The One hundred and twenty-fifth Roving Ranger

Life and Works

Feb 21, 1958. Tolkien writes Letter 205 (Opens in a new window) on Christopher's lecture presentation at Oxford; proud father moment.
Feb 23, 1961. Tolkien (Opens in a new window) writes Letter 229 (Opens in a new window), his “reaction to Åke Ohlmarks (Opens in a new window)' ‘nonsense’” in the Swedish translation to Lord of the Rings.
Feb 27, 1930. Joseph Wright (Opens in a new window), former tutor of Tolkien, dies.
Feb 28, 1949. Tolkien writes Letter 119 (Opens in a new window), ‘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 (Opens in a new window). [3019, Feb 26.]

Events & Shows

The Hobbit is on with the Hillcrest Center for the Arts (Opens in a new window) in Thousand Oaks, California.

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

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

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

The Online MidSummer Seminar 2025 of the Mythopoeic Society (Opens in a new window) has a date and its CfP (deadline March 31): More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy (Opens in a new window).

The Middle-earth Festival (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

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. (Opens in a new window)

Wander the medieval streets that inspired ‘The Lord of The Rings’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (Opens in a new window)[Our Sunday Visitor; h/t Tolkien Gleanings (Opens in a new window)]

Lord of the Rings Online dev Q&A talks about class revamps, kinship refresh, and the next roadmap (Opens in a new window) [Massively Overpowered; bullet point list with the forums (Opens in a new window)]

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

I have listed Posts published with Steady for the months of September 2024 – January 2025 (Opens in a new window) [thetolkienist.com (Opens in a new window)]

Nick Polk has Agatha All Along and Tolkien's Warning of Dangerous Myths (Opens in a new window). [Substack]

Putri Prihatini has made the shorter version of her TS Seminar 2023 (Opens in a new window) presentation available with her blog: “The Sea Goddess and the King: on Aldarion, Uinen, and Javanese Queen of the Southern Sea (Opens in a new window).”

New material has been added to the most recent issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research (Opens in a new window).

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

Bon Bergstrom GoodKnight shared memories of her daughter Arwen Joy GoodKnight (Opens in a new window) [File770]

doubtfulsea has Into the Fire (Opens in a new window).

Merchandise & Franchise

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

Lord of the Rings: Woobles (Opens in a new window) are here (crochet.)

The next video game has pushed its schedule to July: Tales of the Shire (Opens in a new window). [Instagram]

Inter alia & Back in the Day

Fantasy fiction doesn’t need reclaiming for women – they already write and read it (Opens in a new window) [Guardian]

Daisy Ridley Talks the Physical Toll of ‘Cleaner’ and Quality Over Quickness for Her Next ‘Star Wars’ Movie (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter]

Step Into the Free and Infinite Laboratory of the Mind (Opens in a new window) [on science fiction; issues.org]

Register for free on a “Directors Discussion with Oscars Animated Shorts Contenders” (Opens in a new window) [Feb 27; h/t INDAC (Opens in a new window)]

Lewis Carroll collection given to his Oxford college in surprise US donation (Opens in a new window) [Guardian]

The SELIM Research Seminar 2025 (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) roundabout in Oxford is incredibly dangerous and it still has ads on it. A community effort (Opens in a new window) 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? (Opens in a new window)[JSTOR; free download]

J.K. Rowling’s Agency Hires Former Disney Exec to Lead Harry Potter Franchise Team, Taps Universal Music Alum as CCO (Opens in a new window) [Variety]

Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (Opens in a new window) by Jordan S. Carroll may be read free online.

James Bond has been sold, now for real (Opens in a new window). [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. (Opens in a new window)

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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