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Nolofinwëan Week 2025

Nolofinwëan Week welcomes fan creations centering any members of the House of Fingolfin and their descendants through the ages. Nolofinwëan Week 2025 will run from November 2nd - 8th.

To Participate

• Create fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, close readings and musings, moodboards, photography, rec lists or anything else that inspires you to celebrate Nolofinwëan characters.
• Mention the blog @nolofinweanweek in your post and include the hashtag #nolofinweanweek2025 in the first 10 tags.
• If you would like, add your work to the AO3 collection.
• Take inspiration from the nonmandatory daily prompts.
• Complete one or more of the community challenges.

Rules & Requirements

• There are no minimum or maximum requirements; anything goes!
• There are no content restrictions or rules on tagging beyond what AO3 requires of you. If you post to tumblr and your fill is Mature or Explicit, and/or falls under one of AO3’s major warnings, please provide tagging on your post, though!
• That said, please refrain from using genAI.
• This fest operates firmly under the premises of ‘don’t like; don’t read,’ ‘ship and let ship’ and ‘your kink is not my kink but that’s okay’ (if you’re unfamiliar with these concepts, see this post). We will not tolerate any shaming, harassment, or attempts to police content.

Prompts

Day 1: Heroism

• Characters: Fingon | Gil-galad | Argon
• Places: Ard-Galen | Thangorodrim | Mordor
• Inspirational Poem:

A song for the heroes who saw the sign And took their place in the battle-line. They were walls of granite and gates of brass, These heroes that cried, "They shall not pass." And they hurled them back in a storm of cheers, And the sound will echo on over the years. —E. F. Hayward

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Day 2: Sacrifice

• Characters: Anairë | Elenwë | Elwing
• Places: Valinor | Helcaraxë
• Inspirational Poem:

Love cannot be bought, Neither hath it price; It seeks not, and is given unsought, A glad self-sacrifice. —John Boyle O'Reilly

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Day 3: Adventure

• Characters: Aredhel | Tuor
• Places: Vinyamar | Nan Dungortheb
• Inspirational Poem:

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. —Robert Frost

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Day 4: Wisdom

• Characters: Fingolfin | Turgon | Elrond
• Places: Mithrim | Barad Eithel | Lindon
• Inspirational Poem:

The tree must stand, it cannot run;Whatever comes of snow or sun It has to bear; it has no fears; Knowing not regret nor tears It stands and stretches to the sky Without a murmur, plaint or sigh— And this has stood a thousand years, And seen ten thousand storms go by! —Annette Wynne

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Day 5: Heritage

• Characters: Idril | Maeglin | Eärendil
• Places: Gondolin | Sirion
• Inspirational Poem:

My river runs to thee: Blue sea, wilt welcome me? My river waits reply. Oh sea, look graciously! I'll fetch thee brooks From spotted nooks, — Say, sea, Take me! —Emily Dickinson

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Day 6: Separation

Characters: Elros | Eöl | Celebrían

Places: Nan Elmoth | Númenor

Inspirational Poem:

Fare thee well! the ship is ready, And the breeze is fresh and steady. Hands are fast the anchor weighing; High in the air the streamer's playing. Spread the sails—the waves are swelling Proudly round thy buoyant dwelling, Fare thee well! and when at sea, Think of those, who sigh for thee. —Hannah Flagg Gould

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Day 7: Memory

• Characters: Peredil Descendants | Original Characters
• Places: Rivendell | Arnor | Gondor
• Inspirational Poem:

Only lovers see the fall a signal end to endings a gruffish gesture alerting those who will not be alarmed that we begin to stop in order to begin again. —Maya Angelou

Community Challenges

Community challenges are a way to share some love with the fandom community or participate in a low-commitment way.

Day 1: Step away from the beaten path: Pick a Nolofinwëan character that you usually skip over or simply haven't really thought about much. Read a story featuring that character. Look up some new art. Don't forget to leave a kudo, a comment, or hit the reblog button.

Day 2: Discover someone new: Find a creator who is participating in Nolofinwëan Week this year and who is new(ish) to you. Follow them and interact with their creations (read, share, comment). 

