The Eighty-seventh Roving Ranger

Life and Works

May 27, 1930. OUP sends Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) a copy of the 1919 Middle English Reader.
May 27, 1958. Tolkien writes to Nancy Smith (Abre numa nova janela) on the LotR index.
May 27, 1964. Tree and Leaf (Abre numa nova janela) is first published.
May 31, 1944. Tolkien writes Letter 72 (Abre numa nova janela), mentioning Lewis had been moved to tears by 'The Choices of Master Samwise.'
June 1, 2017. Beren and Lúthien (Abre numa nova janela) is published.
June 4, 1949. Tolkien writes to Pauline Baynes (Abre numa nova janela), thanking her for Farmer Giles.
June 5, 1959. Tolkien delivers Valedictory Adress (Abre numa nova janela) to the University of Oxford.
June 7, 1955. Tolkien writes Letter 163, offering W.H. Auden talking points (Abre numa nova janela) on LotR and himself for BBC Third Programme.

It gives me great pleasure to share the news that The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is among the top ten in the BBC 100 Greatest Children's Book list (Abre numa nova janela) - at #5. Do also have a look at #45.

Events & Shows

The recording of the Tolkien Lecture is available (Abre numa nova janela).

The largest volunteer-run Tolkien-centred event in the world (afaik!) is coming up soon - the Tolkien Days (Abre numa nova janela) in Germany.
- [I'll be co-hosting the podcast sessions as well as delivering a lecture on RoP. ]

The castle at Saumur has a Tolkien exhibition (Abre numa nova janela) with the support of the Cité internationale de la Tapisserie (Abre numa nova janela), starting June 3rd.

For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Abre numa nova janela) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship and Fandom

The excellent Allan Turner has provided John Garth with a guest post (Abre numa nova janela).

The Mythopoeic Society has announced its awards' finalists (Abre numa nova janela).

Teen Titans (Abre numa nova janela) artist Hayk Manukyan (Abre numa nova janela) is repeating the ever silly "why didn't they fly the Ring to Mordor?" nonsense but these animations are fun (Abre numa nova janela).

Volante Opera announced on Twitter (Abre numa nova janela) that the full operatic cycle on thr Silmarillion by Paul Corfield Godfrey will be available on June 23rd as one box.

Tom Hillman has some thoughts on Frodo's threat outside the Black Gate (Abre numa nova janela).

John D. Rateliff has a few notes on this year's Tolkien at Kalamazoo (Abre numa nova janela).

Interestingly enough, there is now a full reading of Tolkien's On Fairy-Stories (Abre numa nova janela) on Youtube via Catholic Culture Audiobooks.

Rather important if not truly noticed: iron gall ink (Abre numa nova janela).

Franchise and Merchandise

The Hollywood Reporter is having a paid partnership with Prime in this Rings of Power (Abre numa nova janela) special, including the music of the series.

In case you were wondering who might be suing people over 'Tolkien' - this usually comes via Middle-earth Enterprises and, more recently, Warner Bros. You can ask Polish game developers C.I. Games about their Lords of the Fallen (Abre numa nova janela) and why WB thinks (Abre numa nova janela) they are trying to cash in on LotR (Abre numa nova janela). The game came out in 2014 and the sequel is expected this year. [Bloomsberg Law]

When it comes to legal issues, MTG (Abre numa nova janela) knows its fair share - right now leaks seem to be their biggest problem, revealing game mechanisms before release on their LotR: Tales of Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela) set. [Please note: this might be a fake; it is all rather absurd.]

The fact that Amazon have announced another MMO set in Middle-earth forced Standing Stone Games to say a few calming words (Abre numa nova janela) on the future of LotRO. Amazon Games' VP certainly belittled their work (Abre numa nova janela) - and made sure to mention 'it's still very important that it's first a game, and then a reflection of the books second.' [GamesIndustry.biz (Abre numa nova janela)]

Do not forget - their first attempt at a LotR MMO was cancelled in 2021 (Abre numa nova janela).

