The One-hundredth Roving Ranger

There has been a break for some time with the Roving Ranger; it will continue on its bi-weekly basis from now on. Thank you for your patience.

Life and Works

May 5, 1977. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography (Opens in a new window) by Humphrey Carpenter is first published.
May 5, 2009. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (Opens in a new window) is first published.
May 9, 1957. Tolkien writes Letter 197 (Opens in a new window) - in answer to his publisher letting him know about the immense success of LotR.
May 10, 1966. Tolkien writes Letter 288 (Opens in a new window) - about the bronze bust that can today still be seen with the English Faculty in Oxford.
May 11, 1922. A Middle English Vocabulary (Opens in a new window), Tolkien's first book, is published.
May 13, 1964. Tolkien writes Letter 256 (Opens in a new window) - about The New Shadow.
May 15, 1945. Charles Williams (Opens in a new window) dies - see Tolkien’s Letter 99. (Opens in a new window)
May 17, 1954. Tolkien writes a letter to Henry Willink (Opens in a new window), stating that in a talk with C.S. Lewis he managed to convince him to accept the chair in Cambridge.

New translations: Romansh (Opens in a new window) (Hobbit) and Mongolian (Opens in a new window) (Lord of the Rings).

Book of the Year: Collected Poems (Opens in a new window) (Hammond / Scull);

Added to the Oxford DNB this year: Christopher Tolkien (Opens in a new window).

The Iron Room has published a piece on Barrow’s Stores (Opens in a new window) - see TCBS (Opens in a new window).
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All dates are taken from Tolkien Gateway (Opens in a new window).

Events & Shows

The Tolkien 50th Anniversary Seminar Series is continuing (Opens in a new window) at Oxford.

I am not quite sure what a Spring Hobbit Hoedown entails but Larp Shire LLC (Opens in a new window) are definitely organising one in May (Opens in a new window) in Ohio. [Instagram; Eventbrite]

However, I am quite sure I have already mentioned the West Stow Anglo-Sacon Village & Country Park before (can there be a better Tolkien location? 🤩) They have been quietly running the Ring Quest for 22 years now (Opens in a new window) - and this video (Opens in a new window) will show you this seems to be a really fun event; you’ll have to wait for their 23rd edition, though. [Youtube]

The New York Tolkien Conference is gearing up nicely and offering suggestions for your visit (Opens in a new window) (guests so far include Donato Giancola, Kristine Larsen and Nicholas Birns). [June 15]

The incredibly successful third rendition of the Lord of the Rings musical (Opens in a new window) is obviously leaving its mark - by moving to Chicago (Opens in a new window). Tickets are already available (Opens in a new window). [What’s on Stage; Chicago Shakespeare Theater]

The Hobbit (Opens in a new window) is on in Pittsburgh (Opens in a new window) (Oct-Nov).

For all event (Opens in a new window)s (Opens in a new window) check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Opens in a new window) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Opens in a new window).

Scholarship and Fandom

Oronzo Cilli, author of Tolkien’s Library and co-curator of the Italian Tolkien exhibition on tour right now, has a blog post on his recent unearthing (Opens in a new window) of the reading of Tolkien’s Notion Club Papers at Stonyhurst.

Another first generation Tolkienist has left us: Richard Plotz, founder of the Tolkien Society of America (Opens in a new window) in 1965, has passed away [Obituary (Opens in a new window); David Bratman (Opens in a new window)]

The Tolkien Society has announced another publication: Tolkien and the Gothic (Opens in a new window). [via Luna Press Publishing (Opens in a new window)] - and its award winners (Opens in a new window).

Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium by Richard Z. Gallant is now available with Walking Tree Publishers (Opens in a new window).

John D. Rateliff has a few thoughts on invented languagues (Opens in a new window).