Day 3: Share your faves: Create a rec list of your favorite creations featuring Nolofinwëan characters. Don't forget to tag the creators if they are on Tumblr.

Day 4: Inspire something new: Send a creator an Ask (anon or not) with an optional prompt. Don't forget to be gentle and encouraging as you go about it.

Day 5: Heap some love: Send a creator an Ask (anon or not) and tell them how much you love their work, or maybe ask them to do a "director's cut" about something they created.

Day 6: Do a Throwback: Dig a little through that bookmarks list! Reblog or share a link to an older creation featuring Nolofinwëan characters and let the creator know why you like it in the tags.

Day 7: Give a gift: Give your faves a little gift! Create a moodboard, a playlist, or a drabble based on a creation you loved. Tag the person who is receiving the gift.

Tolkien Horror Week 2025

Day 1: Angband, Utumno, & Tol-in-Gaurhoth | beautiful and yet horrible of shape | captives and thralls

Day 2: Angmar & Minas Morgul | lit with a fell light | specters and wraiths

Day 3: Mordor & the Dead Marshes | enmeshed in shadows | spells and enchantments

Day 4: The Barrow-downs & the Old Forest | cold be hand and heart and bone | mists and mires

Day 5: Mirkwood, Nan Elmoth, & Taur-nu-Fuin | hunted like wild beasts | beasts and monsters

Day 6: Nan Dungortheb & the Paths of the Dead | phantoms of terror | webs and snares

Day 7: Isengard, Moria, & Númenor | old and forgotten | rituals and sacrifices

Tolkien Fanfiction Survey, 3rd Edition

Do you read or write fanfiction based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien or a Tolkien media adaptation like the film trilogies or Rings of Power series? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The Tolkien Fanfiction Survey first ran in 2015 and has run every five years since. We are excited to introduce the third edition, which will give us insight into how the fandom has changed across the last decade!

What is it like to participate?

If you choose to participate, we will collect basic demographic information and ask you about your beliefs and habits regarding reading and/or writing Tolkien-based fanfiction. Most questions are multiple choice, but there is also a space on each page where you can elaborate on any of your answers if you want to share more information with us. You can skip any question you don't want to answer and quit the survey at any time.

The survey will take about 15-20 minutes to complete.

Who can participate?

• Participants must be 18 years or older.
• We want to hear from both readers and writers of Tolkien-based fanfiction.
• All levels of experience and involvement with Tolkien are welcome.
• Readers and writers of fic based on Jackson's film trilogies, The Rings of Power, and other Tolkien-derived media are welcome as well.
• If you read and/or wrote Tolkien-based fanfiction in the past but don't any longer, we still want to hear from you!

Who are you and what do you plan to do with the results?

We are Dawn "Felagund" Walls-Thumma and Maria K. Alberto, and we are both readers and writers of Tolkien fanfiction! Dawn is an independent scholar in Tolkien and fan studies, and Maria is an assistant professor at Richland Community College.

We hope this survey will help us to better understand how our fandom interacts with fanfiction, the texts and adaptations, and one another as fellow readers and writers. We will aggregate survey responses to look for trends and changes across the past decade of survey results. This data will be used in conference presentations, papers, and articles about Tolkien fandom and Tolkien-based fanfiction, but we will also share our data and findings in fandom spaces. We will also make data available to other researchers who want to do similar research.

If you have questions or concerns about this survey, you can contact either of us: Dawn Walls-Thumma at DawnFelagund@gmail.com or Maria K. Alberto at m.l.e.alberto@gmail.com.

Click here to start the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey!

Please signal boost the survey in other Tolkien fan spaces, where it is appropriate to do so.

Leaf & Lore: A Tolkien Writing Month

Start a story, work on a WIP, finish a fic, dabble in drabbles, pen a poem, type a tale, or otherwise wrestle with words. Set your own goal: Leaf & Lore is all up to you. 

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Welcome! Brought to you by @idleleaves and @independence1776, Leaf & Lore: A Tolkien Writing Month is a Tolkien-centric writing challenge that starts on the 1st of November and ends on the 30th.

Any and all parts of the Legendarium are welcome, from The Hobbit, LotR, and The Silmarillion to The History of Middle-earth series to film and TV adaptations of Tolkien's works.

