Around the World and Web includes announcements and items of interest from beyond the SWG.
Week of Kiliel
Welcome to Week of Kiliel!
This event will be held May 17-23! The goal of this week is to celebrate and be creatively inspired by the relationship between Tauriel and Kili Durin! We want to encourage The Hobbit community to make Kiliel art, fanfiction, edits, crafts, and more!
Rules:
• There are prompts for every day to inspire your creativity! You can pick one or multiple from each day, and they can be followed as loosely or as closely as you would like!
• Please use the tag “#week of kiliel” so we can reblog your entries! You can also tag @weekofkiliel! We are so excited to see and support all of your work!
• Late entries are fine, though we ask that you do not post earlier!
• If you have an existing work that fits one of these prompts that you would like to submit, that is fine, but please repost about it with the hashtag on the day it corresponds to! While we accept already existing works, we really want to encourage new Kiliel content as that is one of the goals of Kiliel week!
• NSFW is allowed! While none of the prompts are explicitly NSFW, NSFW is permitted as long as it is properly tagged!
• While the main ship and characters should be Kiliel, background ships and characters are welcome! However, for this event we do not accept Durincest or other incest ships.
NO AI WILL BE PERMITTED FOR THIS EVENT, ANY AI ENTRIES WILL BE UNOFFICIAL AND WILL NOT BE REBLOGGED OR ENDORSED
Prompts
Day 1 - Modern AU, First Kiss, Dating, Fluff
Day 2 - Courting, Erebor Never Fell AU, Wingman, Khuzdul
Day 3 - Sickfic, Poison, Angst, Healing
Day 4 - Mirkwood, Culture Shock, Meetcute, Sindarin
Day 5 - Height Difference, Cuddling, College AU, Bed Sharing
Day 6 - Crossover AU, Fake Dating, Arranged Marriage, Confession
Day 7 - Afterlife, Everybody Lives, Scene Rewrite, Alt First Meeting
Aspec Arda Week 2026
Aspec Arda Week: May 10th-16th, 2026
This event celebrates asexual and aromantic spectrum interpretations and headcanons of Tolkien's Legendarium.
Any creations about the aromantic and asexual spectrums are welcome! You can create edits, gifs, fanart, fanfic, fanmixes, and more! All versions of canon/fanon and characters are included, be it from the books, movies, TV, OCs, etc. Please tag your posts with #aspecardaweek AND @ mention this blog @aspecardaweek so that your work can be easily found. If you are posting your submission to AO3, we will have an event collection! This is not an event for generative AI works.
The prompts below are a guideline for the week’s events, though you are not obligated to stick to them when participating. They’re completely optional, and more of a source of inspiration than a mandatory guideline. Feel free to explore them however you’d like; an explanation for each is given, but you can interpret them differently if you want to.
Day 1 / May 10th: Asexuality || Hope
Day 2 / May 11th: Aromanticism || Community
Day 3 / May 12th: Across the A-Spectrum || Loneliness
Day 4 / May 13th: Worldbuilding || Dragons
Day 5 / May 14th: Relationships || Linguistics
Day 6 / May 15th: Intersectionality || Found Family
Day 7 / May 16th: Freeform
For further clarification, check out our FAQ, code of conduct, and prompts pages! Happy creating!!
Detailed Prompts
DAY ONE: Asexuality
What characters do you see as asexual? Why? How does that impact their lives?
Alternative prompt: Hope
DAY TWO: Aromanticism
What characters do you see as aromantic? Why? How does that impact their lives?
Alternative prompt: Community
DAY THREE: Across the A-Spectrum
“Asexual” and “aromantic” are umbrella terms encapsulating a wide spectrum of identities. From grayromantic to demisexual, and aroace to lithromantic —there are many other labels on the a-spectrum. This is a day for exploring those identities and the characters you associate them with.
Alternative prompt: Loneliness
DAY FOUR: World Building
How does acceptance and prevalence of aspec identity vary over both cultures and species?
