Another Place in Time

When we write about Silmarillion events, our stories often concern the time and place where the action primarily occurred. However, there is a broad world beyond--what was going on there, at the same moment in time?

This challenge asks authors to move beyond the places and times of familiar events to consider what was going on elsewhere in Arda at the same time as a major event covered in The Silmarillion. How--if at all--did the event impact what was transpiring elsewhere at the same time?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• We just finished Akallabêth in August last month, and most of the stories concern what was going on upon the isle of Númenor during the Second Age. But what about Middle-earth? Valinor? As Númenor tottered towards its fall, what was life like elsewhere in the world, and did these people have any notion that a major civilization was about to be wiped off of Arda?
• During the Darkening of Valinor and Melkor's escape back to Middle-earth, the Sindarin and Avarin Elves remained in darkness, as they had for centuries. But were they wholly oblivious of the destruction wrought an ocean away and of the changes about to come upon their own lands?
• It is said that the Valar shut their eyes and ears to the exiled Noldor in Middle-earth, but we have proof--the answers to Fingon's prayer to Manwë and Ulmo's numerous manifestations in Beleriand--that this was not always the case. What was life like in Aman after the Noldor left? What awareness--if any--did the Valar and the Elves that remained behind have of their loved ones in the Outer Lands?

This challenge opened in September 2009 .