Leaf & Lore is choose-your-own-goal - you can go with a traditional fic word count goal (from the easily achievable to the truly challenging) or you can participate in another way. Maybe you'd like to set a goal of editing a long fic instead, or complete a set amount of chapters, or even write meta? Goals can be changed or updated at any time, too. And if you're more of a reader than a writer, come join in as a beta or a cheerleader!

The Discord server will have both scheduled and impromptu write-ins, weekly low-pressure check-ins, plus channels for Tolkien chat, fic chat, snippets and sharing, and of course an off-topic channel as well. You can ask for a beta or a cheerleader at any time, too! 

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2025 SCHEDULE:

• Oct 17 - Discord server opens! Time to sign up and declare your goals! There will be a sign-up form posted on the 17th so you can be e-mailed the invite link to the Discord server.
• Check-Ins - Nov 08, 15, 22, and 29.
• Official Write-In Sessions - Nov 02, 16, and 30 at 16:00 UTC and 20:00 UTC each time.
• Dec 13 - Server closes! See you next year!

FAQ

Quick FAQ time!

1. What can I write? Whatever you want - fic, poetry, or meta are just some of the options! We will not attempt to place restrictions on subject matter within your work and we do not allow policing of content. If you choose to share, on our Discord server, a snippet containing material commonly regarded as being sensitive and/or triggering, please use spoiler bars. What warnings you use (if any) if/when you post on AO3, SWG, Tumblr, etc. are up to you.

2. Is there a minimum or maximum goal? Nope! If writing a 100-word drabble is a challenge for you, go with it! If you want to treat this as a full-blown NaNo and aim for 50k, go for it. If you want to edit three chapters or finish a draft of a languishing WIP, then that's your goal. This is a self-challenge, so what that looks like will be different for everyone.

3. Can I change my project or goal? Absolutely. We're here to encourage, not to shame. If you want or need to change something at any point during the month, please do.

4. Can I drop out? Yes! We all have things happen in the course of our lives that make participating in fandom difficult or impossible. There is not and never will be a penalty for dropping out.

5. What are the check-ins like? Very low-pressure - just how are you all doing, anyone struggling, anyone doing well, anyone want to talk about how things are going, anyone need a beta or cheerleader?

Curufinrod Week 2025

Curufinrod Week is a Tumblr and AO3 event that welcomes fan creations centering on any iteration of the realtionship between Curufin and Finrod through the ages. Curufinrod Week will run for the first time this year from October 13th - 19th!

To Participate

• Create fanfiction, fanart, headcanons, close readings and musings, moodboards, photography, rec lists or anything else that inspires you!
• Curufin and Finrod should be somewhat the centre of your creation, although their relationship does not have to be romantic, and additional characters are welcome!
• Mention the blog @curufinrodweek in your post and include the hashtag #curufinrodweek2025 in the first 10 tags.
• If you would like, add your work to the AO3 collection (tba).
• Take inspiration from the nonmandatory daily prompts (tba).

Rules & Requirements

• There are no minimum or maximum requirements; anything goes!
• Late submissions, submissions not following any prompts (or combining them, interpreting them loosely, etc.) are all welcome!
• There are no content restrictions or rules on tagging beyond what AO3 requires of you. If you post to tumblr and your fill is Mature or Explicit, and/or falls under one of AO3's major warnings, please provide tagging on your post, though.
• That said, please refrain from using genAI.
• This fest operates firmly under the premises of ‘don’t like; don’t read,’ ‘ship and let ship’ and ‘your kink is not my kink but that’s okay’ (if you’re unfamiliar with these concepts, see this post). We will not tolerate any shaming, harassment, or attempts to police content.
• Please be a respectful and encouraging community member! This means:
  • Do not repost content by other creators without their explicit permission. Please re-blog instead to support their work.
  • Please do not engage in any sort of unfair use of other people’s creations.
  • Respect other people’s headcanons and interpretations, even if you don’t share them.
  • Content and creators espousing any form of negativity, bigotry, aggression or discrimination against others will not be tolerated.

Disrespecting these rules will lead to being blocked from the event.

