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.
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.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
[Writing] A Very Fire by Deborah Judge
Feanor and Fingolfin, from their youth to their fall.
"I will do this gladly," Fingolfin said, whispering into Feanor's mouth, grasping for reasons and sense. "Gladly, if it will bring peace between us. If it will end the madness."
"The madness will not end," Feanor…
[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] Add Another Stone by StarSpray
The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
[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] 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.
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
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.
[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.
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.
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!
I really loved this! I read it over and over.
I liked the archaic names (Angamando for Angband) which gave the piece the feel of extreme age. The stirring and poetic use of language ('provisions are gnawed bone-close', 'the miles-vast fire below the mountains') made me think of Beowolf.
Please more!
Thanks so much, Uvatha! I'm glad you enjoyed this enough to reread it.
I do endeavor to use Quenya names instead of Sindarin in any of my work that takes place during the Years of the Trees.
My (much longer) Draugluin story will have a chapter or two about this same time period, from quite another perspective, if I can get off my arse and write it.
Great Bauglir, I cannot believe I had not reviewed this! Actually, I suspect there are other Huinarium offering that I have read, liked a great deal, and made a mental note of "Leave Huin a note!" Blame it on my near-geriatric mind and its attention span of a gnat.
At any rate, these are outstanding. Each one. Like Uvatha, I read these over and over. Your prose is marvelous, and in an economy of words (and clearly, each word carefully chosen), you create powerful images and bring an original flare to the cataclysmic event.
Beautifully done!
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Pandë! And I can relate to the attention span thing.
One of the things I like about doing drabble series for the Tolkien_weekly challenges is that the forced brevity allows me to conceive of brief sketches of events, so it helps me sort of plot some things out in my 'verse without falling prey to my typical tendency to make a novella of a molehill. And yes, the words all do undergo a brutal selection, since my draft drabbles usually come in at closer to 150 words.
This was one of the first fics I have read on SWG, and one of the best fics I came across before and after that! Sorry I hadn't reviewed this earlier.
And it is also compulsively readable, as your other reviewers have said, but many of your works are like that (Melkian dialogues, Sundray, Gelmir).
Your fiction has a rare quality to it, and I say this with a quite a few years reading various fanfiction, not only Silmarillion.
On the side note, I have finally read Camus' Renegade and I actually found yours and his story to be a close match. But in their essence they are very different - more on this if I manage to post another comment on Gelmir - I don't know if its allowed to publish more than one review on the same story. If not, I will write you about it somewhere else.
Please, continue to write!
Thank you so much, Belegur! I've really appreciated your encouraging remarks.
"Please, continue to write!"
Admitedly I've not been writing much this year due to a few factors, but at least lack of ideas isn't one of them. I'm certainly not done with writing Tolkien fic by any means. More will come eventually. =D
(Re: Gelmir v. Renegade. Eee, I think it's so cool that my story caused someone to read Camus' story! Yes, it is possible to leave multiple reviews on a single story, but if you have a Livejournal please do feel free get in touch over there huinare.livejournal.com. Or at other places mentioned on my profile, but LJ is very discussion-conducive.)
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Comments on A Brief History of the Fall of Utumno
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.