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Founded in 2005, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild exists for discussions of and creative fanworks based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and related texts. We are a positive-focused and open-minded space that welcomes fans from all over the world and with all levels of experience with Tolkien's works. Whether you are picking up Tolkien's books for the first time or have been a fan for decades, we welcome you to join us!

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SWG News

Silmarillion Writers' Guild - Mereth Aderthad 2025 - July 19, 2025 - Burlington, VT, and online - a celebration of creativity and scholarship inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien

Register for Mereth Aderthad!


New Challenge: Gates of Summer
Choose a summer-related prompt or prompts from a collection of quotes and events from Tolkien's canon and his life.

Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow
Varda delle Stelle is the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves." Shadow spoke with Varda about her own connections to the earth and concepts in cloudyhymn's presentation, her creative process, and her hopes for her Mereth Aderthad paintings.

Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Kai by Shadow
Kai is the featured artist for Maglor's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation, "Gil-galad was an Elven King: Kingship and Personhood in the last High King of the Noldor." Shadow spoke with Kai about his wide range of interests and inspirations in the legendarium and why Maglor's presentation so intrigued him that he finished the art for it the first night.

Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Reese by Dawn
Reese is the featured author for polutropos's presentation "'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium" at Mereth Aderthad 2025. Dawn spoke with reese about the silences storytellers leave, mythology, and the appeal of alternate universe fanfiction.

Known Site Issues

New & Updated Fanworks

[Writing] Banked Fires Blaze by Chestnut_pod

What is it to be made for a kinder world?

[Reference] So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Giving the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff

Video and materials from our session on how to give a presentation at a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to practice, plan, and prepare for the presentation; what to expect on the day of the presentation; tips for participating in the Q&A; and how to plan ahead for common worries…

[Writing] High in the Clean Blue Air by StarSpray

They passed out of Lhûn and the wider coastline of Middle-earth opened up before his eyes. He had wandered those shores for centuries, and even now he felt the pull of that same wanderlust, and knew he would miss them for the rest of his life. Their wildness, the untamed waves, the rocky…

[Reference] Interview with fish by Shadow by fish, daughterofshadows

Fish is the featured artist for Stella's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol." Shadow spoke with fish about his creative process, the importance of both tragedy and eucatastrophe to Tolkien's works, and the appeal of "greyness…

[Writing] Set in Stone by silmalope

An artisan can never forget what she has made, for a part of her soul goes into the making. (Nerdanel character study/ficlet in six parts.)

[Reference] Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow by Varda delle Stelle, daughterofshadows

As the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," Varda delle Stelle describes her idea for this presentation as springing fully formed as Athena from Zeus's head. Varda chatted with Shadow about what drew her to this…

[Writing] Saying Goodbye by The Wavesinger

Fíriel spends one last night with her lady.

Current Challenge

Gates of Summer
Read more ...

Random Challenge

Cheesy Corn Chips
Celebrate the corny and the cheesy, the sappy and sweet and schmaltzy and saccharine in popular culture by choosing from our collection of corny, sentimental, and heartstring-rending prompts. Read more ...

New in References

So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Giving the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff

Video and materials from our session on how to give a presentation at a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to practice, plan, and prepare for the presentation; what to expect on the day of the presentation; tips for participating in the Q&A; and how to plan ahead for common worries and mishaps.

Interview with fish by Shadow by fish, daughterofshadows

Fish is the featured artist for Stella's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol." Shadow spoke with fish about his creative process, the importance of both tragedy and eucatastrophe to Tolkien's works, and the appeal of "greyness" in Silmarillion characters like Elu Thingol.

Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow by Varda delle Stelle, daughterofshadows

As the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," Varda delle Stelle describes her idea for this presentation as springing fully formed as Athena from Zeus's head. Varda chatted with Shadow about what drew her to this presentation, her approach to painting, and her hopes for her Mereth Aderthad work.

Featured Themed Collection

Orcs Are People by cuarthol

Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features fiction, artwork, and essays that transcend the idea of Orcs as the enemy, instead considering their humanity.

Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel

Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features alliterative poems about Middle-earth.

Beyond the Silmarillion

[Writing] Remembrance by StarSpray

They found Elrond’s sons with Legolas and Gimli, and with Éomer King and Lady Éowyn, standing before an enormous fresco of a charging army of horsemen. “Why, isn’t that what just happened, the way it was told to us?” Sam exclaimed, looking up at it.


