most hilarious proponent of the “footnote” in fantasy novels - his assistant and literary executor Rob Wilkins has written the official biography with the title: “Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).” ↩