Interestingly enough new Third Age rights' owners - via Middle-earth Enterprises -, the Swedish Embracer Group, mentioned in a conference call that a strategic partnership of six years fell through only a few days later (Abre numa nova janela). [BNN Bloomberg]

The racist backlash (Abre numa nova janela) against LotR:RoP was so dire that the production team had to hire on-set therapists. [Variety] This should come as no surprise as the actors had talked about it on several occasions before like this interview at Lucca (Abre numa nova janela). [Variety]

HarperCollins UK announced a new Silmarillion audiobook on Twitter (Abre numa nova janela), read by Andy Serkis.

Richard Armitage made clear that: "I think after maybe two and a half years of Middle-earth, I’m not drawn to fantasy so much anymore. I’ve seen [it], I’ve done it, it’s not my thing." [Radio Times (Abre numa nova janela), 3:30 mark]

The early reviews on LotR: Gollum are in and things are not looking good. A rather decent sounding one is with Slant Magazine (Abre numa nova janela) (2/ 5 stars). The review with The Gamer (Abre numa nova janela) offers a one-liner that says a lot:

(...) Let it be known that this game didn’t fail because it took risks with its interpretations of Tolkien, it failed because it’s boring, glitchy, and a decade behind the times. Ben Sledge, The Gamer

And just to let you know what the Guardian had to offer: The Lord of the Rings: Gollum review - boil it, mash it, stick it in the bin (Abre numa nova janela).

The Star Entertainment GmbH (Abre numa nova janela) global concerts supposedly based on LotR, Hobbit, and RoP are taking ever more flak for being a disaster (Abre numa nova janela).

You should probably try to be in Annecy in June for the pre-view of War of the Rohirrim (Abre numa nova janela).

A short review of the One Ring RPG Starter set (Abre numa nova janela).

Inter alia & Back in the day

In case you were wondering whether some people get roles because of their 'connections', Neil Gaiman had a few things to say on the castings for Good Omens 2 (Abre numa nova janela). [tumblr]

Star Trek: Resurgence (Abre numa nova janela) has a launch trailer (Abre numa nova janela).

The Folio Society has published the long list to its annual Illustration Award (Abre numa nova janela), based on Ursula K. LeGuin's The Fliers of Gy (Abre numa nova janela).

Patrick Rothfuss has announced a new novella (Abre numa nova janela) - but not Doors of Stone.

The Nebula Awards for 2022 have been announced (Abre numa nova janela).

In case you would like a single minute of explanation: what is machine learning (Abre numa nova janela)? Given the fact that all things fantasy have been written by humans - so far - this might make for massive changes in the future.

The nominations for the Spiel des Jahres (Abre numa nova janela) awards (Game of the Year in Germany) are out - don't forget the best sold game in 2022 in Germay was the exit game 'Shadows over Middle-earth (Abre numa nova janela)' [I am not saying this proudly as a German Tolkienist 😄] [BGG]

Disney's Galactic Starcruiser is closing for business (Abre numa nova janela). [New York Times]

xkcd has something for all wizard fans (Abre numa nova janela).

Ansible 430 (Abre numa nova janela) has been published.

According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's, the bookshop of my personal trust.

If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Twitter (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Tolkien-Discord (Abre numa nova janela) [de/en]

Additional news provided in recent weeks to my members at Steady

RR+: Tolkien Lectures - and yes, two of them (Abre numa nova janela)
RR+: LotR: Gollum has a Precious Edition (Abre numa nova janela)
RR+: The Bod is archiving tweets (Abre numa nova janela) - including me 🤩
RR+: Tolkien Society Awards (Abre numa nova janela) - vote now open!
RR+: 70 years after (Abre numa nova janela) - Tolkien's lecture on Sir Gawain in Glasgow
RR+: Tolkien and Smith Conference (Abre numa nova janela), Corpus Christi College, Oxford
RR+: 'Lord of the Rings' (Abre numa nova janela) musical tickets now available
RR+: New Illustrated Edition (Abre numa nova janela) of 'The Hobbit' Announced
RR+: "Tolkien letters (Abre numa nova janela) shine new light on writer’s life and work"

What to look forward to in 2023 if you like Tolkien and all things Tolkienian

Meet and greet with the Tolkienist in 2023