The Ninety-eighth Roving Ranger
Life and Works
February 4, 1937. Tolkien's poem "The Dragon's Visit (Opens in a new window)" is published in The Oxford Magazine.
February 5, 1968. The first day of filming for the documentary Tolkien in Oxford (Opens in a new window).
February 6, 1972. Tolkien writes a letter to Vera Chapman and the Tolkien Society (Opens in a new window); for the birthday gift see this (Opens in a new window).
February 8, 1964. Tolkien writes Letter 294 (Opens in a new window); if you ever wanted to get an idea how bad interviews can turn out, this one is for you.
February 10, 1966. Tolkien writes a letter to Donald A. Wollheim (Opens in a new window) (of the Ace Books (Opens in a new window) controversy.)
February 11, 1945. Tolkien writes Letter 97 (Opens in a new window)(one my all-time favourite entries with Tolkien Gateway: Etymological exasperation). ☺️
February 13, 1923. Tolkien writes Letter 6 (Opens in a new window) to Elizabeth Mary Wright (Opens in a new window), thanking her for the article by her husband (Opens in a new window) she had sent to him.
February 14, 1896. Tolkien (Opens in a new window) dictates a letter to his father (Opens in a new window), aged three.
“"I am so glad I am coming back to see you it is such a long time since we came away from you I hope the ship will bring us all back to you Mamie and Baby and me…”
February 15, 1896. Arthur Tolkien (Opens in a new window), Tolkien's father, dies.
If you ever need a really short biography of Tolkien have a look at this (Opens in a new window).
HarperCollins have released the covers for the UK History of Middle-earth paperbacks coming out - see all of them and the discussion (Opens in a new window) with TolkienGuide.com.
Events & Shows (Opens in a new window)
Now, this is a little difficult to describe but this year’s Gulf Wars (Opens in a new window)The Known World Party’s theme will be Gondor. Master Kat the Strange (Opens in a new window) published this with the Kingdom of Gleann Abhann (Opens in a new window) Facebook group, a a part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (Opens in a new window) (March 9-17). [Facebook]
Registration for MythCon 53 is open now (Opens in a new window) (August 2024).
Lure of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) has anncounced its schedule for the February festivities at Castle Stahleck (fan organised con for Middle-earth CCG and LotR LCG).
The Canadian Children’s Opera Company in Toronto will be doing The Hobbit (Opens in a new window)from May to June.
The Lord of the Rings musical version with the Watermill Theatre (Opens in a new window) seems to have been not only a smash hit for the theatre but has also won nine awards recently (Opens in a new window). Even theBBC (Opens in a new window) noted:
A venue that staged a Lord of the Rings musical after losing its arts funding has won theatre of the year at a national awards ceremony.
Norwegian composer and long-time Tolkien enthusiast Martin Romberg has his Elven Songs nominated at the Norwegian Music Publishers Award (Opens in a new window). (Listen to his rendition of A Elbereth Gilthoniel (Opens in a new window). [Youtube]
There are two slots this year to see some of the Tolkien manuscripts (Opens in a new window) at Marquette University (March and September).
The upcoming New York Tolkien Conference is looking for volunteers (Opens in a new window).
The French convention Sur les Terres de l’Unique (Opens in a new window) is moving to Plestin les Grèves (Opens in a new window), Brittany. [Facebook; September 28-29]
The eighth Convegno Internazionale di «Poetica & Cristianesimo» at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Opens in a new window) in Rome has Tolkien as a topic (Opens in a new window). [April 18-19]
The Department of English and American Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Opens in a new window), Slovakia, invites you to Emotions in Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) [Call for Papers; event happens March 22, in person & online]
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 and Fandom
John Garth has this: Queen of the Rings: Did Tolkien help Margrethe of Denmark abdicate? (Opens in a new window), with David Bratman commenting (Opens in a new window).
Douglas A. Anderson has Fairy-tale Versions of Beowulf (Opens in a new window).
My short review of the LPBD edition of Tolkien is listed with Tolkien Gleanings (Opens in a new window) - so here is a shoutout to David Haden for his excellent Tolkien-related listings you can subscribe to as well.
The Wonder of the Wade series has Laura Schmidt Stanifer (Opens in a new window), the Wade (Opens in a new window) archivist, talk about its Hobbit first edition. Really, anything Laura has to say on Tolkien should catch your attention. [Youtube]
Have a look at the Tolkien sessions (Opens in a new window) at the International Medieval Congress (Opens in a new window) (h/t Andrew Higgins (Opens in a new window)).
Anna Smol has some thoughts on John Howe, J.R.R. Tolkien and art: Drawing your way into a fantasy landscape (Opens in a new window).
Richard Gray has some thoughts (Opens in a new window) on the new Letters edition.
Please note: Whenever you need to know anything about Tolkien’s letters visit the TCG Guide to Tolkien’s Letters (Opens in a new window).