Are all elves really baseline demisexual? What’s up with one third of dwarven populations focusing on their craft instead of taking a spouse? How do soul bonds work between elven couples who don’t want to have sex? Did Númenor get aphobic when they started distancing themselves from the Elves? Do aspec hobbits feel pressure to settle down and have large families?
Alternative prompt: Dragons
DAY FIVE: Relationships
Aspec people can have many different kinds of relationships, including romantic and sexual ones— but some kinds of relationships are more unique and common to the aspec communities, such as queerplatonic ones. Today is a day for exploring all these different kinds of relationships!
There are several relationships in Tolkien's works that could easily be read as queerplatonic, including Frodo & Sam, and Legolas & Gimli. There is also an interesting footnote in The Nature of Middle Earth which describes something like a queerplatonic relationship and provides some Quenya words for it.
Alternative prompt: Linguistics - Many of the terms for aspec identity come from root words of Latin, can you postulate translations for aspec terminology in any of Tolkien's languages?
DAY SIX: Intersectionality
There is more to a person’s life than just their orientation. Outside of fantasy species, how does being aspec interact with a character’s other identities and experiences, such as race or disability or religion? What’s the impact of a character’s aspec identity on their gender or other orientation labels? Today is a day for exploring the intersections of the aspec experience with other aspects of identity.
Alternative Prompt: Found Family
DAY SEVEN: Freeform
Post about something aspec related not yet covered in the topics this week, or return to a prompt you have more thoughts about! Alternatively, we have some additional prompts for inspiration that did not quite fit into the other days.
- Recommend a fic, meta post, etc. that includes aspec identity.
- How would a particular character respond to allonormativity / amatanormativity? What kind of amatanormativity / allonormativity have they faced?
- What is a particular character’s relationship with their aspec identity Is it a big part of their life?
- Post about an aspec character’s family, either found family, or blood relations. Does their family support them? Does their family (or society) have expectations of marriage and children of them?
- Post about aspec community (symbols, cultural practices, mentorship and friendship with other aspec characters) within the context a culture within Tolkien's Legendarium, or take a character and post about what parts an aspec community they would resonate with in a modern Earth AU.
Angbang Week 2026
This is the official blog of Angbang (or Melron) week.
We follow the tags "#AngbangWeek" and "#Angbang Week" as well as the current year variations of those tags. We have our ask box and DMs open if you have any questions!
List of prompts for Angbang Week 2026:
- Day 1: First meeting/Reunion
- Day 2: Dating/Intimacy
- Day 3: Competitions/Rivalry
- Day 4: Eyes/Gaze
- Day 5: Letters/Long distance communication
- Day 6: Last day together/Separation
- Day 7: Canon divergence
As always, there are two prompts a day to choose between. You may create any original work you feel relates to the prompt, and if you did not connect with a prompt, feel free to skip it. All previously unposted creations made by you are accepted (fic, art, moodboards, playlists, etc). For any adult content, please keep it below a read more and tag it accordingly.
When posting your works, please post them on the day the prompt appears on or on a later day and tag this blog directly by using @, or add one of the following tags (#angbangweek2026, #angbang week 2026) to your post's tag list so we know the post is for the event. Please note that the event rules have been updated to clarify that we do NOT accept any creations made using Generative AI of any sort, and as such we will not be featuring any such content on this blog. For any questions or further clarifications, feel free to reach out in the asks or DMs. Happy creating and we'll see you in May!
April/May Teitho Challenge
Our prompt for April/May is Heartbreak. There are so many possibilities with this one!
Will you go back to the very beginning with the heartbreak of Melkor’s discord during the creation?
Or will you take us to the time of Miriel and Finwë? Fëanor’s heartbreak at the loss of his mother?And later his father’s death? Or the loss of the Silmarils themselves, that led to so much heartbreak for so many?
The kinslaying. The ship burning. The Helcaraxë. Battle after battle. Betrayal. The heartbreak of The Oath itself.
