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
Love Conquers All
Show how one character helps another to overcome a difficulty in his or her life through love. 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
At the Eleventh Hour by AdmirableMonster
After a fall, Elros goes into labor too early. An unexpected visitor provides succour.
| Major Characters: Unnamed Female Canon Character(s), Elros, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: Elros & Maglor |
| Genres: Drama, Family | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Violence (Moderate) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 879 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Alive at the Wake by herenortherenearnorfar
"Now Celebrimbor was not corrupted in heart or faith, but had accepted Sauron as what he posed to be; and when at length he discovered the existence of the One Ring he revolted against Sauron, and went to Lórinand to take counsel once more with Galadriel. They should have destroyed all the Rings of Power at this time, "but they failed to find the strength.""
They find the strength.
| Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Sauron |
| Major Relationships: Celebrimbor/Sauron |
| Genres: | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Sexual Content (Moderate), Torture, Violence (Graphic) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 26, 565 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Queen Mother's Arrival by Kaylee Arafinwiel
Elwing, flying in bird form above the Star Isle, ventures a little too close and takes a tumble. She ends up bruised for her trouble, but gets more than she bargained for...
| Major Characters: Elros, Elwing |
| Major Relationships: Elros/Original Character |
| Genres: Family | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 996 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (10) |
Short stories of Valinor by Aprilertuile
My answers to some recent instadrabbles, featuring wild noldor in their natural habitat and disaster siblings.
| Major Characters: Fëanor, Maedhros, Maglor, Nerdanel |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 8 | Word Count: 1, 671 |
| 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) |
Olympics 2021 Instadrabbling by Lindariel
Instadrabbles from the SWG Discord server sessions on 31 July-1 August 2021, with Olympics-flavored prompts.
| Major Characters: Angrod, Caranthir, Celeborn, Finrod Felagund, Galadriel, Huan, Lúthien Tinúviel, Maedhros, Oropher, Samwise Gamgee, Thranduil, Turgon, Yavanna |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Adventure, Family, Fixed-Length Ficlet, General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 10 | Word Count: 1, 023 |
| 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) |
Once Upon A Time And Long Ago by AdmirableMonster
When the twins' fathers finally leave them to go after the Silmarils, Elros and Elrond decide they don't deserve to be orphaned a second time. In the midst of a great storm, though, strange magics are unleashed, and they wake up five hundred years earlier in an unsullied paradise. But dark things are stirring in Valinor, and the twins are told to tread lightly, lest they unweave their very existence.
Can they find a way to save their fathers and return to their own time, or will it all play out the same way and end in fire?
| Major Characters: Original Female Character(s), Elrond, Elros, Fëanor, Fingon, Finrod Felagund, Finwë, Maedhros, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: Elrond & Elros & Maedhros & Maglor, Fingon/Maedhros, Finrod/Maglor |
| Genres: Alternate Universe, Family, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 6, 811 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
And the nightingales sing by daughterofshadows
After her mother has left, Arwen struggles to sleep.
She seeks comfort with the nightingales singing in the gardens and meets someone unexpected in her dreams.
| Major Characters: Arwen |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 605 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (9) |
An unexpected journey - getting into the Tolkien fandom by daughterofshadows
A short exploration of my time in the Tolkien fandom: How did I get here, why did I stay, what did I learn.
For the Middle-earth Olympics Diving prompt.
| Major Characters: No major characters listed |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Nonfiction/Meta | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 871 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Originally presented at the 2021 Tolkien Society Seminar "Tolkien and Diversity," this paper considers the historical and current use of fanfiction to address issues of representation in Tolkien’s canon.
The tragedy of Sirion by Aprilertuile
The feanorians attack Sirion.
This story follows oath awakened
| Major Characters: Amras, Amrod, Elrond, Elros, Elwing, Maedhros, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Adventure | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: In-Universe Racism/Ethnocentrism, Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 2, 628 |
| 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) |
[podfic] The foam like flowers on the shore by Chestnut_pod
They have no choice but to build a life together.
| Major Characters: Idril, Nimloth |
| Major Relationships: Idril/Nimloth |
| Genres: Podfic | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, In-Universe Racism/Ethnocentrism |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| View Fanwork | Comments (0) |
Desmemoria by UnnamedElement
How does one explain to one’s children the horror of what one has seen and done? Thranduil wrestles with how to tell Legolas about the history of their folk and, with his wife’s encouragement, he revisits the testimony of the Sindarin refugees collected by Oropher, in preparation. Locked away in secret archives or not, the past is never really past, and even children can outsmart memory.