After a break of almost seven years Jason Fisher has reactivated his blog on Tolkien’s uncle Wilfred (Opens in a new window) [Lingwë - Musings of a Fish]

Another great blog has returned after more than two years: Hail and Farewell (Opens in a new window) [Too Many Books and Never Enough]

A topic and a response worth reading: Nine Tolkien Scholars Respond to Charles W. Mills’s “The Wretched of Middle-Earth: An Orkish Manifesto” (Opens in a new window)[Mythlore]

When the city of Prague was asking for suggestions on what street names to use for city development the Tolkien fans came to its aid - it was all about Rohan (Opens in a new window) - or rather, Rohanské nábřeží (Opens in a new window). [Google Translate] The petition is ongoing, h/t to the lovely people of Tolkien Con (Opens in a new window).

Research on sound aesthetics on conlangs is ongoing as well - and you can participate (Opens in a new window).

Stuart Lee’s chapter on the 1955-1956 radio dramatization of LotR is freely available (Opens in a new window) (first published in Great Tales Never End (Opens in a new window)).

Douglas A. Anderson has an interesting piece on Richard Adams on THE SILMARILLION (Opens in a new window).

David Bratman has a few choice things to say on Nick Groom, Tolkien in the Twenty-First Century: The Meaning of Middle-Earth Today (Opens in a new window).

Mirial Ellis has some thoughts on Éowyn, Faramir and the Houses That Healed Them (Opens in a new window).

The Tolkien Society Outstanding Contribution Award Winner, John D. Rateliff, gave his talk at last year’s Oxonmoot - Writing to Inklings (Opens in a new window) [Youtube]

According to some people Led Zeppelin seem to have been Middle-earth enthusiasts for quite some time during their career - and they frequently get it wrong. Like this one: The Story Behind “Over the Hills and Far Away” by Led Zeppelin and How It Was Inspired by a Tolkien Poem (Opens in a new window) [American Songwriter]
The poem was only published in 1983 with the Book of Last Tales, Part 1 (Opens in a new window), and unless you can show me proof Robert Plant was a close friend of CJRT this ain’t working.

Franchise and Merchandise

The King has died - Bernhard Hill passed away (Opens in a new window). [BBC]

The upcoming ‘cozy’ game Tales of the Shire has a trailer and a website (Opens in a new window).

The producer of the 1968 BBC Hobbit radio adaptation (Opens in a new window), John Powell, has passed away (Opens in a new window). [Guardian]

The Oxford Student has a piece on book’s covers and particularly The Lord of the Rings (Opens in a new window).

FYI:‘The Rings of Power’ Showrunners Sign New Amazon Deal, Begin Early Work on Season 3 (Opens in a new window) [Hollywood Reporter]; a great interview with Charlotte Brandström (Opens in a new window), lead director on season 2. [Drama Quarterly]

Embracer, the group that bought Middle-earth Enterprises (Opens in a new window), continues on its course of consolidation (Opens in a new window). [Game Informer]

The twenty year anniversary of Return of the King’s sweep at the Oscars has seen many posts, see: “Too Many Endings, Man”: How The Lord of the Rings Conquered the Oscars (Opens in a new window) [Vanity Fair]

Hobbiton’s Bagshot Row has won an architectural award (Opens in a new window). [NZ Herald]

You may have seen the Unexpected Parody (Opens in a new window) of the Hobbit film trilogy eleven years ago? The Hillywood Show recently published a Behind the Scenes (Opens in a new window).

Inter alia & Back in the day

You know that Tolkien has long since become mainstream when a Tory minister resigns using his words (Opens in a new window).

An excellent piece (Opens in a new window) on how censorship really works - and is, in fact, most of the times self-censorship (in connection with the Hugo Awards issue) [Reactor] See also David Bratman’s recollection of how the Hugo Awards worked thirty years ago (Opens in a new window).

An original model of the USS Enterprise has resurfaced (Opens in a new window). Even better, it has been authenticated by some of the best people behind the camera.