The death of Fingolfin. Fingon. Finrod. The sons of Fëanor, one after another. The heartbreak of those left behind: Maglor, Galadriel, Elrond.
The tragedy of the House of Hurin.
Or will you come to the time of Celebrimbor—the glory of Eregion and Khazad-Dûm and the devastation that followed? The Last Alliance?
The travails of Frodo. The lonely travels of Aragorn. The heavy weight of duty straining the hearts of both Boromir and Faramir. Eowyn’s heartbreak in Edoras.
The doomed love stories that are woven into Tolkien’s books—Turin, Finduilas, Gwindor, to name a few.
Heartbreak can be so many things—with love, with loss, with changes that shift our entire world. But heartbreak can also be in the small moments—for a child, a parent, a friend, a comrade. It can be momentary or span years. Or even lifetimes.
Will you break our hearts with your stories and art this time? Or will you find a way to heal the heartbreak and find the hope that can endure and persist?
We can’t wait to see what you do with this prompt!
Submissions are due May 31, 2026. Please send them to teitho.contest@gmail.com
Your teitho mods
Sian22, Lotrfan, and Cassie.
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2026
Schedule
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March
1: 2025 Gallery Opens
The Gallery for 2025 is live! Enjoy the beautiful pieces created for last year’s TRSB!
22: Suggestion Form Opens
This form gives potential authors (or anyone else who wants to play!) the opportunity to suggest characters, places and scenarios they would like to see in the submitted art. We will post a link to the form on our Tumblr and here on the website. The answers will feed into a publicly available spreadsheet listing the ideas submitted; artists can peruse this to get inspired!
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April
12: Sign-ups Open
We post links to our sign-up form on all the usual platforms. You can then sign up as an artist, an author, a beta, a cheerleader, a pinch hitter, or as two or more of these. Please see the ‘Sign-ups’ section of the FAQ for more details on what these terms mean.
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May
3: Artist Sign-up Deadline
9: Art Draft Due
Participating art submissions must be sent to the mods by this date to be eligible for the Claims Gallery.
For more details on how to do this, see the ‘Art Submissions’ section of the FAQ. Artists may submit up to two pieces of art, for claiming by two separate authors.10: Discord Server Opens
Come hang out with your fellow participants!
15: Art Previews Open
Our online gallery of art prompts will be visible to signed-up participants only. Signed-up authors can browse the artworks and see which pieces appeal to their muses!
16-17: Discord Art Talks
These are live chats on Discord with mod presence – start times to be announced – where we go through the beautiful gallery and admire the work of our artists. It has been great fun in past years!
20: Author Signups Deadline
23 (Saturday) 17:00 UTC: CLAIMS
Authors submit a ranked list of the artworks they would like to claim to write fic for. Claims are on a first-come, first-served basis. One artwork will be allocated to each claiming author; the mods will email you to confirm which piece you have successfully claimed and how to get in touch with your artist. See the ‘Claims’ section of the FAQ for more information.
TBA – Additional Claims
If any artworks are left unclaimed, we will hold one or more additional claiming rounds as needed. Generally, there will be 24 hours between rounds, but the timing is at the mods’ discretion. The additional round(s) will be announced to signed-up participants by email and on the TRSB Discord.
31: Post-Claims Check-in
The mods will email each artist/author pair to ensure that you have successfully established contact – even if you are not planning on a close collaboration, it is polite to check in with your partner, say hello, and make sure you’re both clear on must-haves and do-not-wants. One person from your pair must respond and confirm that you have done this!
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June
14: Free Rein Art Due
We know some artists like to give their authors as much creative freedom as possible, and we have a dedicated collaboration option for this (see ‘Art Submissions’ FAQs). However, this means we require these artists to share the final art with their authors much earlier than artists who are prepared to be more involved.
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July
12: Check-in #2
The mods will email each pair to ensure everything is on track. One person from your pair must respond – see ‘Check Ins’ in the FAQ.
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August
9: Final Art Due
Artists must share the final art with their authors – but don’t post it yet!