“No! This is a painting of the Battle…

[Artwork] Floating through the Forest River by Varda delle Stelle

Bilbo and Thorin's Company are arriving to Lake Town floating through the Forest River with the barrels

[Writing] The Wondrous Tale of the Bee-wolf by bunn

Once upon a time, JRR Tolkien wrote a fairy-tale retelling, an attempt to reconstruct an alternative version of the ancient poem called Beowulf, and he called it Sellic Spell: 'strange tale' or 'wondrous tale'.


Once upon a time, on the long road home from the Lonely…

Around the World and Web

Teitho June/July Challenge: Inheritance
The theme for the June/July Teitho challenge is "inheritance."

Kidnap Fam Survey
Polutropos is collecting survey data as part of her research on the "Living Legendarium", i.e., how the legends of Arda, from their earliest drafts by Tolkien to the posthumously published Silmarillion edited by Christopher Tolkien to the creative engagements by fans, are inherently indeterminate and mutable, inviting many and diverse interpretations.

Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest 2025
This Tumblr event aims to celebrate the diversity in the Tolkien fandom by giving all creators a chance to use their creativity to explore and experiment with all languages.

Tolkien South Asian Week
Tolkien South Asian Week is a fandom-wide event on Tumblr to celebrate South Asian peoples, cultures, and lives through Tolkien’s Legendarium.

Russingon Week 2025
Russingon Week is a Tumblr and AO3 event for fanworks that center a romantic or queerplatonic relationship between Maedhros and Fingon.

View all Around the World and Web announcements.

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Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel

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Fanwork Notes

Rocking Chair Elrond by BloodwingBlackbird
Rocking Chair Elrond by BloodwingBlackbird (Tumblr | AO3)

Tolkien loved alliterative verse. He made Beowulf’s Midgeard his professional life’s work, and he wrote thousands of lines of alliterative poetry telling the tale of his own Middle-earth. In Midgeard, pride of place goes to his Lay of Sigurd and Gudrun and his Fall of Arthur. In Middle-earth, pride of place belongs to his alliterative Lay of The Children of Húrin and Lay of Leithian. Not surprisingly, many of his fans have been moved to write alliterative verse of their own.

I should know. I am one of them. I first read The Lord of the Rings in 1970, as an eleven-year-old. In the 1990s and early 2000s, I spent a large chunk of my life on Elendor MUSH, a Tolkien-themed text-based roleplaying game, where I played Rhunedhel, an Avarin bard who had fled the Uttermost East to seek refuge in Imladris. A bard needs songs, and naturally I wrote them, in my own version of alliterative poetry. They included The Song of Shadows, a tale of adventure in which a pair of Elven lovers work together to recover an heirloom from a mortal King—who may, in fact, be the Witch-king of Angmar. Rhunedhel’s masterwork was a long epic poem, The Redemption of Daeron, which tells the tale of Daeron, who loved Lúthien, and twice betrayed her. The poem reveals Daeron wandering grief-stricken in the Uttermost East, and tells the tale of how at long last he learned what really happened to Lúthien. That led in turn to me becoming the editor of Forgotten Ground Regained, the central store on the web for modern English alliterative verse.

In the process, I have collected quite a bit of Tolkien alliterative verse fan poetry. I am delighted to share some of my favorites with you. They are listed below, each with a brief description to give you a sense of their place in Tolkien’s Legendarium. Share your favorite alliterative poems in the comments!

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features alliterative poems about Middle-earth.

Major Characters:

Major Relationships:

Genre: Fanwork Collection

Challenges:

Rating: General

Warnings:

This fanwork belongs to the series

Themed Collections
Posted on 27 September 2024 Updated on 30 September 2024

This fanwork is complete.

Published Poems

"Hymn to Earendil" by Patricia Masson

Patricia Masson was an early Tolkien fan and a particularly skilled and accomplished poet. She died young, in the early 1990s, or we would likely have seen much more work from her. While they aren’t Arda-based, her other poems, such as A Lay of St. Boniface and The Last Valkyrie are also well worth reading.

Summary: This is an alliterative hymn to that most beloved star. It targets the foundation stone of Tolkien’s legendarium.

"Slaying the Dragon" by Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards (Tuilinde) began publishing Tolkien fan poetry in the 1980s. Her work sets a standard for poetry that is vigorous in its alliterative form but also true in spirit to Tolkien’s work. Like Patricia Masson, her work was first published in Mallorn.

Summary: This poem tells of the burning of Laketown, from Bard’s point of view

"The Paths of the Dead" by Susan Edwards

Summary: This poem tells the tale of how Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli dared the dark together.

