The Ninety-sixth Roving Ranger

Welcome to 2024

I hope you have made it safe and sound into the new year - all the best for 2024. This edition of the Roving Ranger is fairly long so, without further ado...

Life and Works

A rather lovely piece of news: Tolkien and CS Lewis manuscripts among treasures made available to public in 2023 (Abre numa nova janela).
For rather more information see the Arts Council report (Abre numa nova janela) on this; the material seems to be from the Walter Hooper Estate.

On another note: Carl F. Hostetter has provided a list of Nature of Middle-earth errata (Abre numa nova janela) (download as PDF.)

Events & Shows

Not directly Tolkien-related but when the Wade Center (Abre numa nova janela) announces a George MacDonald conference (Abre numa nova janela) on his bicentennial this will certainly be interesting (Abre numa nova janela).

If metalheads can do it, we can do it, too: The Inklings Cruise (Abre numa nova janela).

OzMoot (Abre numa nova janela) is on soon in Sydney.

MythCon 53 is happening in August (Abre numa nova janela).

The Queen of Denmark has announced her abdication and the funniest line I have read about this was “Tolkien illustrator quits job” (h/t Andrew Wells). Tolkien Ensemble founder Caspar Reiff wrote about this on Facebook (Abre numa nova janela); for more on her connection to Tolkien see Tolkien Gateway (Abre numa nova janela) and the Danish Royal website (Abre numa nova janela).

The Austrian Tolkien Society is preparing for its Mar Vanwa Tyálieva (Abre numa nova janela) (a weekend of gaming and all things Tolkien) at the end of January.

Prague will be seeing TolkienCon (Abre numa nova janela) again in January as well (I will have to do a Tolkien MeMe of my one-time visit to this outrageously glorious event).

Ongoing John Howe (Abre numa nova janela) | Tolkien exhibition in Rome (Abre numa nova janela) | British Library (Abre numa nova janela).

Scholarship and Fandom

It is lovely to see the Pope quoted Tolkien in a homily on December 24th (Abre numa nova janela), but we have known him to be a fan for many years (P.S. Yes, I need to update that post, quite obviously. 😅)

Do note issues of the Journal for Inklings Studies (Abre numa nova janela) are free to download.

The lawsuit that made a lot of people very nervous: A ‘pitch-perfect sequel’? The fine line between fan fiction and an ugly lawsuit (Abre numa nova janela). [Sydney Morning Herald]

From the possibly southernmost Tolkien Society in the world (Sociedad Tolkien Magallanes (Abre numa nova janela)) there is an article on the new year (Abre numa nova janela) for the different species in Middle-earth.

Brenton Dickieson lists his most popular Tolkien posts (Abre numa nova janela) for #TolkienBirthdayToast [A Pilgrim in Narnia].

For those of you who have not yet heard of #TolkienTrewsday on Xitter do have a look at its ‘official’ (Abre numa nova janela) page - a weekly themed get-together by the community that will also be present with BlueSky (Abre numa nova janela) and the Tolkien Society’s Facebook group (Abre numa nova janela).

John Garth has written about Goblin caves, ancient scripts and Tolkien’s gift for invention (Abre numa nova janela). [Steady]

Stephen C. Winter has some thoughts on Sméagol: “All You Wish is to See It and Touch It, If You Can, Though You Know It Would Drive You Mad.” Gollum Swears To Serve The Master of The Ring (Abre numa nova janela).

Some Tolkienian new year’s resolutions (Abre numa nova janela). [Miriam Ellis Art]

Putri Prihatini has a new post with Queen of Earth, Giver of Fruits: from Middle-earth to Merapi (Abre numa nova janela).

Interestingly enough Leeds Libraries did not know about the connection between E.V. Gordon, this has now been remedied (Abre numa nova janela). More interesting is their Traces of Tolkien in Leeds (Abre numa nova janela) blog post.

Digital Tolkien Project’s James Tauber (Abre numa nova janela) has shared a look back at 2023 and what is to come. [Youtube]

I love LotRO a lot even though I have not played it seriously yet: fans gathered for #TolkienBirthdayToast in-game (Abre numa nova janela).

Before I invite you to visit a recent post on mapping Middle-earth I would love to link to the LotRProject.com (Abre numa nova janela) website - it has been on hiatus for many years now with Emil Johansson becoming a specialist in 3d printing techniques and co-founder to a huge startup (Abre numa nova janela) - as it still offers material for people to summarise (Abre numa nova janela) in 2024. Having said this, the Strange Maps (Abre numa nova janela) category is rather interesting![Big Think]

Tolkien et l’antiquité (Abre numa nova janela) - the proceedings to last year’s conference - are being published. [TCG]

Love the fact that the editor to Tolkien’s Battle of Maldon visited Maldon Books (Abre numa nova janela) in Maldon recently (Abre numa nova janela).

Franchise and Merchandise

Did you know the legal copyright to The Lord of the Rings has expired in New Zealand (Abre numa nova janela)? Let’s see what the Kiwis will do with that.