Don’t email it to the mods.16: Final Check-in (#3)
Deadline to abandon your fic to a pinch hitter. There will be no penalty for dropping out on or before this date. This year we ask both collaborators to contact the mods at the final check-in.
The mods will email all participants beforehand to ensure everything is still on track. We will ask you to confirm:
- Whether the art is complete (Artists: did you share it with your author? Authors: have you seen the final art?)
- Whether you have discussed posting logistics (ie, have you talked about how the art will be posted (embedded and/or posted separately to the collection), who will handle promo posting, any specific posting needs)
26: Art Can Be Posted
Artworks can be posted to your preferred platform on or after this date (but before they are due in the collection). Hype your collab wherever you like and get the excitement going! Artists should ensure that their author has received a link to the art for embedding or linking in the finished fic as agreed upon before August 30th (deadline for posting the fic to the collection).
30: Fic Due In Collection
Authors should post their stories in our AO3 collection with the artwork embedded or linked. See the “Posting fic” section of our FAQ.
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September
5: COLLECTION REVEALS
Around the World and Web Archive
Events listed here are no longer active but are listed on the site for historical purposes.
Fansplaining Podcast, Episode 153: The Productive Fan
In Episode 153, “The Productive Fan,” Elizabeth and Flourish respond to a listener letter about some fic authors’ tendencies to see themselves as ‘bad’ if they aren’t producing written work. Topics covered include the perils of prescriptive writing advice, the Protestant work ethic, Flourish and Elizabeth’s personal writing habits, and the impact of professional authors’ conversations on fanfic authors’ discourse. Find the podcast and a transcript on the Fansplaining website.
Teitho June/July Contest: Vision
Teitho is a monthly contest for fanfiction and fanart set in Tolkien's world. The Teitho prompt for June/July is Vision.
We're excited to see where your vision of a story takes you this month! Will it be a vision seen in a dream? Or a nightmare?
Is vision with the eyes or the mind? What does Finrod's foresight reveal to him? Are there other visions Galadriel has seen in her Mirror?
A vision for a new home, a new community, a new beginning? Or visions of past glory?
Ghostly visions seen on the path to Erech or fearful images conjured by Morgoth himself?
A vision of beauty, a vision of potential. The inner workings of the mind of Feanor?
The choice is yours–tell us your story and let us see Tolkien's world through you.
Submissions are due by July 30th!
Learn more about Teitho here and find the full Teitho rules here.
Tolkien Experience Podcast Episode 35: Interview with Erik Mueller-Harder
Luke Shelton says of his Tolkien Experience Project, "I started the Tolkien Experience Project because one of the first things that comes up when Tolkien fans get into a shared space is the desire to bond over our experiences of Tolkien’s work." In Episode 35, he interviews Erik Mueller-Harder, a Tolkien scholar who has focused on Tolkien's cartography and map-making. Erik also runs the website tolkienists.org, with its the Tolkien Society Award-nominated Tolkien Art Index and his LRCitations. You can find Luke's interview with Erik on the Tolkien Experience YouTube channel. You can subscribe to the Tolkien Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, and via RSS Feed or support the podcast on Patreon.
Mini Spring Bang 2021 Collection Open
The AO3 collection for the 2021 Mini Spring Bang has been opened! Check out Silmarillion fanworks created for this event.
Tolkien Society Seminar 2021: Tolkien and Diversity Recaps
Not a single word was spoken at the Tolkien Society's 2021 summer seminar before a contingent of Tolkien fans had decided they weren't having it. Bad photomanips involving the Eye of Sauron and other such images were (no kidding) used to smear the presenters and the very idea of the seminar. Why? For it focused on the topic of "Tolkien and Diversity."
Diversity and representation have long been subjects of discussion and debate in the Tolkien fanfiction fandom (and the alarmist pearl-clutching has a long history too). The SWG commends the Tolkien Society--one of if not the most prominent organizations devoted to study and appreciation of the Professor's work--for tackling this important topic.
