The One hundred and twenty-fifth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

Feb 21, 1958. Tolkien writes Letter 205 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on Christopher's lecture presentation at Oxford; proud father moment.
Feb 23, 1961. Tolkien (Si apre in una nuova finestra) writes Letter 229 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), his “reaction to Åke Ohlmarks (Si apre in una nuova finestra)' ‘nonsense’” in the Swedish translation to Lord of the Rings.
Feb 27, 1930. Joseph Wright (Si apre in una nuova finestra), former tutor of Tolkien, dies.
Feb 28, 1949. Tolkien writes Letter 119 (Si apre in una nuova finestra), ‘busily working, anticipating a period of leave’, planning to use it to type the LotR manuscript himself, assuming this would cost way more than £3,000 if done professionally (in today’s currency).

• Third Age. The breaking of the Fellowship of the Ring (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [3019, Feb 26.]

Events & Shows

The Hobbit is on with the Hillcrest Center for the Arts (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Thousand Oaks, California.

The Tales after Tolkien Society has the full program to Kalamazoo, (Si apre in una nuova finestra) that is, the International Congress on Medieval Studies. (simply search for ‘Tolkien’, there are a number of items.)

News on the LotR musical (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - after Perth it will go “to Melbourne and the Gold Coast.” [Limelight; my supporters at Steady had already heard of the Australian shows (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Dec ‘21.]

Tolkien fans in Birmingham should not mistake the upcoming Hobbit concert at the ICC (Si apre in una nuova finestra) with Middle-earth - this is Jack Hobbs called ‘Hobbit’, a British beatboxer (Si apre in una nuova finestra)of quite some renown.

The Online MidSummer Seminar 2025 of the Mythopoeic Society (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has a date and its CfP (deadline March 31): More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Middle-earth Festival (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has finalised its date and place: Sept 13-14, 2025, at the “Festival field off Norton Lane in Wythall, B47 6HA. It's a few minutes walk from Wythall train station”, in the south of Birmingham, UK.

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Scholarship & Fandom

Stephen C. Winter has “I Must Find The Mountain of Fire and Cast The Thing Into The Gulf of Doom. Gandalf Said So. I Do Not Think I Shall Ever Get There.” Frodo Speaks of His Task to Faramir and of Its Impossibility. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Wander the medieval streets that inspired ‘The Lord of The Rings’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[Our Sunday Visitor; h/t Tolkien Gleanings (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Lord of the Rings Online dev Q&A talks about class revamps, kinship refresh, and the next roadmap (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Massively Overpowered; bullet point list with the forums (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Tom Hillman has "a path of ascent however hard" -- Tolkien to Lewis on the mysteries and opportunities of pain (Letters² #113) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) as well as Pearls before swine, Aelfric of Eynsham, and the catherdral at Chartres (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

I have listed Posts published with Steady for the months of September 2024 – January 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [thetolkienist.com (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Nick Polk has Agatha All Along and Tolkien's Warning of Dangerous Myths (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Substack]

Putri Prihatini has made the shorter version of her TS Seminar 2023 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) presentation available with her blog: “The Sea Goddess and the King: on Aldarion, Uinen, and Javanese Queen of the Southern Sea (Si apre in una nuova finestra).”

New material has been added to the most recent issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Eugene's fantasy boom: Hobbit feasts, magic markets and a new wave of whimsy and culture (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [The Register Guard; Oregon]

Bon Bergstrom GoodKnight shared memories of her daughter Arwen Joy GoodKnight (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [File770]

doubtfulsea has Into the Fire (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Merchandise & Franchise

I have only now noticed that the Birmingham, Sarehole Mill-adjacent based Hungry Hobb(it) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) has closed its doors in Nov ‘24. [Facebook; h/t File770 (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Lord of the Rings: Woobles (Si apre in una nuova finestra) are here (crochet.)

The next video game has pushed its schedule to July: Tales of the Shire (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Instagram]

Inter alia & Back in the Day

Fantasy fiction doesn’t need reclaiming for women – they already write and read it (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian]

Daisy Ridley Talks the Physical Toll of ‘Cleaner’ and Quality Over Quickness for Her Next ‘Star Wars’ Movie (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Hollywood Reporter]

Step Into the Free and Infinite Laboratory of the Mind (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [on science fiction; issues.org]

Register for free on a “Directors Discussion with Oscars Animated Shorts Contenders” (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Feb 27; h/t INDAC (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Lewis Carroll collection given to his Oxford college in surprise US donation (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian]

The SELIM Research Seminar 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on Middle English Literature and Culture will take place in Madrid and online (free and open to the public); I am mentioning this as Thomas Honegger is offering “Animals in Medieval Literature and Art: Between Symbol, Allegory, and Real Animal.”

The Plain (Si apre in una nuova finestra) roundabout in Oxford is incredibly dangerous and it still has ads on it. A community effort (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is trying to get the council to take more precautions for pedestrians’ and cyclists’ safety.

From 2020 but more valid than ever: The Fantastic From Counterpublic to Public Imaginary: The Darkest Timeline? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)[JSTOR; free download]

J.K. Rowling’s Agency Hires Former Disney Exec to Lead Harry Potter Franchise Team, Taps Universal Music Alum as CCO (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Variety]

Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (Si apre in una nuova finestra) by Jordan S. Carroll may be read free online.

James Bond has been sold, now for real (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Variety]

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If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
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Have a look at all Roving Rangers published so far. (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

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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