Prompts

• Day 1: October 13th Pre-Darkening/Valinor | Amnesia | Forests, Springs, and Lakes
• Day 2: October 14th The Darkening & the Doom  | Time Travel/Time Loop | Nightsky & Varda's Creations
• Day 3: October 15th Himlad & Ossiriand | Hurt/Comfort | Forges & Crafts
• Day 4: October 16th Nargothrond & Sirion  | Arranged Marriage/Fake Dating | Winter & Ice
• Day 5: October 17th Oaths & Promises | Angst & Tragedy | The Nauglamir/Gifts & Jewellery
• Day 6: October 18th The Halls of Mandos/Re-embodiment | Enemies to Lovers & Lovers to Enemies | Feasts & Celebrations
• Day 7: October 19th Laws and Customs Among the Eldar | Porn without Plot/Porn with Plot | Sex and Kinks of all Kinds

Oxford/Bloomsbury Fantasy Summer School

The University of Oxford has produced a series of YouTube videos for their Fantasy Summer School

October Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks

Here is the tolkienshortfanworks challenge for October.

Thematic prompt: 

Below is an alphabetic list of plants said to grown in Ithilien. Pick at least one plant name to include in your fanwork. The fanwork can be set in Ithilien, but does not need to be.

Anemone, ash-tree, asphodel; bay, briars; cedar, celandine, clematis, cypress; eglantine; fir; ilex, iris; juniper; lebethron, lily; marjoram, myrtles; oak, olive tree; parsley, primerole; rose; sage, saxifrage, stonecrop; tamarisk, terebinth, thyme; water-lily, wood hyacinth.

[Helpful hint, if you are interested in combining this prompt with the SWG's Jumble Sale challenge: this list has a couple of additional plant names that are not included in the bingo card I compiled on the same subject for SWG.]

Formal challenge:

Your fanwork should include one or more set of in-universe instructions; for instance, instructions for tasks in botany, agriculture, cookery, medicine, etc.
These could be written or traditional oral instructions.

As usual, these two prompt sets can be filled separately or combined.

Usual reminder that in order to post the fill to this community or to the related collection on AO3 (linked in a sticky post at the top), the fanwork can only have a word count up to 1000 words and must be linked to a Tolkien fandom.
Rec lists and podfics can be posted as fills for thematic prompts, as long as the fanworks concerned meet those conditions.

Also we continue to welcome other pieces unrelated to any challenge, of course, including cross-posts and older stories, as long as they meet the criteria!

Tolkien Latin American and Caribbean Week 2025

A week dedicated to celebrate Latin American and Caribbean cultures, peoples and traditions through Tolkien's Legendarium. It will start on October 6th (Monday) at 00:00, Brasilia time. The event will end on October 12th, but feel free to post after the week is over. I'll still check tags, mentions and submissions for a while.

Everyone is free to participate, you don't have to be latino or caribbean nor have deep knowledge about Latin America/Caribbean to participate on this event. All creations are welcome - arts, graphics, gifs, fanfics, etc. - as long as they represent a Latin American/Caribbean element(s). It can be languages, cultures, traditions, anything from Latin America/Caribbean. Creations should be Safe for Work, no explicit content will be accepted to make this week accessible to everyone.

Please don't forget to tag your contributions with #tolkienlatam&caribbeanweek and mention me @tolkienlatamandcaribbeanweek.

Here are the prompts! Remember they are not mandatory, but they can inspire you. Feel free to create outside these themes.

↬ Day One: The Song of Creation | Years of the Trees | The Flight of the Ñoldor

↬ Day two: First Age | The Sun and the Moon | Hidden Realms

↬ Day three: Mortal and Immortal | Hope Carried on a Star | Fate Rewritten

↬ Day four: Second Age | Lord of Gifts | Last Alliance

↬ Day five: Númenor | Nimloth | Waters Took All

↬ Day six: Third Age | Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost | The Return of the King

↬ Day seven: Freeform | OCs | AU

Last, but not least, don't forget to check the pinned post with rules, FAQ, other notes, etc.

Erestober 2025

What is Erestober? Erestober is an event running from October 1st - 31st 2025, to encourage any and all fanworks featuring Erestor, chief counsellor of Imladris!