Eventually, many of the presenters' talks will be available on the Tolkien Society's YouTube, and a conference proceedings is in the works as well. In the meantime, if you couldn't attend but want to know more about the presentations, the following blogs have recaps. (Know of others? Link them in the comments and we'll add them!)
Tolkien and Diversity: A Seminar Report by Christian S. Trenk (The Tolkienist)
Tolkien and Diversity Presentations (Day One) and (Day Two) by Robin Anne Reid (Tolkien on the Web)
Episode 36: Tolkien and Diversity Recap by Jude Vais and Stef Midlock (Athrabeth podcast)
Call for Papers: Academia Lunare, "Not the Fellowship. Dragons Welcome."
Our Call for Papers include essays from academics, independent researchers, fans and creative writers, appealing to both the casual reader and a more research-oriented one. We consider this cross-disciplinary collaboration a strength, and the beginning of many more journeys.
For the 2021 project, writers are invited to engage with a fictional character of choice from any of Tolkien’s works who is not part of The Lord of the Rings’ Fellowship. Though they can be characters of LOTR.
Friends, foes or neutral; dead or undead; divine beings, beasts (of the mythical or animal variety), or other. We welcome all. Bill the Pony, though undoubtedly an honorary member of the Fellowship at least according to Sam, is - for our purposes - fair game.
The purpose of this Call for Papers aims, on the one hand, at bringing to the fore more of Tolkien’s characters who do not receive the same attention as the Fellowship. On the other hand, we want to tackle these less appreciated characters in new ways, and in the light of a contemporary sensibility.
All the details about submitting are on the Academia Lunare page. Please visit it before submitting! Closing Date: 31st of August 2021.
Mythcon 51: A Virtual "Halfling" Mythcon (July 31-August 1)
The 51st Mythcon, a "virtual 'halfling' Mythcon," will be held on Saturday, July 31, and Sunday, August 1. Registration is open on the Mythcon site for the cost of $20 USD. The preliminary Mythcon schedule gives a sneak peek at this year's presenters and session titles.
Sunshine Challenge 2021
Check out the Master List to find links to all of the 2021 challenge posts.
Welcome to the sunshine_challenge! Our aim to provide a little bit of sunshine as everyone takes part in creating and sharing the content each prompt inspires.
We will post seven challenge prompts throughout the month of July. You are encouraged to complete as many of the prompts as you feel comfortable doing: whether that’s one, all seven, or some number in between! You can do them on your private journal or in public posts, the choice is yours. If you’re shy we have places for lurkers, too. We want you all to have fun and enjoy the challenge in whichever way works best for you (this includes swapping out prompts and themes that aren’t inspiring you! We encourage conversation and creativity here, so please do join the fun in whichever way suits you).
The sunshine_challenge is about celebrating the DW community and the awesome people in it. One way we can do that is by interacting with each other. Every time you visit the journal of a fellow participant and comment on what they're sharing, you are helping to grow this community and make it better. We all could use a little sunshine in our lives. ♥
Tolkien Society Seminar This Weekend (July 3-4)
The second Tolkien Society Seminar of 2021 will be held online on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th July 2021 on Zoom. We will additionally be live-streaming the event on our YouTube channel.
About the Seminar
The Tolkien Society Seminar is a short academic conference of both researcher-led and non-academic presentations on a specific theme pertaining to Tolkien scholarship. The online setting of the 2020 seminar saw an increased interest with over 400 attendees from 37 countries. We are delighted to be running another online seminar that will be free for all.
Summer Seminar: Tolkien and Diversity
While interest in the topic of diversity has steadily grown within Tolkien research, it is now receiving more critical attention than ever before. Spurred by recent interpretations of Tolkien’s creations and the cast list of the upcoming Amazon show The Lord of the Rings, it is crucial we discuss the theme of diversity in relation to Tolkien. How do adaptations of Tolkien’s works (from film and art to music) open a discourse on diversity within Tolkien’s works and his place within modern society? Beyond his secondary-world, diversity further encompasses Tolkien’s readership and how his texts exist within the primary world. Who is reading Tolkien? How is he understood around the globe? How may these new readings enrich current perspectives on Tolkien?
Representation is now more important than ever and Tolkien’s efforts to represent (or ignore) particular characteristics requires further examination. Additionally, how a character’s identity shapes and influences its place within Tolkien’s secondary-world still requires greater attention. This seminar aims to explore the many possible applications of “diversity” within Tolkien’s works, his adaptations, and his readership.
Programme
Please log in at 14:45 (GMT) to ensure a prompt start at 15:00 (GMT) on both days.
Saturday 3rd July
| Time | Speaker | Paper | ||
| (BST) | (CEST) | (EDT) | ||
| 15:00 | 16:00 | 10:00 | Cordeliah Logsdon | Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings |
| 15:30 | 16:30 | 10:30 | Clare Moore | The Problem of Pain: Portraying Physical Disability in the Fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien |
| 16:00 | 17:00 | 11:00 | V. Elizabeth King | “The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire”: Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien’s Middle-earth |
| 16:30 | 17:30 | 11:30 | Sara Brown | The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack’ |
| 17:00 | 18:00 | 12:00 | BREAK | |
| 17:30 | 18:30 | 12:30 | Sultana Raza | Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien’s Worlds |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | 13:00 | Nicholas Birns | The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism |
| 18:30 | 19:30 | 13:30 | Kristine Larsen | The Problematic Perimeters of Elrond Half-elven and Ronald English-Catholic |
| 19:00 | 20:00 | 14:00 | Cami Agan | Hearkening to the Other: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth |
| 19:30 | 20:30 | 14:30 | CLOSING COMMENTS | |
Sunday 4th July
| Time | Speaker | Paper | ||
| (BST) | (CEST) | (EDT) | ||
| 15:00 | 16:00 | 10:00 | Christopher Vaccaro | Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings |
| 15:30 | 16:30 | 10:30 | Sonali Chunodkar | Desire of the Ring: An Indian Academic’s Adventures in her Quest for the Perilous Realm |
| 16:00 | 17:00 | 11:00 | Robin Reid | Queer Atheists, Agnostics, and Animists, Oh, My! |
| 16:30 | 17:30 | 11:30 | Joel Merriner | Hidden Visions: Iconographies of Alterity in Soviet Bloc Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings |
| 17:00 | 18:00 | 12:00 | BREAK | |
| 17:30 | 18:30 | 12:30 | Eric Reinders | Questions of Caste in The Lord of the Rings and its Multiple Chinese Translations |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | 13:00 | Dawn Walls-Thumma | Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community |
| 18:30 | 19:30 | 13:30 | Danna Petersen-Deeprose | “Something Mighty Queer”: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien |
| 19:00 | 20:00 | 14:00 | Martha Celis-Menzoda | Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien’s scholarship and fandom |
| 19:30 | 20:30 | 14:30 | CLOSING COMMENTS | |
Who to Contact
If you have any questions or need any further information, please email Will Sherwood at education@tolkiensociety.org
Tolkien Gen Week Runs July 5-11, 2021
Tolkien Gen Week is a week to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen”. Gen content is often less visible because of the shipping-focused nature of fandom, but Tolkien’s works are full of other kinds of stories, and this week is an effort to give them the appreciation they deserve.
This year's Tolkien Gen Week runs from July 5-11, 2021!
Any content and creations are welcome as long as it is non-romantic and non-sexual! You can create edits, gifs, fanart, fanfic, fanmixes, and more! Please tag your posts on Tumblr with #tolkiengenweek AND @ mention this blog @tolkiengenweek so they can be easily found. If your submission turns into a long post, please put what you can beneath a “Keep reading” divider.
This year's prompts are:
DAY ONE: Family
DAY TWO: Friendship
DAY THREE: Gray Spaces
DAY FOUR: Solo
DAY FIVE: Culture
DAY SIX: Environment
DAY SEVEN: Freeform
More complete prompts explanations can be found here.
Additional Links: