New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.
New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.
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.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] House of Finwë by softmoonlightmelody
One drabble per Finwëan. Currently on first and second generations.
[Writing] The Mirror Crack'd by AdmirableMonster
Rescued from a brutal Angband hunt, an ex-thrall with a strange and powerful artifact embedded in his spine is brought to Himring, for it is one of the only places in Beleriand which welcomes such folk. Though he has no memories of his life before, Anniavas slowly becomes accustomed to his new…
[Writing] From That Rubble by StarSpray
Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I…
[Writing] A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray
When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.
[Writing] Into the West by Grundy
Dawn does not call sailing off into the unknown with a guy they've only known a few days a great plan.
[Writing] Explain This by Elrond's Library
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
[Writing] Message in a Bottle by StarSpray
Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just…
Current Challenge
Random Challenge
Crackuary
"This idea is completely unworkable, but I bet I can make it work." With that philosophy in mind (if so dignified a word can be used here), create a fanwork using a bingo card with the most bizarre, silly, and crackiest prompts we could conjure. Read more ...
New in References
"The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far) by Dawn Walls-Thumma
The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies mark perhaps the most influential events in the history of the Tolkien fanfiction fandom. As the Rings of Power show approaches its third season, data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows that it is not even close to matching the impact of the films ... yet.
Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Data from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows demographic changes in participant gender, age, and education and new revelations about neurodiversity.
Communities Do Comment: Expanding the 3C's of Commenting with SWG Data by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Expanding on my 2018 article "Why People Don't Comment," comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
Featured Themed Collection
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Artwork] A Memento of Faery by Grundy
TRSB26 art 144 - an artifact brought back from Faerie by a Starbearer.
[Writing] Down the Long Years by Isilme_among_the_stars
Bilbo, the strange old hobbit with the wandering feet, senses something special in young Frodo the first time he sees the lad; as they become close, they find in each other a cameraderie not well understood by other hobbits. Five poignant moments between Bilbo and Frodo Baggins over the course…
Around the World and Web
Sindar Week 2026
A Tolkien event week for the Sindar, the Grey-Elves, from the Years of the Trees to the Third Age.
Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
A prompt-based fandom event aiming to focus on celebrating Finwë's children: Fëanor, Findis, Fingolfin, Lalwen, & Finarfin - ships, gen relationships, or character-centric
Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.
Gigolas Week 2026
Gigolas Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Legolas and Gimli
Innumerable Stars 2026
A character-based Tolkien fandom gift exchange is returning for another year of gifting.
New and Updated Fanworks
Include Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks
Winds of the Western Shore by Anérea
Minyelmë discovers the far Western shore of Aman.
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Elves |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Artwork Type: Character/Portrait, Drawing/Painting, Illustration |
| Genres: Adventure | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| View Fanwork | Comments (14) |
Artifacts of Ice by Lferion
Fingon's new hröa did not cross the Ice.
| Major Characters: Fingon |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama, Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: Book by Its Cover, New Year's Resolution |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 105 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
The Shipwright and the Hobbit by daughterofshadows
Belladonna goes to the sea and understands something of importance.
Círdan is there for emotional support, even if he doesn't know it.
| Major Characters: Belladonna Took Baggins, Círdan |
| Major Relationships: Belladonna Took Baggins & Círdan |
| Genres: Adventure | Challenges: New Year's Resolution, Queens of the Quill, Words of Wit and Wisdom |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 712 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
King of beech and oak and elm by polutropos
Thingol contemplates the carvings of Menegroth, remembering Lúthien.
| Major Characters: Elu Thingol, Lúthien Tinúviel, Melian |
| Major Relationships: Lúthien & Thingol |
| Genres: General | Challenges: New Year's Resolution, Times of Bliss |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 453 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
Light in a Ruined House by Himring
Celebrian asks Elrond about Maedhros and Maglor.
Elrond does not find it easy to talk to her about them, so he begins in a somewhat roundabout way...
| Major Characters: Celebrían, Elrond, Maedhros, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: Celebrían/Elrond |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: Holiday Party, New Year's Resolution, Queens of the Quill |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 201 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
The Last Home at the End of the World by elennalore
After stepping into a chasm filled with fire, Maedhros finds himself in an eerily familiar house.
| Major Characters: Maedhros, Nienna |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: New Year's Resolution, Queens of the Quill |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Mature Themes, Suicide |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 961 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
Adanel: never have I ever by Anérea
A young Adanel in two drabbles from the Holiday Party Instadrabbling event using the "Never have I ever" prompt.
| Major Characters: Adanel, Finrod Felagund |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Adventure, Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: Holiday Party, New Year's Resolution |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 209 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Pallando & Alatar: never have I ever... by Anérea
Two journeys of the Blue Wizards in two drabbles from the Holiday Party Instadrabbling event using the "Never have I ever" prompt.
| Major Characters: Alatar, Pallando |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Adventure, Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 204 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
Elendil! Elendil! by Himring
Fixed length-ficlets featuring Elendil the Tall, one set during this childhood in Numenor, the other after the Fall of Numenor.
| Major Characters: Elendil, Inzilbêth |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: Holiday Party, New Year's Resolution |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 304 |
| 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 | Comments (8) |
Queen's Counsel by StarSpray
It was not Melian’s wont to speak against her husband in public. When she did she tried to do so gently. She would not undermine his authority before his people—she was not one of Bauglir’s creatures to bend others by force to her will.