Why is Erestober? Because I saw an event called "Erostober," misread the name, and then got disappointed when I realised it wasn't about Erestor, so, here we are.

How do I participate in Erestober? You simply create fanwork - fic, art, meta, anything you can think of - featuring Erestor and post it during the month! For further information regarding permissible content, see the rules & guidelines below. No sign-up of any kind required.

How do I post my creations? If you want your submission to be shared on this blog, simply post it on tumblr and tag @erestober. There is an Ao3 collection as well where you can post submissions, and if you do not want to post on tumblr or would prefer to remain anonymous, you can post it on a platform of your choice and send an ask with the link to this blog and I will share it!

Do I have to create something every day? No! Create as much or as little as you like.

Can I combine creations for Erestober with other events, such as Inktober? Sure!

Can I post something I've created in the past? Go for it! The more Erestor the merrier.

Can I post unfinished creations? Absolutely! Tolkien had Unfinished Tales, and so can we.

Can I post creations for Erestober after the event is over? Sure! Just keep in mind that I likely won't be checking the blog daily after the month is over, so it might be a while until your submission gets shared - if it hasn't been reblogged after a few weeks, feel free to send a DM or ask to @maglor-my-beloved.

What about dark or NSFW creations? Dark and NSFW content is welcome, as long as it is appropriately tagged. If you do not want to see such content, it is up to you to take the necessary steps to curate your experience - harassment of creators will not be tolerated.

Why have you not reblogged my post? Tumblr's notifications can be unreliable, so if you used the tag #erestober and tagged this blog (@erestober) and your post has not been reblogged after 24h, please send an ask or DM with the link and I will share it!

Prompts

October 1st - 7th

Beside Glorfindel there were several other counsellors of Elrond’s household, of whom Erestor was the chief.

Origins | Lore | Life

Epistolary | Bookbinding | Meta

Roasted Chestnuts | Rainy Afternoons | Corn Mazes

October 8th - 14th

“Then,” said Erestor, “there are but two courses, as Glorfindel already has declared; to hide the Ring for ever; or to unmake it. But both are beyond our power. Who will read this riddle for us?”

Riddles | Decisions | Uncertainty

Drabbles | Moodboards | Costume Design

Falling Leaves | Equinox | Fairy Tales

October 15th - 21st

First rode Elrohir and Elladan with a banner of silver, and then came Glorfindel and Erestor and all the household of Rivendell.

Relationships | Family | Loyalty

Filking | Photography | Fiber Arts

Harvest Festivals | Kite Flying | Candy

October 22nd - 28th

“Thus we return once more to the destroying of the Ring,” said Erestor, “and yet we come no nearer. What strength have we for the finding of the Fire in which it was made? That is the path of despair. Of folly I would say, if the long wisdom of Elrond did not forbid me.”

Hope and despair | Wisdom | Experience

Poetry | Calligraphy | Sculpture

First Frost | Fog | Wind

October 29th - 31st

“But within those bounds nothing seems to dismay him,” said Erestor.

Alternate Universe | Crack | Beyond Canon

Playlists | Comments | Rec Lists

Ghosts | Pumpkins | Cobwebs

Barduil October 2025

31 prompts with a variety of vibes for this month-long event celebrating the relationship between Thranduil and Bard the Bowman. You can write, draw, make a moodboard, make a playlist, or perform an interpretive dance to one, some, many, or all of the prompts - just be sure to tag @bi-widower-dads so one of the mods can share it on the blog! Please feel free to drop an ask or message @scary-grace if you have any questions. For more information visit bi-widower-dads on Tumblr.

Prompts

• New Moon
• Woodsmoke
• Cobwebs
• Apples
• Masquerade
• Silence
• Fallen Leaves
• Bonfire
• Shadows
• Rites
• Candlelight
• Pumpkin
• Monsters
• Cold Nights
• Crescent Moon
• Clouds
• Spices
• First Frost
• Half Moon
• Costumes
• Folktales
• Dried Flowers
• Eyes
• Caramel
• Gibbous Moon
• Possession
• Stars
• Mist
• Spirits
• Full Moon
• The Veil Lifts