New Challenge: Crossroads of the Fallen King
Cross "The Silmarillion" with a second text or fandom in this month's crossover challenge.
SWG News
A Sense of History: Thálatta! Thálatta!
While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
Choose a Name for Our New Column!
Our temporarily titled "location bio" will focus on the landscapes and locations of Middle-earth. We need your help naming it!
New Challenge: Tengwar
Each day for thirty-six days, we feature a randomly chosen letter from the Tengwar as a prompt.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] On a night of stars, a bird by Quente
Nimloth and Dior meet, and he is naked.
Alternatively,
Melian travels south to visit her daughter, and meets a familiar looking bird.
Written for the Tengwar prompt, Quessë (feather).
[Writing] Apprentice by Quente
Dior is in Menegroth learning to be his grandfather's heir -- but his grandmother decides to take him as apprentice too.
Written for the Tengwar Challenge, May 15: Súlë (spirit).
[Writing] Tengwar: To The Letter by cuarthol
For the Tengwar prompt challenge.
All 36 prompts plus bonus chapter
[Writing] A blip on the radar by daughterofshadows
Humanity took to the skies. Eärendil and Ilmarë adjust.
[Writing] History abandons us by AdmirableMonster
During his incarceration in Roderick Burgess' basement, Dream receives a strange, ancient visitor.
[Writing] Tengwar Acrostics by Himring
Responses to the Tengwar Challenge in which first letters spell out the name of a tengwa.
1) Early Encounter (Nerdanel, Indis)
2) Numenorean Lullaby (Almarian, Aldarion)
[Writing] Tengwar Drabbles by cílil
A collection of Silmarillion-centric drabbles written for the Tengwar Challenge. Short and sweet!
Current Challenge
Crossroads of the Fallen King
Create a fanwork that crosses with a second text or fandom. Read more ...
Tengwar
A daily prompt of a Tengwar letter per day. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Fanon Inverted
Take a fanon you feel passionately about and turn it on its head, creating a fanwork that goes against the fanon norm. Read more ...
New in References
Thálatta! Thálatta! by Simon J. Cook
[]While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
[]
With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]In a book as full of death as the Quenta Silmarillion, grief and mourning are surprisingly absent. The characters who receive grief and mourning—and those who don't—appear to do so due to narrative bias. Grief and mourning (or a lack of them) serve to draw attention toward and away from objectionable actions committed by characters.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Waybread (The Waybredlik) by Himring
[]Lembas speaks out.
[Series] Apr 1st Stories by Uvatha the Horseman
[]Once a year on April 1st, a canon character from LOTR or the Silmarillion gets pranked.
[Writing] Crossing Forest River by Dawn Felagund
[]Bilbo recounts, in verse, the attempt of Gandalf, Beorn, and him to cross the Forest River after the Battle of Five Armies. Written for the Hungarian Tolkien Society's 2024 Mailing Competition.
Around the World and Web
Mythcon 53: Fantasies of the Middle Lands
Mythcon 53 will be held 2-5 August 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the theme "Fantasies of the Middle Lands."
Teitho May/June Challenge: Joker
For the May/June Teitho challenge, you can pick ANY of our past challenges that stir your imagination and write a story or create art for it.
Monstrous May 2024
Monstrous May is a Tumblr event where, for each day of the month of May, there is a prompt involving and invoking the monstrous.
Fellowship of the Fics: Modern AU May
During May, Fellowship of the Fics offers modern AU prompt lists for setting, character occupation, and dialogue on Tumblr.
May challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The May challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic challenge: name; formal challenge: acrostic. As usual, these can be filled independently and freely combined with other prompts such as the SWG challenges. New participants welcome!
Halls of Mystery
For much of the world, April is a time of rebirth. One of the most intriguing--and controversial--elements of Tolkien's mythology is his notion of Elven "immortality": that Elves who "die" spend a period of time in the halls of Mandos before being reborn in new bodies. Different authors and researchers have interpretted and portrayed the halls of Mandos in vastly different ways; indeed, a look back at the early drafts of the works that would become The Silmarillion shows that Tolkien also had conflicting ideas about the halls of Mandos and the process of Elven rebirth. Early ideas presented in The Book of Lost Tales depict a hall that is "draped with dark vapours and its floors and columns were of jet" (while Nienna keeps a hall as well that is roofed with bats' wings!). Tolkien dabbled with the idea of Elves being reborn as the children of their children, being given new parents, or being remade into bodies like those they had inhabited in their first life.
So which is it? Perhaps the most reliable conclusion about the halls of Mandos is that we know next to nothing about them at all!
This month's challenge offers you the chance to explore the place and ideas behind one of the most mysterious locations on Arda. Your story, poem, essay, or vignette should explore the halls of Mandos or the ideas of Elven "death" and rebirth to take your readers on a journey through the surreal, inexplicable, or just plain weird.
This challenge opened in .
Fanworks Tagged with Halls of Mystery
Lessons from the Mountain by MithLuin
What happened to the spirit of Maedhros when he died?
The Fourth Station by MithLuin
Maedhros meets someone he does not expect in the Halls of Mandos.
First Place (Short Works) - SWG's Silmarillion Anniversary Contest (2007)
Return to Me by Dawn Felagund
Finarfin assists with the re-embodiment of his son Finrod.
