Cultus Dispatches: Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey
Ten years of demographic data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey show consistencies in who reads and writes fanfiction, as well as a few key demographic shifts.
Feanor and Fingolfin, from their youth to their fall.
"I will do this gladly," Fingolfin said, whispering into Feanor's mouth, grasping for reasons and sense. "Gladly, if it will bring peace between us. If it will end the madness."
"The madness will not end," Feanor said. "There will never be peace."
Chapters 1-11 and 18 were originally posted on fanfiction.net in 2002 and slightly revised for this version. Chapters 12-17 were written in 2026.
| Major Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Maedhros, Fingon |
| Major Relationships: Fëanor/Fingolfin, Fingon/Maedhros, Fëanor & Fingon, Fingolfin & Fingon |
| Genres: Slash | Challenges: |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn, Incest, Mature Themes, Sexual Content (Mild), Violence (Moderate) |
| Chapters: 18 | Word Count: 33, 569 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Melian chooses a home for the first birds in Middle-earth.
| Major Characters: Melian, Yavanna |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Folktales/Myths/Legends, General | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 739 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
A Teleri fishing boat captain turns to farming on abandoned Noldor lands after her ship is stolen. A Noldor farmer returns with Finarfin to find that his land belongs to the Teleri now.
| Major Characters: Original Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: Original Character/Original Character |
| Genres: Het, Romance | Challenges: Everyman |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 7, 455 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Celegorm does not like the idea of fleeing to Nargothrond. He likes it even less for the nagging fear that Curufin will prefer the Arafinweans to him, will abandon their Oath to keep them happy.
He'll do anything to stop that. Curufin will accept it eventually.
| Major Characters: Celegorm, Curufin |
| Major Relationships: Celegorm/Curufin |
| Genres: No genre listed | Challenges: |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Domestic and Partner Violence, Expletive Language, In-Universe Intolerance, Incest, Mature Themes, Rape/Nonconsensual Sex, Sexual Content (Graphic) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 3, 779 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
As prince Curufinwë Fëanáro makes an historical speech from the high court of the King upon Túna, those at the back of the crowd strain to hear.
A silly little scene inspired by Monty Python's "Blessed are the Cheesemakers" scene from The Life of Brian, written for SWG's Everyman Challenge April 2026, using the prompt:
"A great multitude gathered swiftly, therefore, to hear what he would say; and the hill and all the stairs and streets that climbed upon it were lit with the light of many torches that each one bore in hand." ("Of the Flight of the Noldor")
| Major Characters: Original Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Crackfic, Crossover, Humor | Challenges: Everyman |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 466 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
These were simply flashes, a hint of a wider, greater world. A tantalizing glimpse of more, always at the edge of awareness, never within reach. Míriel would grasp it, if something as intangible as the concept of color could overflow in bounteous wonder over her hands.
But then fire was caught, tamed and kept and cherished, and their world was suddenly awash with light. The world expanded, a pageantry of blues and greens and browns. A cacophony of color, overwhelming in its saturation.
In which Míriel falls in love with the colors in the earliest days, and Indis too.
| Major Characters: Indis, Míriel Serindë |
| Major Relationships: Indis/Míriel |
| Genres: Experimental, Femslash, Hurt/Comfort, Slash/Femslash | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Character Death, Sexual Content (Mild) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 344 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
An exchange is made during the Great Journey
| Major Characters: Ossë, Teleri |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: Everyman |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 153 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
A thrall lately escaped from Angband is turned away from Ladros and finds an unexpected welcome elsewhere.
| Major Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Nonbinary Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: Original Character & Original Character |
| Genres: Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: Everyman |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 105 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Early in the history of Numenor, Elros's son Vardamir not only gathers much lore himself, but also assembles an early circle of loremasters around him. One of these is Tegilbor, who reflects about lore, Elvish and otherwise.
| Major Characters: Original Male Character(s), Númenóreans |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Everyman |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 408 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Trapped upon the bitter cliff, Maedhros dreams. Or hallucinates. Or endures the mental torments of the Dark Vala, Morgoth. Surely, one of those must be the case; for he cannot have been rescued from Thangorodrim's torturous peak. He cannot.
But then, why is Findekáno here?
Maedhros finds in many ways that those visions which do not end with his own blood and breaking are the worst of all: because they end instead in waking, and the inescapable knowledge that such things will never again be aught but dreams to him. That knowledge is a tighter shackle than the one that holds him to the cliff-face, and the pain of it around his heart is much sharper than that which throbs through his arm. An arm goes numb much faster than a heart, and there is a limit to how much pain a body can bear before the sensation of agony starts to crumble beneath the onslaught.
