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!
New Challenge: Everyman Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration.
Cultus Dispatches: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn and Grundy The fan studies column Cultus Dispatches returns with a history of how Tolkien fanworks fandom has reacted and resisted generative AI by drawing strong boundaries in a way that is not typical for the fandom.
Finrod and Bëor stop for a while on the road to Nargothrond to rest. The bodies of the Secondborn often grow weary, and Finrod laments, massaging Bëor's back and renewing his beloved's vigor with the work of his hands. But Finrod has other burdens of his own, Bëor soon discovers, returning…
Maglor without Maedhros, Daeron without Lúthien. Alone, they are nothing, but together, they can be something more. Where do you turn, when you have no one else left?
Written for Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2023, featuring artwork by athlai.
It was only the second time Finwë had come out foraging with them, and of course this would happen—of course the Hunter would come, the Dark Rider on his steed with its terrible, heavy footfalls, and the deep-throated laughter that held no mirth, only malice.
“Come on.” Maedhros grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the path, both of them quickening their pace now, until the trees opened up into a wide meadow filled with flowers, bright yellow celandine and dandelions and sweet-scented pale chamomile mingling with cornflowers and irises. On…
Haleth leaves to find her brother, even though her father does not permit her to.
Current Challenge
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Companies, Clubs, and Cliques
Create a fanwork that explores a group of characters--formal or informal--that Tolkien didn't identify or describe in his own writings. Read more ...
By definition, fanworks fandom does not draw a lot of boundaries, but community archives and events have taken a strong stance against AI-generated fanworks due to ethical considerations and member input.
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.
This presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025 discusses the parallels between the concept of abnegation in the scientific work surrounding the atomic bomb and in The Silmarillion. The relinquishment of self-interest in favor of the interests of others, abnegation was identified by Tolkien as a powerful act of spirit and reason. The legendarium has many examples of the complexities of abnegation, which parallel similar discussions held by physicists during and after World War II.
For most of my life, when reading Lord of the Rings, I read it through the perspective of Gandalf's words about Éowyn, that she'd spent years trapped as a caregiver, watching the realm she love fall from honor into disgrace.
But what if Éowyn was also a student of history?
…
Around the World and Web
Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026
Gondor Week 2026
A Tumblr week event focusing on the history of the realm of Gondor.
Crablor Day
A day dedicated to everyone's favourite warcriminal crustacean - April 26, 2026
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.
This came up as a random story--I re-read it and realized it doesn't have a review on this site. It's got so much going for it that that doesn't seem right... I love the ending.
Aww, thank you so much. It did look a bit like an orphan, I guess. They're not a pairing I write, and had I known it was for Tal, a brilliant writer who coincidentally owned a Gil-galad/Elrond archive, I might have defaulted on that swap. It did get me thinking about the land across the sea though, and what might have been Celebrian's final fate, so those are good things. Thank you for feeling it was worthy of a comment :)
I must have read this years ago. Must have commented on it somewhere! It's lovely and very elegant in its construction. I love how you write the same characters and throw them into different circumstances and situations and yet manage to kept their personalities and essential core the same. I love these two so much.
This especially makes me think of my first experience with your young Elrond--was chatting with someone yesterday about how you made me fall so madly in love with him.
”First time I saw you was on the beach, watching the birds. You were all dark hair and huge eyes…I think I was in love with you before you even opened your mouth…”
I wrote it for one of the Slashy Swaps and at the time I was in the middle of Doubt and you can imagine the mental gymnastics needed to write Elrond/Gil-galad when in Doubt theirs was very much a platonic relationship. This sent me off to read it for the first time in years.... Celebrian's story got expanded in Beyond the Sea, other bits and pieces found their place elsewhere too, Gil is quintessentially Gil )I don't have another way to write him) and Elrond is himself but a bit better behaved and more subdued than in Doubt. Ilye_elf supplied the title and the final line, I remember. Thank you so much for reviewing this Oshun, I've had a lovely stroll down memory lane!
Comments on All Else Lost
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.