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.
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
And the Winner Is ...
Pit two characters against each other to see who wins. Characters can fight physically or match their wits or even magic. 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.
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 lovely, Himring, I like the travel toward Himring very much. Seems an arduous and difficult way to travel now, but must have given people time to think, which sometimes one can feel is lacking the way we live now.
"‘It would be a worse fate not to be allowed to love him’, answered Fingon silently."
Such a simple line and so beautiful. Beautifully satisfying story, my dear!
I'm so glad you found it satisfying! I was afraid it might be a little too fragmentary.
And I'm happy you like that line!
We have lost our feeling for distances, rather--until the inevitable moments when technology fails or breaks down. Yes, it would have given people a lot of time to think.
There are occasions when clearly Fingon and Maedhros would have been very happy to be able to move more quickly or at least communicate by telephone--although Morgoth no doubt would have had the lines cut or blocked or at least hacked!
Ah, indeed these can be read as "a story on their own"... and the thing that makes them bearable for the reader is knowing that someday there will be Tirion again for Fingon and Maedhros,. But of course they can't know that, can they?
At this time they are not even sure that they will be with each other in Middle-earth again, depending on whether Morgoth is already planning another attack--not even Fingon dreams of Tirion, let alone Maedhros. But nevertheless, they will be there together, one day...
This was so lovely! Everything with Fingon is, because he is a darling. I can see why Maedhros fell in ove with him.
But as usual, you never lets us forget about the danger they face: from Morgoth, form the Oath, from being found out. That always makes little happy snippets like this one stand out.
Oh, these two. *sniffle* This really makes me ache for them, all those miles and centuries of separation. So glad you did give them this one week at least!
There is a lot of separation, yes--and I guess this story makes it sound particularly bad.
That one week seems a bit cruel, in retrospect, although it's been a feature of the series from the start. The underlying idea is that, while Maedhros can leave Himring in Maglor's care at a pinch, Fingon doesn't seem to have anyone he can safely delegate Hithlum to in the insecure situation after the Bragollach. That is, assuming that Hurin doesn't usually command Noldor--which for some reason I have the impression he didn't. So Fingon can't afford a long absence at this stage and for the political purposes a week is just about enough.
This being a short time after the Bragollach, a traumatic time for both of them, they're not relying on anything at this point, but in fact, Maedhros is going to manage to make the trip to Hithlum a couple more times before the Nirnaeth.
Before the Bragollach, during the Siege, it had always Maedhros who went west to take part in his uncle's councils--and he had been oddly shy about inviting Fingon east--which explains Fingon's reaction at finally being invited.
Of course, all that still adds up to a great deal of separation...
I so love the little detail of the head resting on the shoulder, especially when it comes back at the end. So many times, a seemingly insignificant gesture can be the most important part of a relationship.
Comments on The Stars over Aglon
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.