The One hundred and twenty-ninth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

March 21, 1967. Tolkien writes a letter to Humphrey Carpenter (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Warwick.
March 24, 1953. Tolkien writes Letter 136 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) on the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
March 27, 1972. Rayner Unwin (Si apre in una nuova finestra) organizes a party in celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien's CBE the following day (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

• Third Age. The destruction of the One Ring, downfall of Barad-dûr (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and passing of Sauron (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [3019, March 25.]

The Hobbit takes a Welsh twist (Si apre in una nuova finestra) at Morriston Library [Swansea Bay News]

Events & Shows

I am part of the A Long-Expected Soundscape Tolkien Reading Day 2025 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

The Racine Theatre Guild (Wisconsin) will be staging the Hobbit (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [March 21-30; Instagram (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

Tickets for the Tolkien Lecture of 2025 are now available (Si apre in una nuova finestra). [Pembroke College, Oxford info (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

[Lost and found] I must have missed this Nova Scotia theatre festival rendition of the Hobbit, somewhere out in the woods (Si apre in una nuova finestra)! [August 2022, Keppoch Mountains, by the Festival Antigonish (Si apre in una nuova finestra); see information on Youtube (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

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). Tolkien Reading Day (Si apre in una nuova finestra) is being celebrated globally.

Scholarship & Fandom

doubtfulsea has Doom (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Jason Fisher has Hallucinations (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Miriam Ellis has The Fairbairns of Westmarch - Traditions Worth Keeping (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Nick Polk has Resonances of Universalism in Tolkien's Legendarium (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Merchandise & Franchise

Why not take part in a Hobbit pot glazing workshop (Si apre in una nuova finestra) in Pennsylvania?

Lord of the Rings Online’s 64-bit server transfers begin to catch up as devs acknowledge server load stress (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Massively OP]

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

Not commenting on the relevance of the claim but the Evesham Festival of Words has “Bikes and Books” - a bike ride with connections (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Gizmodo]

‘Something must have gone wrong with us’: David Cronenberg and Howard Shore on four decades of body horror (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Guardian]

A Humble Bundle is happening on Dragonlance (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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

The Royal Mail has issued stamps from MYTHS AND LEGENDS (Si apre in una nuova finestra), including Beowulf and Grendel.

The TV fantasy gold rush is over. Now maybe Wheel of Time can finally be itself [Polygon (Si apre in una nuova finestra)]

In Memory of Professor Vincent Gillespie (1954 – 2025) (Si apre in una nuova finestra) [Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford]

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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.

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).” ↩