| Major Characters: Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Legolas Greenleaf, Maglor, Oropher, Thranduil |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama, Family | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Character Death, Mature Themes, Violence (Graphic) |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 7, 165 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Then and now, Maglor's thoughts on Celegorm by Aprilertuile
Maglor observes his brother Celegorm, and can't help but think of the differences now, after Nargothrond, compared to before, in Aman.
| Major Characters: Celegorm, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 188 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (7) |
Breakfast with Sparrow by chrissystriped
An elf shares his breakfast with a sparrow.
| Major Characters: Original Male Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Alternate Universe, Ficlet, General | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 160 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
Feast of the Hunter by chrissystriped
In the Greenwood a contest is held each autumn to choose the Leader of the Hunt.
| Major Characters: Thranduil |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Ficlet, General | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 566 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
A harpist's injury by Aprilertuile
Child Makalaurë is just learning to play the harp, and as all students do at times, he overdid it...
Inspired by a real-time event, harp strings are pure evil.
| Major Characters: Fëanor, Maedhros, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 028 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Vengeance is Mine by chrissystriped
An elf escapes from Angband and earns himself a new name.
| Major Characters: Rog |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Ficlet | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Violence (Moderate) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 705 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
last made but first planned by Chestnut_pod
That was how it had begun, that hope for a tangible reminder of the past, of victory and hope against the odds. Two candles then for what was lost, and wine and bread for those still living.
| Major Characters: Eärendil, Elwing |
| Major Relationships: Eärendil/Elwing |
| Genres: General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 754 |
| 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) |
The Teleri Times. by hennethgalad
Controversy rages at the Games as the House of Fëanor is accused of using performance enhancing drugs.
| Major Characters: Elves, Fëanor, Finarfin, Fingolfin, Fingon, Ingwë, Míriel Serindë, Nerdanel, Sons of Fëanor |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 441 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Death of the Last-King by Kaylee Arafinwiel
Arvedui Last-King found second love in the frozen lands of the North. Now, though, he has determined to go home, despite his lover's misgivings. Is braving the Ice Bay worth the risk when Angmar's sorcerer King is on the move?
| Major Characters: Original Female Character(s), Arvedui |
| Major Relationships: Arvedui/Original Character |
| Genres: Het, Romance | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Character Death, Mature Themes, Violence (Moderate) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 400 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (9) |
Of Peredhil and Seagulls by Kaylee Arafinwiel
Adolescent Earendil and Elwing have a conversation by the sea-wall, interrupted by a rather adorable friend.
| Major Characters: Eärendil, Elwing |
| Major Relationships: Eärendil/Elwing, Elwing & Original Character |
| Genres: General, Romance | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 208 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
Just bruises by daughterofshadows
In which Nerdanel tries to sneak some cookies and takes a small tumble. Luckily, Papa is there to help!
| Major Characters: Mahtan, Nerdanel |
| Major Relationships: Mahtan & Nerdanel |
| Genres: Family, Ficlet, Fluff | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 202 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
By the Lake of Lorellin by Kaylee Arafinwiel
Melian, scrying in the lake of Lorellin, sees a troubling sight - and her great-granddaughter is equally troubled by the repetition of troubles throughout her life and their people's.
| Major Characters: Celebrían, Elwing, Melian |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama, Family | Challenges: Middle-earth Olympics |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Mature Themes, Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 266 |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
[podfic] Three times, the forge by Chestnut_pod
Celebrimbor kisses Narvi. Narvi kisses Celebrimbor. Somehow, Celebrimbor is still perplexed.
| Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Narvi |
| Major Relationships: Celebrimbor/Narvi |
| Genres: Podfic | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Sexual Content (Mild) |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| View Fanwork | Comments (4) |
Republic of Tirion by Dawn Felagund
It is Aman. It is the Fifth Age. Finally left to his own devices, Finarfin has decided to show his own radical streak, unkinged himself, and established representative democracy in Tirion against the will of the Valar. Adding to the crazy, all his exiled, slain relatives are beginning to return from Mandos ...
| Major Characters: Amarië, Anairë, Caranthir, Finarfin, Fingon, Finrod Felagund, Maedhros |
| 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) |