Left to right: Daren Dochterman (Opens in a new window), Gary Kerr (Opens in a new window), Mike Okuda (Opens in a new window), Denise Okuda (Opens in a new window), Doug Drexler (Opens in a new window), Jules Urbach (Opens in a new window), Rod Roddenberry (Opens in a new window), Gene Kozicki (Opens in a new window), John Goodson (Opens in a new window), and Brian Chanes (Opens in a new window). © Doug Drexler (Opens in a new window).

I do not mind at all that film memorabilia are being auctioned off decades after they have played any role, like an ‘unbound and incomplete’ manuscript of Star Wars IV left behind by Harrison Ford in a rental back then (Opens in a new window). But am I the only one who finds these Age of Celebrity statements creepy?

“It’s got his DNA on it. It might even have [Ford’s] sweat on it,” Sarah Torode, co-owner of Excalibur Auctions, said during the auction. [Source: Deadline (Opens in a new window)]

Way more entertaining to buy - imho - are some chicken stilts (Opens in a new window) used in Star Wars. And although I do not usually like to share trillion dollar companies, well, this fan-including video is pretty hilarious (Opens in a new window). A ‘Star Wars’ Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise (Opens in a new window)[Hollywood Reporter] And a lovely look back with Carrie Fisher (Opens in a new window) from the BBC.

An excellent interview with John Plotz “on Earthsea, Anarchism, and Ursula K. Le Guin (Opens in a new window)” [PublicBooks.org (Opens in a new window)] - and a great homage to her from The Itch (Opens in a new window).

If you are into weird af films - BORDERLANDS (Opens in a new window) seems to be a good fun fit [Youtube] (h/t to PhantaNews (Opens in a new window))

A very good write-up by Adam Whitehead on Marvel’s issues and plans (Opens in a new window) [The Wertzone]

Harry Potter fans will rejoice: all seven novels will be done as full-cast audio books (Opens in a new window). And this write-up on “Harry Pottourism” is quite excellent (Opens in a new window). Dennis Wise has the link to a review on two books discussing J.K. Rowling’s legacy (Opens in a new window). [Mythlore] The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO made clear that production of the Harry Potter series is aiming for a release in 2026 (Opens in a new window). [Hollywood Reporter]

Fans could have had three movies instead of thirteen episodes (Opens in a new window) for the end of Game of Thrones [Variety]

Neil Gaiman is auctioning off part of his collection - and an amazing 126 pieces of art these are (Opens in a new window). [Fine Books Magazine] These are the results (Opens in a new window). And Anthony Daniels is (Opens in a new window), too (C-3PO, that is). [Hollywood Reporter]

Star Trek’s Discovery has seen some special recognition: a Toronto production stage is now named after it (Opens in a new window). And Sweden played a Trek theme when joining NATO - there is a running gag involved, obviously (Opens in a new window).

It may sound like fun and giggles but medieval murders in Oxford (Opens in a new window) is an excellent example of showing you what really happened in 14th century Oxenforde.

A Pratchett / Discworld RPG is in the making (Opens in a new window) [TerryPratchett.com (Opens in a new window)] The inaugural Pratchett Prize (Opens in a new window) has been awarded - and a very special book is coming out in November (Opens in a new window).

Quite an interesting read, with a nod to Tolkien: Folklore is philosophy (Opens in a new window) [Aeon.co (Opens in a new window)] (h/t Taz Cooper)

Always good to see how relevant and important the support of children’s literature is: The Indigenous Literacy Foundation wins $725,000 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (Opens in a new window) [ABC.net.au (Opens in a new window)]

If you need more suggestions on what to read the New York Times has its best from 2000-2023 (Opens in a new window).

You may find this useful: A guide to finally getting into Brandon Sanderson books (Opens in a new window) [Polygon]

An outstanding career: John Williams Faces His Legacy: 54 Oscar Noms, ‘Star Wars’ Mistakes and Changing the Movies Forever (Opens in a new window) [Variety]

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As this is 2024 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.