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.
This is wonderful. On more levels than I can say. I died at the the diva-esque section on how painful it is that half the Sindar ignore it. Holy shit! Been there. Done that. I guess we all do, at least those of us who consider a piece of fanfiction to be worth serious effort.
"But I also know that expressing a positive opinion is only common courtesy, for a follower. Not to mention a shrewd career move.”
If he wants to know who really likes it and who says so for other reasons, he should ask again after the Havens at Sirion. That is so mean of me. Just kidding. I believe in my heart of hearts that the Noldolante has to be undescribable brilliant and anyone who did not like it could not appreciate good music. (Otherwise they could revoke my membership as a Besotted Follower of the Feanorians.)
I read this before, but enjoyed it even more this time if that is possible.
Well, but waiting until after the Havens would leave poor Maglor a much smaller pool of people to question...
I am sure the Noldolante was a great piece, but not, perhaps, appropriate for every mood and occasion. E.g. not the sort of thing you would play while getting ready for a party.
Anyway, thanks for reviewing. As you know, this was a very, erm, personal piece.
"At least his Silmaril-requesting letter to Elwing had some chance of success."
While I laughed, I could see how this in a way, is a small auto-bio of a creator, the creation process, and the importance of the audience reaction. It is fun, and poignant both. Thank you.
I suspect this is more of a bio of my beta's annoyance with me. It was also supposed to be cathartic, which worked until I realized that I had compared myself to Maglor, which does not QUITE fit.
I do think, though, that it might speak not just for me, but also for other, less drama-queen-like creators...
Comments on The Artistic Temperament
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.