If there is a limit to how much pain a heart can hold, Maedhros has not yet found it.
| Major Characters: Maedhros, Fingon |
| Major Relationships: Fingon+Maedhros |
| Genres: General, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 14, 835 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
On the morning of the day Fingon was to die, the sun rose bright over a shining sea of metal.
| Major Characters: Fingon |
| Major Relationships: Fingon & Maedhros |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Violence (Moderate) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 157 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Lalwen comes to tell Elemmírë that the Noldor have resolved to leave Valinor. Elemmírë is devastated that she can't persuade her beloved to stay.
| Major Characters: Elemmírë, Lalwen |
| Major Relationships: Lalwen/Elemmírë |
| Genres: Drama, Femslash, Ficlet | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 744 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
A fragment from a Dwarvish version of their creation story. (Drabble.)
| Major Characters: Aulë, Eru Ilúvatar |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet, Folktales/Myths/Legends, General | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 100 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Níniel regrets not knowing her past or her family, but at least she and Finduilas have each other.
| Major Characters: Nienor, Finduilas |
| Major Relationships: Finduilas/Nienor |
| Genres: Femslash, Ficlet | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Mature Themes |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 181 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
The Hall of the Glass-cutters in Ost-in-Edhil had four panes of stained glass set in its front. (Drabble.)
| Major Characters: No major characters listed |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 107 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Finrod is called to Mandos to speak with the spirit of a kinsman who is pardoned, yet refuses to rejoin the living.
| Major Characters: Finrod Felagund, Celebrimbor |
| Major Relationships: Celebrimbor/Finrod |
| Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Slash | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Mature Themes, Sexual Content (Mild) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 370 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
The Eagles find a woman in the wilderness and bring her to Gondolin, and Maeglin's feelings are thrown into confusion.
| Major Characters: Maeglin, Rían |
| Major Relationships: Maeglin/Rian |
| Genres: Het, Romance | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 3, 796 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
A compilation of Tolkien-related drabbles.
| Major Characters: Aredhel, Nellas, Eärwen, Nerdanel, Morwen |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 660 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Turgon yearns for happier days, days before he knew cold. But he knows in his heart that some things are forever lost, and wonders if he, too, is merely a remnant of the departed, a spent husk to be cleared if spring should ever bloom again.
| Major Characters: Turgon |
| Major Relationships: Elenwë/Turgon |
| Genres: Ficlet | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 225 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
There on the shores of the Lonely Isle we abode under the stars, and yet within sight of the radiance of the Blessed Realm.
| Major Characters: Teleri |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 100 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
"It is a fictional world, but so many readers, deep down, cannot help but entertain the possibility that in some universe, these stories may in fact be true..."
At a Tolkien conference in the Seventh Age, Findekáno listens to the inspiring words of a curious Quenya scholar among the Atani, and makes a new friend.
| Major Characters: Fingon, Original Female Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: Fingon & Original Character |
| Genres: Alternate Universe, General | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 028 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
In Tirion, Nelyo and Findekáno. Realising
| Major Characters: Fingon, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Slash/Femslash | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 638 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Maedhros had not intended any of this.
The thought came to him as he watched the sleeping children snuggled under their blankets with the red light of the hearth fire against the softness of their cheeks, their dark heads just over the top of the blankets.
The smaller one snuffled and rubbed his nose in his sleep and Maedhros automatically smoothed his hand over the warm dark head and hummed the lullaby he had hummed over countless ages to other small boys. All dead now but one.
And this was not life.
No. He had not intended this.
His stump itched and he scratched it carelessly; it did that when he remembered.
| Major Characters: Elrond, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 459 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Companion piece to Erinyator. Elrond, son and father.
But if he did not speak, then who would remember? If he did not tell them, his children would not know how much HE owed to Maglor, Maedhros. And he could not have his children think so badly of them.
So he nestled Elrohir’s head against his shoulder and began. ‘Once, long long ago, there were two small boys, twins…’
‘Like Elladan and me.’
| Major Characters: Maedhros, Elrond, Elrohir |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family | Challenges: |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 3, 622 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |
Celebrimbor and Narvi have a good day where only nice things happen! No plot, just an Elf and a Dwarf being happy and making shiny things. Written for the All The Nice Things flash exchange.
| Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Narvi |
| Major Relationships: Celebrimbor/Narvi |
| Genres: Fluff, Slash | Challenges: |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Sexual Content (Mild) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 202 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters |