United They Stand

Throughout the books we see women like Haleth leading their people, or Lúthien doing deeds no other man dared to do. Dwarves meeting elves, or Oromë discovering the elves. Emancipation and equality can be found in the Professor's words, and we would like to challenge you to create a fanwork about this process. To get you started, here are some ideas to explore:

• What do you think it means for all people in Arda to be treated equally? What would such a civilisation look like? Are there traditions or conflicts that show how some people are not treated as equals? We want to dare you to explore how this came to be. Is it cultural or were there outside influences like the evil in Tolkien's world?
• How would your characters view it? Would it prompt them into action or would they accept it as a given fact? How would ethnic and racial diversity work? Ask yourself how they would interact after they met, and how perhaps their traditions would either clash or melt together. Or how would equality be shown between people. Would a man treat a woman as an equal or how would unions between your characters be seen? There are plenty of ideas to explore and write about, but with this challenge the main focus should be on emancipation & equality.

This challenge opened in July 2013 .