And on that note - please do get your reporting right: Lord of the Wings (Abre numa nova janela) was challenged by Middle-earth Enterprises (Abre numa nova janela) (now with Embracer Group (Abre numa nova janela)), the film and merchandise rights’ owners to the Third Age, not the Tolkien family. sigh [NZ Herald]

The assumption that the lack of success for RoP is the reason for the Amazon Prime price hike (Abre numa nova janela) is way too hilarious. [Trusted Reviews] Maybe it has more to do with a move of a former Disney employee to Prime (Abre numa nova janela). [Marketing Dive]

The plagiarism software’s - wrongly titled A.I. - learning mechanism needed a lot of Hugo winners (Abre numa nova janela). [File 770]

For more than twenty years rumours of a Middle-earth themed amusement park have been making the rounds. Given today’s status of Middle-earth as a full-blown IP it seems only a matter of time - and Inside the Magic (Abre numa nova janela) has a few suggestions.

It is quite fascinating to see that writing about writing systems would include the Tengwar as well (Abre numa nova janela). [The Collector]

The film trilogies continue to inspire to this day - even if it is to render Gollum in 3d (Abre numa nova janela). Also check out WetaFX’ recent post (Abre numa nova janela) on their work. [Youtube]

If you want EA to remake its old LotR titles - the change.org petition (Abre numa nova janela) has been gathering steam (again) lately. (Abre numa nova janela)

With the New York Times’ Great Adaptations (Abre numa nova janela) quiz I seriously wanted to press another button (including ASoIaF, RoP, WoT).

Inter alia & Back in the day

An excellent article on the Hobbit adventure game (Abre numa nova janela) for the Spectrum (and later on the C64) and how the Tolkien Estate (?) dealt with such ventures fourty years ago.

The so-called ‘AI’ technology and its abuses: New York Times sues Microsoft and OpenAI for 'billions' (Abre numa nova janela). [BBC]
[P.S. Please use the correct term - plagiarism software.]

If you happen to be interested in the literary genre of science fiction this blog post is worth your time: An Anti-Defense of Science Fiction (Abre numa nova janela). [Ancillary Review of Books]

C.S. Lewis was also a profilic letter writer and John D. Rateliff has some news on the latest project (Abre numa nova janela).

Ansible 438 (Abre numa nova janela) has been published.

Warhammer legend Bryan Ansell (Abre numa nova janela) has died. [Wertzone]

[Ansell] sculpted his first miniature - a guardsman of Gondor - in 1966 after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

I cannot believe that people in San Jose voted Shai-hulud (Abre numa nova janela) as the name for a boring machine - when they could have had Boring McBoringFace!

Google has been screwing over so many people - and now Usenet (Abre numa nova janela) is (slowly but surely) meeting its end. [P.S. Yes, I know, Usenet isn’t quite 2024 but still…]

I love how Star Trek predictions are inspiring people: Star Trek’s prediction of Irish unification in 2024 is upon us, but the full scene muddies the water. (Abre numa nova janela) [Irish Times] And yes, Patrick Stewart might continue doing Trek in his 80s (Abre numa nova janela).

If you need a post looking back at history with a rather biased look at history do go for: The Aragorn Option (Abre numa nova janela). [European Conservative]

I might be able to watch Labyrinth (Abre numa nova janela) again soon as its distribution rights have found a new home. [Animation Magazine]

GRRM lauding Blue Eye Samurai (Abre numa nova janela) and casually mentioning (Abre numa nova janela) some of his stories will move to animation. [Not a Blog & Netflix]

All criticism aside - Hogwarts: Legacy was one of the highest-selling games (Abre numa nova janela) the world over, proving that fantasy games can now even (almost) beat CoD or FIFA.

By the way - the brand ‘Tolkien/ LotR’ is now such a global phenomen it will give you Being a Hobbit in 2024 (Abre numa nova janela) (US politics), Fascists twist Tolkien into Lord of the Right Wing (Abre numa nova janela) (Italian politics), My plan to topple the Tory dark lords in 2024 (Abre numa nova janela) (UK politics), Tolkien’s Warning (Abre numa nova janela) (US Christianity, doom and gloom).

And with those links it might be time to remind you of the audition video Willie Nelson (Abre numa nova janela) did for the PJ Hobbit trilogy.

Memes making the rounds

I am adding the occasional column to this newsletter with RR: Mematro. 😁

Let me start out in saying that recurring memes from all fandoms usually are spread via sources that have a huge following because they have no issues in simply stealing stuff from others and/or with failing to credit artists in question.

Kirsten’s MyFunkyCamelot book thigh holster has been making the rounds because this guy mentioned it (Abre numa nova janela) on Xitter. Kirsten is a long-standing nerd like many of us, making costumes, accessories and the like and you can check her out on Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) and TikTok.

P.S. It should really be a thigh holster for the one vol. edition, if you ask me!

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) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela) : Xitter (Abre numa nova janela)
You can support me by becoming a member with my Steady page (Abre numa nova janela).

If you happen to use Feedly (Abre numa nova janela) - why not subscribe to one of their most popular Tolkien blogs: thetolkienist.com ☺️