Sign-Up to Hand Out Scavenger Hunt Prompts
Our May challenge will be a Matryoshka built around a scavenger hunt. If you'd like to hand out prompts (and receive comments on your work for doing so!), you can sign up to do so.
SWG News
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.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] How Tolkien Presents Ordinary People in "The Silmarillion" by Dawn Felagund
Inspired by collecting the prompts for the Everyman challenge, this essay considers how ordinary people are subsumed and silenced in The Silmarillion, which begins a three-book arc that ends with the rise of the humble and ordinary.
[Writing] Blessed are the Leave-takers by Isilme_among_the_stars
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 …
[Writing] After the Kinslaying by Deborah Judge
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.
[Writing] I Sit and Think of Times There Were Before by Erdariel
In his old age, Isildur's former esquire Ruinamacil, known to later histories only as Ohtar, writes his own account of his escape from the ambush at Gladden Fields and journey to Imladris, and the history of his friend whom Isildur ordered to flee with him.
[Writing] Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna
Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring.
[Writing] a riot of shadow and shine by Elrond's Library
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…
[Writing] The Exchange by Elrond's Library
An exchange is made during the Great Journey
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
Jubilee
This January, for our annual amnesty challenge, any challenge from January 2017 onward is fair game! Read more ...
New in References
Fandom Draws the Line: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn Felagund, Grundy
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.
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma
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.
Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates
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.
Featured Themed Collection
Beyond the Silmarillion
[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…
[Artwork] The Mirror of Galadriel by skywardstruck
Smoke rises from the Mirror, where the Lady of Lothlórien awaits to share its visions.
[Writing] Bar-en-Eladar by Gabriel
Out of the shadow, light is born anew.
A Chieftain is dead. And whilst the events surrounding his death are unclear, a son tries to come to terms with his loss.
Around the World and Web
Week of Kiliel
A Tumblr event dedicated to the relationship between Kili and Tauriel.
Aspec Arda Week 2026
This week-long event celebrates asexual and aromantic spectrum interpretations and headcanons of Tolkien’s Legendarium.
Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026
April/May Teitho Challenge
Teithio is running a prompt challenge around the theme of "heartbreak."
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2026
The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang is back for another summer of collaboration between artists and writers!
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: Cauldron of Fanfic
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
The third in a series of articles looking at how the films impacted the Tolkien fandom, this month's Cultus Dispatches column looks at how fans use the films in their fanfiction.
As previous articles have detailed, the Tolkien fanfiction community remains heavily book-based, with a nearly indetectable minority of authors using only the films to write their stories. Yet, at the same time, the films remain an indisputable influence. How do fans negotiate details from the books and the films to produce stories about the legendarium? As the article shows, the films' influence is diverse. Fans take details from the films, attempt to reconcile the films and books, and critique and correct the Jackson team's choices, sometimes within a single story. And as shown in earlier articles, the films drive fans increasingly toward the books.
You can read this month's article here: Cauldron of Fanfic: The Use of Jackson's Films in Constructing Tolkien-Based Fanfiction.
Remember, Cultus Dispatches is always looking for contributors to our column about Tolkien fandom history and culture. Find out more about writing for this column here.
New Challenge: Also Appearing
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
There's something about fanworks that invites putting our favorite characters and storylines into completely unexpected settings. Alternate universe (AU) is one of fandom's most storied genres, with hundreds of characters meeting at coffee shops, college dorms, or out in space.
Below, you will find sixty AU setting prompts and sixty AU genre prompts. You can select your one or more prompts from the list below. As always, we encourage creative interpretation and use of the prompts we provide.
Is AU not your thing? In honor of our two new fanwork types, new link collections or playlists added to the archive before the challenge deadline will receive special stamps. (Please do not select the Also Appearing challenge for playlists and link collections unless your fanwork is an AU playlist or link collection!)
In honor of Pride Month, there will also be a special stamp for fanworks that feature LGBTQIA+ characters.
In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 July 2022. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.
Link Collections and Playlists Are Here!
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
When we built the new site, one of our reasons and goals was to eventually be able to host just about every type of fanwork that could be created. Although we are the Silmarillion Writers' Guild, we've long recognized and sought to honor the fact that our members create much more than just written fanworks, and we wanted to build an archive where they could host all of their Silmarillion-based fanworks.
Today, we are pleased to take two steps closer to that goal. The SWG archive can now host link collections and playlists. Link collections allow you to compile lists of links both within and outside the SWG and are ideal for rec lists or resource collections. Playlists let you collect songs and other audio around a fannish theme and can be used to share fan-made soundtracks, podcast collections, and other audio compilations. If you'd like to learn more about these fanwork types, we have an FAQ on link collections and an FAQ on playlists. Ready to start sharing your work? You can add a link collection or add a playlist here.
As always, if you have questions about link collections, playlists, or anything at all, contact our mod team.
Series vs. Link Collections vs. Bookmarks vs. Favorites
One question we anticipate is when members should create a series or create a link collection. (Or use the site's bookmarks and favorites!)
Series have been a part of our site since the archive opened in 2007. Series allow you to collect multiple fanworks posted to the SWG archive into a single fanwork. While series can be used in myriad ways, they have traditionally been used to show the connection between related fanworks.
Link collections, on the other hand, allow you to gather links both within the SWG (similar to a series) and outside the SWG. Link collections can be used for a wide variety of purposes: organizing all of your related fanworks (regardless of where they are posted), resource collections, recommendation lists, collections of art or music that you use to inspire fanworks—and other ways we haven't even dreamed of yet!
Our archive also offers bookmarks and favorites. Bookmarks are stored in a private list of fanworks hosted on the SWG. Favorites are a public list of fanworks and creators whom you have marked as a favorite. Favorites can be found on your profile and are not listed as a fanwork. If you want your list of favorite fanworks to be searchable among the fanworks on the site, use a link collection or series instead. You can learn more about bookmarks and favorites here.
So What's Next?
So far in 2022, we've added artwork, link collections, and playlists to the site. Before the year's end, we hope that our site can host just about every imaginable fanwork.
And we are drawing close to meeting that goal. In the months to come, we will add one final fanwork type: video. Finally, we will create a means to share "multimedia" fanworks: fanworks that use more than one of the fanwork types in conjunction with each other. Examples of multimedia fanworks include a radio play that includes both a written script and recorded performance, artwork that accompanies a story, a video that accompanies a work of meta, or a playlist created as a companion to a novella.
As we develop these fanwork types, we will first solicit feedback from our members and then beta-test the new fanwork types on our test site. If you're interested in one or both of these roles, watch this space and our social media for more information. (A reminder that you can subscribe to our newsletter to get these announcements delivered right to your email inbox.)
Finally, thanks to Ettelenë and Himring, who served as beta testers for the new fanwork types, and the many people who provided input during the development process of the new fanwork types.
Character of the Month: Elemmakil
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
Tolkien peppered his work with minor characters whose brief appearances help create the illusion of depth for which the legendarium is renowned. Elemmakil is one such character. The guardian of the Gates of Gondolin who leads forth Tuor upon his arrival, Elemmakil was written into the legendarium relatively late in its history, playing a small but important role.
This month's character biography, authored by Narya, explores what the legendarium has to say about Elemmakil. While there is little to go on in the canon, Narya observes that Elemmakil plays the role of a "threshold guardian" and connects with many of Tolkien's other uses of surveillance and light.
New Challenge: Vintage
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
Back in the day… It’s not just fashion that changes with the times, literary and artistic trends do also. But it’s nice to take a stroll along memory lane from time to time, and so we present Vintage.
This month's challenge will offer bingo cards with vintage literary, artistic, and fandom concepts as prompts. You may pick your card(s), and use one prompt, complete rows or lines on the cards, or fill an entire card. If you choose multiple prompts, you can incorporate them into one or multiple fanworks.
You can find the Vintage bingo cards (and text prompts) here.
Fanworks should be posted to the archive no later than June 15 in order to be eligible for a stamp.
Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Voices - Impact of the Films
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
The release of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films were the single most influential impactful event in the history of Tolkien fandom. They brought thousands of new fans to the fandom, grew communities literally overnight, and shaped fandom culture for the decades that followed. We continue to explore the impact of the films as part of our fandom history column Cultus Dispatches, and this month's column focuses on what you, the fans who lived this history, remember about how the two Jackson trilogies changed (or didn't?) your fandom communities and experiences. The first in the Fandom Voices series, a Cultus subproject that collects memories from fans about their fandom cultures and histories, this month's column presents the responses from about thirty respondents who were part of the fandom before one or both trilogies.
Fandom Voices columns present both a curated collection of responses with minimal commentary, designed to highlight trends that we noticed among the responses. However, we also include the full collection of responses, lightly edited, so that you can also draw your own conclusions about the impact of the two trilogies.
You can read the article "Fandom Voices: Impact of the Films" here.
Fandom Voices surveys never close. We will continue to collect responses and periodically update the response collections. If you were a fan before the either film trilogies (or both) and would like to contribute to this project, you can add your memories of pre-film fandom here.
