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
Storyteller
Storytelling is an interactive art, using words and actions to bring a story to life while encouraging the listener’s imagination. This challenge is all about storytellers in the Silmarillion tapestry. 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?
…
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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.
Thank you very much for writing and sharing this! I think this is an interesting and moving part of Turin's story, too, and it is very good to see somebody give Sador Labadal a voice!
Oh thank you! I still have one or two more drabbles left! You are my very first SWG reviewer!
When I read the Silm, I didn't think much of Turin; he seemed like such a jerk. But then when I read UT and CoH, and saw what a sweet person he was as a child, it changed my whole way of looking at his tragedy-- that the truly sad part of the story wasn't all the death and destruction, but that he lost that generous innocence of his so very young!
And I was intrigued by Sador Labadal, who was so very good and kind to a young child, giving of his time and his wisdom.
In his piping voice I hear, not scorn, but admiration, and perhaps some pity for my pain.
Labadal is not so ill a name as some might think.
In an economy of carefully chosen words, you've given Sador his voice, and the above nicely addresses why he holds his nickname as compliment rather than scorn.
Oh thank you! Of course with drabbles an economy of words is essential. And I think he understands that this little child truly does love him, and so no offense can be taken.
His father's grief has turned to vengeance, his mother's has turned to ice. Why is it left to me, the lowliest person of the household to wipe his tears?
Excellent wordcraft here, Dreamflower. This conveys so much, explains so much.
Yes, we see in the young child so much love and kindness and generosity! We see a child with so much potential, and it seems that Labadal is the only one who seems to want to nurture that potential. And he is such a patient and loving man. He would have been a good father to children of his own.
his child's heart will break, and of the shards will grow a heart of stone and pride. He is his mother's son.
And thus you give the reader the foundation of what will become Túrin's great tragedy. His story is perhaps the bleakest in The Silmarillion, so this series of drabbles set the foundation for what is to come. Labadal's voice -- world-weary yet full of patience and affection -- is very effective. It's fascinating for this reader to see young Túrin in his days of childhood innocence through the old, loyal servant's eyes. You've given Labadal a nobility and fortitude I have long wanted to see, for surely, the old loyal servant possessed these traits.
This series is an excellent foray into the First Age, Dreamflower! Here's hoping you'll dip your toes into the waters again, perhaps by expanding on one or all of these gems.
When I read of Turin's story in the Silm, I didn't like him much. He seemed so full of hubris and lacking in sense. The tragedy of his story did not move me that much. But then in UT and in CoH, I read the accounts of his childhood and his relationship with Labadal, and that changed my whole view of him. It gave me a chance to realize that he'd had potential, that he had been a child with a lot of love to give, and that all of that had been just crushed out of him. It truly made me empathize with him more. He was an innocent child, with a generous heart, and then he became this bleak and bitter man.
And I was also very drawn to Labadal. As you said, a man of nobility and fortitude, and a wise one as well. I really appreciated the devotion he showed to this lonely grieving child.
I am glad you liked these. I do not know if I have any more First Age fic in me-- I am very devoted to hobbits. But I never thought I'd write this much, so who knows in the future.
Thank you so much for the lovely reviews. ((hugs))
Thank you! I've always been fascinated by that childhood realationship of Turin's ever since I read of it, and I always wondered why his parents did not seem ot care more about the child's feelings.
Comments on Labadal and Túrin
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.