A lovely story that happened recently: When the Peruvian Tolkien Society (Opens in a new window) did a Zoom call (Opens in a new window) talking about the History of the Hobbit they had a surprise guest - none other than author John D. Rateliff, thanks to the intervention of Erik Mueller-Harder (Opens in a new window). [Facebook; Sacnoth’s Scriptorium]
Bruce Charlton has some thoughts on Tolkien’s poetry and particularly The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (Opens in a new window).
I am happy to present another amazing artist in my “Tolkien Travel Poster” series, Danielle Sylvan (Opens in a new window). [thetolkienist.com (Opens in a new window)]
Stephen C. Winter has another interesting piece: “There Are Dead Things, Dead Faces in The Water.” Frodo and Sam Cross The Dead Marshes.” (Opens in a new window)
Seldom have I read a poem with more pleasure than Dear Tolkien Estate (Opens in a new window). [Tales after Tolkien Society]
Would you have expected these keywords when talking about Gimli - “Neotropical, Zalmoxoidea, relict, sexual dimorphism, cave-dwellers”? Well, then you probably are a scientist finding spiders in the dark (Opens in a new window) and naming them.
Check out Myla Malinalda’s rainbow series with Instagram (Opens in a new window).
Franchise and Merchandise
The Hobbit Hole (Opens in a new window), a game shop opened in September 2014 in Catteris, Cambridgeshire, is closing in March (Opens in a new window); if you feel like taking it over, do talk to the owner (Opens in a new window). [Cambridgeshire Live, Facebook]
Some background information on the casting for (Opens in a new window)Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from Emmy winner Theo Park (Opens in a new window) [Casting Network]
Games Workshop has published information (Opens in a new window) on what lies in store for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game community in 2024. My favourite? The ME Hobby Bingo (Opens in a new window) [PDF download].
An interesting with the Bookseller explains marketing in modern terms, using the recent example of Sarah J Maas: Understanding fandom (Opens in a new window).
I know, I do have to share it: Margot Robbie’s greatest film crush (Opens in a new window) was Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn (Opens in a new window). [W Magazine; Youtube] My favourite: Ryan Gosling asking first: “Wait, from the book?”
Available now and until #RovingRanger100 on March 1st: trial memberships with the Tolkienist at Steady
Alan Sisto of the Prancing Pony Podcast, John Garth, members of the Tolkien Guide team and one of the world's leading Tolkien linguists have already joined my in my Steady adventure 🤩
Inter alia & Back in the day
Ah, a different Leia would have made for a different film - Jodie Foster (Opens in a new window). [Guardian]
An insightful essay on C.S. Lewis as a poet: Dennis Wilson Wise, "The New Poets of Rum-Ram-Ruf: C. S. Lewis, The Nameless Isle" (Opens in a new window).
The WorldCon (Opens in a new window) in Chengdu has been criticised ever since the vote decided on China. Now, according to reports, some writers were excluded for no apparent reason from the Hugo awards (Opens in a new window); File770 has more (Opens in a new window) on this. [Guardian]
I know, there really isn’t that much to connect them (yet) to Tolkien but twin brothers that share a birthday with Frodo and Bilbo (Opens in a new window) and are planning on turning “a meadow higher up on their property into the Flathead Shire with some Hobbiton-style in-ground homes”, well, that’s worth a mention. [Flathead Beacon, Montana]
The new edition of Letters is already being put to use: Tolkien on Loyalty to the Church (Opens in a new window) [Where Peter is].
The Star Trek franchise might change owners (Opens in a new window), again. [TrekMovie]
Fandom finds many ways to express itself - like a Choc’lit Throne (Opens in a new window) for GRRM.
You will find a lot of material right now on the anniversary for D&D - do have a look at: Happy 50th Birthday to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and the tabletop roleplaying genre (Opens in a new window) [Wertzone]
It is not much of a surprise that music super stars like Ed Sheeran pay quite a bit of tax (Opens in a new window) but some fantasy authors really are up there in the UK. [Independent]
And yes, Harry Potter (Opens in a new window) will get a “decade-long” series - and more (Opens in a new window). [Variety; Inside the Magic]
That certainly was not the headline I thought I would add to this newsletter: YouTube, Discord, and Lord of the Rings Led Police to a Teen Accused of a US Swatting Spree (Opens in a new window). [Wired; limited free reading]
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 (Opens in a new window) : Facebook (Opens in a new window) : Bluesky (Opens in a new window) : Instagram (Opens in a new window) : Mastodon (Opens in a new window) : Xitter (Opens in a new window)
You can support me by becoming a member with my Steady page (Opens in a new window).
If you happen to use Feedly (Opens in a new window) - why not subscribe to one of their most popular Tolkien blogs: thetolkienist.com ☺️
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.
