The One hundred and sixteenth Roving Ranger

Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Opens in a new window)

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Events & Shows

The new Tolkien documentary is now online [I am also in it].

If it is not available to you I am sorry but the public broadcasting stations behind this do not have the money to license it worldwide. I have been told there are VPN addons for all browsers that should help you with this.

The Tolkien Tapestries are finally leaving Aubusson for an exhibition in Paris (Opens in a new window).

An exhibition in Alberta (Opens in a new window), Canada, has some lovely miniatures - and an unusual Hobbit (Opens in a new window) one.

Do have a look at Christopher Tolkien at 100: A celebration (Opens in a new window) by the Bodleian Libraries [Youtube]

Glasgow has GIFCon 2025: Queering the Fantastic – Call for Papers (Opens in a new window).

Celebrating 30 years of Exeter’s organ: An evening of organ music inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien (Opens in a new window), with Prof. Stuart Lee and Owen Chan [Feb 27, 2025]

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship & Fandom

The Journal of Tolkien Research has put out a call for peer reviewers (Opens in a new window).

Robin Reid has Tolkien’s ‘Absent [Female] Characters’: How Christopher Tolkien Expanded Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) [part of the CJRT Centenary (Opens in a new window)]; also Heritage Starts with HER: Women Writers Writing Back to Tolkien’s Legendarium (Opens in a new window) [part of Tolkien as Heritage (Opens in a new window) seminar]

John D. Rateliff has Susanna Clarke's nod to Tolkien (Opens in a new window).

The team at the Tolkien Collectors’ Guide (Opens in a new window) has a guide to the Father Christmas Letters (Opens in a new window).

Miriam Ellis has Frogmorton and the Magic of Names on Tolkien's Maps (Opens in a new window) and The Many Mercies of Bilbo Baggins (Opens in a new window).

I have done a short piece on Tolkienian storm names (Opens in a new window).

My friend Katie, the community wizzzard over at the Prancing Pony Podcast (Opens in a new window), is starting a newsletter of her own called Bree Crossroads (Opens in a new window). Do subscribe and spread the word!

Merchandise & Franchise

Spotify has released its “Top 2024” figures and the “Fellowship of the Ring” audiobook is at #2 (Opens in a new window).

The Lord Of The Rings: Rings Of Power Season 3 - Confirmation, Cast, & Everything We Know (Opens in a new window) [Screen Rant] | Interview: Talking Season Two of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ With Showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay (Opens in a new window) [Awards Radar]

Honest Trailers have done the 1977 Hobbit (Opens in a new window).

LotR: Return of Moria is for free this week with EPIC. (Opens in a new window) It has sold one million copies (Opens in a new window) by now. [Business Wire]

The Creative Forces Behind ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ Reveal the Lore of Their New Take on Tolkien (Opens in a new window) [Animation Magazine] | Smite & Smite 2 (Opens in a new window) - a MOBA - now make use of War of the Rohirrim (Opens in a new window) | Warner Bros. Discovery Releases ‘Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim' Merch (Opens in a new window) [License Global] | ‘Lord Of The Rings’: Philippa Boyens Says Ideas Exist For More Anime, Plus A Potential New Epic Trilogy (Opens in a new window) [Plist] | A ‘Lord of the Rings’ tradition turns small-scale in the anime ‘Rohirrim’ (Opens in a new window) [AP] |

War of the Rohirrim revives everything great about Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window) [Polygon] | The animated Lord of the Rings is a rushed money-grab (Opens in a new window) [Guardian] | A Beautiful But Off-Key Ballad (Opens in a new window)[Den of Geek] | More Franchises Should Take This Anime Film’s Example (Opens in a new window) [ScreenRant] | Brian Cox in a Predictably Plotted but Sumptuously Animated Prequel (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter] | Have you ever wondered why they call Helm’s Deep Helm’s Deep? No? Well, too bad! (Opens in a new window) [IGN] | Redundant, flavourless animation (Opens in a new window) [Guardian] | The War of the Rohirrim is a soulless return to Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) [Verge]

Inter alia & Back in the Day

The first essay with the new Ursula K. Le Guin journal is Weavers and Deceivers: Spiders in Le Guin’s Writings (Opens in a new window).

A Hans Zimmer live concert is available with ARTE (Opens in a new window), including Dune, Pirates. Also Howard Shore (Opens in a new window).

Why George R.R. Martin Broke the “Cardinal Rule of Hollywood” for a Childhood Friend (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter]

‘Harry Potter’ Series To Begin Shooting Over The Summer At Leavesden; Showrunner Reveals 32,000 Kids Auditioned For Lead Roles (Opens in a new window) [Deadline]

Renga in Blue has a lovely game called Firienwood (Opens in a new window) (1982).

Talking about a Gilmore Girls spin-off Lauren Graham said: “We’re talking about this as if it's like The Hobbit or something, which I’m not sure it is.” (Opens in a new window) [ENews]

Games Workshop and Amazon agree to proceed with a WARHAMMER 40,000 screen project (Opens in a new window) [Wertzone]

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

Then do consider using Steady (Opens in a new window) - it is an exceptionally easy to use option for all needs. Built originally for an independent journalists’ collective, Krautreporter (Opens in a new window), it is run by creative minds for creative minds. Think Patreon, just better.
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According to German law I have to inform you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's (Opens in a new window), Bookshop.org (Opens in a new window), or Genialokal (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Threads (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window).

As this is 2024 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.

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