But in the privacy of their chambers it was a different matter.
| Major Characters: Elu Thingol, Lúthien Tinúviel, Melian |
| Major Relationships: Melian/Thingol |
| Genres: Family, Ficlet, General | Challenges: Gnome Tome, New Year's Resolution |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 663 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Stars, hide your fires by Lyra, Independence1776, Fernstrike, Raiyana
All things in Arda are filled with Song, and each Song is a story - even for that which does not seem to have its own voice. This is the tale of one such thing; of a smith, a dwarf, and a bowman, and the fallen star that sang its way through their histories.
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Bard, Maeglin |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Experimental | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 9 | Word Count: 3, 445 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (7) |
In Light Of Dreams by Anérea
FA346: Estolad, East Beleriand, and circa FA150: near the Orocarni Mountains, Eastern Middle-earth
Zimrahin, wife of Malach and mother of Adanel & Magor, relates a tale of one of their ancestors to a young Adanel, wise-woman-in-training.
(Third in my Hildórien to Beleriand series, connecting Adanel with her earlier OC ancestors.)
| Major Characters: Original Female Character(s), Adanel, Zimrahin |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Ficlet, General | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 186 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (10) |
First Risings From Hildórien by Anérea
FA125: West of the Orocarni Mountains, and FA0: on the shores of of Hildórien
A great great grandmother relates her memories of the first time she saw the moon rise.
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Men |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Alternate Universe, General | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 681 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Hildórien to Beleriand Series by Anérea
Tolkien briefly mentions the Awakening of Men and then over 300 years later they appear in Beleriand with fully-formed culture and an apparently exciting and interesting history that's barely hinted at in the Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth.
The latter describes an oral tradition passed down through many generations, so while the Tale Of Adanel may contain a core of truth, the precise details of their ancestors' lives would naturally become embellished or forgotten according to each storyteller's memory and understanding, morphing and evolving over time.
The stories in this series explore the possible early history of Adanel's ancestors, the keepers of their wisdom traditions. (Adanel and her Brother happen to themselves be the ancestors of most of the First Age Edain and Peredhil heroes.)
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Adanel, Maiar, Men, Zimrahin |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Warnings: No warnings apply | |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| View Fanwork | Comments (0) |
The Elf's Lullaby by Anérea
A pair of young twins are lost in the wood.
In the tradition of folktales changing over time, I've written three endings, narrated in different voices. So this tale comes in three sizes: happy, medium, and sad. (And I'm not entirely sure myself which is which.)
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Maglor, Men |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Adventure, Drama | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 3 | Word Count: 2, 119 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
| Major Characters: No major characters listed |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: New Year's Resolution, Words of Wit and Wisdom |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 23 | Word Count: 2, 349 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Summoned to Council by Lindariel
A road trip in six drabbles.
| Major Characters: Celeborn, Galadriel |
| Major Relationships: Celeborn/Galadriel |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: Book by Its Cover, New Year's Resolution |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 6 | Word Count: 615 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
nightmares by Fernstrike
In which Legolas has a bad dream.
| Major Characters: Unnamed Canon Character(s), Legolas Greenleaf, Thranduil |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 320 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (3) |
letters from the front by Fernstrike
Isildur contemplates what to to tell his wife as he writes home from the siege of Barad-dûr.
| Major Characters: Isildur |
| Major Relationships: Isildur/Unnamed Canon Character |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 200 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Limits of Defiance by Himring
Finduilas considers the question whether she ever had a rebellious phase and remembers an episode from her childhood.
| Major Characters: Finduilas |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 100 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Pack the Parcel by daughterofshadows, Idrils Scribe, Grundy
A collection of stories for the Pass the Parcel prompt for the Holiday challenge!
If anyone else would like to join, contact Grundy to be added to the list of authors so you can add your chapter.
| Major Characters: Original Female Character(s), Elwing, Nellas, Túrin |
| Major Relationships: Nellas & Túrin, Elwing & Nellas |
| Genres: | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 3 | Word Count: 1, 333 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (22) |
Winterwonderland by daughterofshadows
The first snow of the year has come! Time to go outside and have some fun!
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Rog, Salgant |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family, Fluff | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 413 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Letters to Irmo. by hennethgalad
Glorfindel struggles to write his letter.
| Major Characters: Estë, Glorfindel, Lórien |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Dear Irmo |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Sexual Content (Mild) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 402 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Holiday Party Instadrabbling by elennalore
Two drabbles written at the Holiday Party instadrabbling event.
1. Maedhros almost (but not quite) makes his little brothers cry. Russingon. Valinor, Years of the Trees.
2. Sauron does something genuinely nice to someone. Tol Sirion, First Age.
| Major Characters: Fingon, Maedhros, Sauron |
| Major Relationships: Fingon/Maedhros |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 259 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Holiday Party Instadrabbling by Lindariel
From the Instadrabbling session on the SWG Discord server, 2 January 2022.
| Major Characters: Celeborn, Celebrían, Eärendil, Galadriel |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family, General | Challenges: Holiday Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 5 | Word Count: 811 |
| 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 | Comments (4) |