"Lament for Baldor the Brave" by Gill Page

In the early days of Tolkien fandom, Gill Page was leader of the Morgul-hai smial of the Tolkien Society in Maidstone, Kent, England. The PDF snapshot of his poem in an early mimeograph of Mallorn is adorned with period fan art that perfectly captures the spirit of the Morgul-hai, who would show up at Tolkien Society activities cosplaying as Orcs.

Summary: This tale describes what really happened to Brego’s son when he dared the dark mountain.

"Dear Tolkien Society" by Lancelot Schaubert

Lancelot Schaubert is part of a new generation of poets who, inspired by Tolkien’s example, have chosen to write primarily in alliterative verse. You can find more of his poems at his author page on Forgotten Ground Regained, or in his published poetry collections.

Summary: Only a poet and a Tolkien fan would dare to ask the Tolkien Estate for a chance to finish Tolkien’s Fall of Arthur.

"Tree and Leaf" by Malcolm Guite

Malcolm Guite is an English poet, singer-songwriter, scholar, and Anglican priest and was for many years chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge. This is the least fanfic poem in my selection, but Guite is a figure Tolkien fans should be aware of. He has written a great deal of interesting work, and is currently writing his own epic version of the Arthurian mythos.

Summary: This poem is a meditation on Tolkien, who is perhaps meditating on “Leaf by Niggle”.

From Fanfic Archives

The remaining poems on my last can be found on major fanfic archives – specifically, An Archive of Our Own (AO3). You can find these and many other fan poetry authors indexed on my SF author and fan page on Forgotten Ground Regained.

"Earendil the Seafarer" by Himring

Tolkien was inspired by the Norse sagas, which preserve a rich array of Old Norse alliterative poems embedded inside prose narratives. Himring does the same kind of thing quite skillfully, as she imagines Elwing and Earendil addressing one another in solemn, spectacular alliterative verse, just before Earendil risks everything and sails Vingilot to Valinor. This poem describes a conversation between Elwing and Earendil, before Earendil set sail to petition the Valar to rescue Middle-earth from Morgoth.

Summary: Spring arrives at the Havens of Sirion.
Elwing can see that Earendil is about to go seafaring again.

"Narn Hathaldir ah Aerlin" by Aris Katsaris

One of the joys of fanfiction is its ability to take a minor character from Tolkien’s works and craft a story that gives them some of the glory that Tolkien reserved for his major characters. Another joy is the creation of OCs (original characters) and fleshing them out within the world that Tolkien wrought. This fanfic author gives us that in spades.

Summary: The tale of a boy and a girl. The untold story of Hathaldir the Young, one of the twelve last companions of Barahir ...

"Wruxled in White" by Lindariel

One of Tolkien’s knacks was his ability to combine high, fateful myth with the mortal, the ordinary, and the comic. This poem achieves a similar kaleidoscopic effect in its description of Gandalf. This work is presented as a fragment from a poem about the Istari, featuring one Gandalf Greyhame.

Summary: This recently discovered poem fragment in the Anglo-Saxon alliterative style may have formed part of a longer work, now lost, about the Istari at the end of the Third Age.

"The Choices of Lady Éowyn" by Zdenka

The poem describes that moment famous from book and film: Who knows what she thought, alone in the watches of the night? Zdenka is one of the most prolific fanfic authors of alliterative verse. This poem is one of her strongest.

Summary: Éowyn decides to join the Ride of the Rohirrim to Minas Tirith. A poem in alliterative verse.


Rhunedhel

8 months 2 weeks ago

Permalink

Rhunedhel's compositions

If you want to check out my fan poetry, it's all currently over on A03. I'm Rhunedhel there too:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhunedhel/pseuds/Rhunedhel

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Rhunedhel

8 months 2 weeks ago

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In reply to Rhunedhel's compositions by Rhunedhel

The alliterative poems

You can find all my alliterative Tolkien poetry under Tales of the Avari (https://archiveofourown.org/series/3853291)

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Anérea (Laiquendi snuggled in a tree)

Anérea

8 months 2 weeks ago

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Thanks for sharing these…

Thanks for sharing these with us!

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Himring

8 months 2 weeks ago

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Thank you very much for…

Thank you very much for including my Earendil piece in your collection!

And thank you for compiling the collection and sharing it and also the link to your own poems. (It may take me a while to catch up, but I won't forget.)

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Rhunedhel

8 months 2 weeks ago

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In reply to Thank you very much for… by Himring

:)

Thank you too! Hope you enjoy them.

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Himring

8 months 1 week ago

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As the link to Earendil the…

As the link to Earendil the Seafarer in the collection goes to AO3, I hope it is okay to provide a link to the piece on SWG in a comment.

It can be found here.

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