If you were a fan brought to the Tolkien fandom by the films, our second Fandom Voices survey is also active and collecting responses to be included in an article later this year. You can share your memories of joining fandom as a film fan here.
Fanfiction Book Club: Explicit Relationships
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
Sexual relationships are a creative inspiration for many authors in the Tolkien fandom, and have often been a topic for much discussion and debate. This is our chance to celebrate the imagination of fanfiction authors and how the community envisions sexual relationships among the various peoples of Arda.
This book club will be held on Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5 in the #fanfiction-book-club-nsfw channel on the SWG's Discord server. If you are not a member of our Discord server and would like to join, log into your site account and find an invite link in the footer of the site. If you're not a member of the site, contact our moderators for an invite code. Your hosts for this event are Polutropos and Melesta.
Schedule
Saturday, June 4th
9:00-9:45 When honey spills, and apple swells by Nienna
10:00-10:45 Clash of swords by firstamazon
11:00-11:45 An Interlude by maedron
Break
13:00-13:45 Tryst by Anonymous
14:00-14:45 We All Fall Down by cuarthol
Sunday, June 5th
9:00-9:45 Piecing our Lives back together (Chapter 5)** by ChrissyStriped
10:00-10:45 A Secret Chord by polutropos
11:00-11:45 Let Me Come Back to Your Hand by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)
Break
13:00-13:45 Traitorous Heart by starlightwalking
14:00-14:45 Account #1: Of the Quendi and the Maiar by Aipilosse
** Though it is not the main subject of the story, this fic contains implied/referenced rape/non-con. Readers who wish to participate but want to skip this can stop at the sentence beginning “Still, they could steal a few more minutes together before he sneaked back to his guest room." Discussion will be moderated and participants will be asked to spoiler using || on either side of any text mentioning this content.
An AO3 bookmarked collection with all the stories can be found here.
If you've never participated in one of our book clubs before, our Book Club FAQ has more information on what to expect. Questions can be directed to the event organizers on Discord or to the SWG moderators.
Character of the Month: Telchar of Nogrod
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
Imagine Middle-earth without some of its greatest works of craft. What if there was no Narsil to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand? No Angrist to liberate a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth?
Although the story as we know it could not exist without these objects, chances are most Tolkien fans know the objects but not the name of the one who made them. This month's Character of the Month explores the master Dwarven smith behind some of the legendarium's most famous weapons and artifacts: Telchar of Nogrod. In this month's biography, Lindariel takes a look at what little information Tolkien wrote about Telchar, alongside a deep dive into the works of craft themselves and what further detail they reveal about this elusive but essential character.
You can read Telchar's biography here.
Banner image by Asad Nazir.
Did the Films Inspire You to Read Tolkien or Join the Fandom?
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
Last month, we asked to hear from fans who were part of the fandom before the films. This month, we're turning to fans who became Tolkien fans entirely or in part due to the films. Did the films cause you to pick up the books? Had you read the books but the films inspired you to participate in fandom? Was your love for Tolkien rekindled by one of the film trilogies? If so, we'd love to hear of your experiences in fandom as a film-first fan!
You can write as little or as much as you'd like. Responses will be published in an upcoming Cultus Dispatches column. You are of course welcome to remain anonymous if you prefer.
Playlists and Link Collections Are Coming!
Posted by Dawn Felagund on . Last updated on .
This year, we hope to significantly expand what fanworks we are able to host on our site. We are preparing to build the next two fanwork types: playlists and link collections, and we'd love to hear from you about what features you'd like to see our site offer for these fanworks!
Playlists are collections of songs selected around a fannish theme. Currently, we are planning to offer the following fields when you post a playlist fanwork:
- Link(s) to a completed playlist (i.e., set up on Spotify or YouTube)
- Links to individual songs with a notes field for each song. The notes field allows unlimited text with formatting.
- Audio genre selection; if you choose "Music" as your genre, you will be able to select a music genre as well.
- Album cover art.
Links collections are exactly what they sound like! They can be used for myriad purposes—rec lists, collections of resources and references, collections of images and music for mood or inspiration—and will allow links within and outside the SWG. Currently, we are planning to offer the following fields when you post a link collection:
- Link, link title, and link description fields. The link description field allows unlimited text with formatting.
- Link collection genre selection (e.g., rec list, research, inspiration).
Both the playlists and link collections will have access to the fields available to all fanworks: title, co-creator, language, summary, fanwork notes, character, relationship, rating, warnings, challenge, and completion status.
Is there something you'd like to see offered for playlists and link collections that we don't have on our list yet? Comment below or leave a comment on our Dreamwidth. If you're on our Discord, the #town-hall channel is currently discussing playlists and link collections and welcomes feedback there as well.
