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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
Oh how delightful! I just love what compels him to check out these two Elves!
Your descriptions of the two, Miriel occupied w ith her craft, the primitive crown Finwe wore, were a nice touch. I also love Gandalf being fascinated with the curiosity and compassion he saw in Finwe's mind (the same qualities that would later attract him to hobbits).
Best of all was him playing Cupid! Just such a subtle little nudge, to let them know their feelings were requited. Adorable!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. :) I realized that the quote could have meant that he traveled among the Elves unseen at many points in their history, but I could not get Cuivienen out of my mind. Which opened the obvious possibility of him advising them about Valinor ... but that seemed too heavy (and I'm not sure that "wisdom" in that case was actually going to Valinor). I like the idea of Gandalf's influence coming through the small and the humble, so this seemed a good instance of first contact.
Eee! I could absolutely picture Olórin doing something like this. And the description of Elven thoughts vs. Ainur thoughts, the similarities and differences, is great.
I love this. It is just so charming and imaginative. I really will be unable to imagine young Miriel and Finwe any other way in the future. Finwe's crown! I adore it and love him in it. Oh, Dawn. This is perfect. I needed this today.
I really love Finwe and Miriel, but Olórin also is one of my all-time favorites!
Aww, thank you! :D I loved Dreamflower's prompt, which was something I'd read a hundred times and never really thought about. I always envision Finwe as a rather playful and childlike character, despite his accomplishments. I suppose the cliche way to say it would be that he "has a big heart"! :) He wants badly to love and be loved.
I haven't written too much Miriel, but all the talk over how fast *I* talk of late makes me feel connected to her, so I kind of wrote self-insert!Miriel, I guess. ;)
Olorin, of course, is the most challenging of all for me, but he's ultimately a fun character, which is nice.
Thank you again for reading and commenting! (Let me know if you want a story. I feel like all you've been through, you deserve one.)
I enjoyed this--the amost inconsequential way it starts and the angle it gives on the characterization of Finwe and Miriel.
I never imagined Olorin doing that sort of thing at Cuivienen, already, or indeed concerning himself with people's love life at all, so that came as a delightful surprise.
Neither did I! :) But when Dreamflower requested a ficlet about that particular line, I couldn't get Cuivienen out of my mind (even though the quote certainly doesn't even *imply* it). And I was thinking, "What kind of wisdom might he have passed on there?" I couldn't see him encouraging the Elves to accept the summons (because I don't find that particularly wise), and there are only a limited number of characters present there at all. So I happened on this idea. :)
I loved this--the characterization and the descriptions--such richly imagined details and such a light touch in hinting at the feelings at the core of it...
I really like this! The characterizations are wonderful. So are the details. (I'm especially fond of the pen borrowing and Maglor's unspoken thought about it not being returned. I'm guilty of keeping track of things like that, too.) And then Fëanor having to practically run out of Maglor's room in order to avoid being caught!
Thank you, Indy! I'm glad you liked it. :) I am guilty of the thing with the pens too: When I was in middle and high school, I hated lending pens to peers because, if they forgot to give them back (which they usually did), I couldn't forget it, yet I was too shy to ask for the pen back, so I'd just watch them using it day in and day out and think, "THAT'S MY PEN YOU" *ahem* Anyway. So yes, that one was true to life, I'm afraid! :)
LOvely- such a visual image, the dye running crimson, her hands lifting the garment, his mind wanting to mend and fix. And I love that you have Olorin's voice tell this- curious and gentle.
Another lovely glimpse into their lives along the lines of AMC-for which I love you deeply. Love the chaos, the absorption of the various sons, the slightly potty way they live and work and are genius!
I'm laughing at the bird brain! :D I honestly hadn't thought much about the Eagles as characters until Baranduin's request. But the usual urge to write unusual perceptions made this an interesting piece to write (even if I was worried enough about it to hold onto it for months ... when I wrote it, there was still snow on the ground! A lot of snow!)
Wow, this is awesome. I suppose I've always presumed the Eagles' consciousness to be as human-like as it is eagle-like; this is a fascinating look at a much more eagle-with-a-lowercase-L consciousness with well-timed infusions of humanity.
I'm glad you thought it was awesome! :) I wrote this piece months ago and could never quite bring myself to post it. Mostly because it's weird. And then a comment from Baranduin over the weekend on something entirely unrelated made me think, "Dawn, you're being pretty silly and pretty rude at this point, to hold a requested story this long without posting it." So I posted it finally. (Now I just need to WRITE the rest of the Mythmoot mathoms!)
I enjoy writing perspectives on the fringes of humanity (or unusual perspectives generally). I hadn't thought much about the Eagles as characters before this piece and could see going just as easily in a more human-like direction in the future, but this particular perspective was too tempting to resist this time.
Comments on Mythmoot Mathoms
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.