Character of the Month: Marach
There are few details in the texts about Marach, but he is noteworthy for his allegiances and his descendants, who would become pivotal to the history of Middle-earth and the eventual defeat of Morgoth and Sauron.
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!
Character of the Month: Marach
There are few details in the texts about Marach, but he is noteworthy for his allegiances and his descendants, who would become pivotal to the history of Middle-earth and the eventual defeat of Morgoth and Sauron.
New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.
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New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.
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Tata is offered a solution to a grave problem, at a very low price...
[Writing] The Mirror Crack'd by AdmirableMonster
Rescued from a brutal Angband hunt, an ex-thrall with a strange and powerful artifact embedded in his spine is brought to Himring, for it is one of the only places in Beleriand which welcomes such folk. Though he has no memories of his life before, Anniavas slowly becomes accustomed to his new…
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Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
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“It’s not as though I…
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Of course, she knew that in the Blessed Land, true harm was unlikely to come to him. The Valar watched over them all, and the lesser spirits were everywhere. It was a great hound of Oromë who had found him happily splashing in the creek, in fact. But anyone could drown in mere…
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The Darkest Timeline AU for my Steampunk Númenor series.
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In the wake of Sauron's death, his Mouth remembers Númenor.
[Reference] Speak Friend and Enter: Trends in Fandom Entry Year by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Across three surveys and ten years, the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey has document when authors began writing. These data reveal trends in how film promotions, the films themselves, the books, and other historical contexts have influenced not only who writes but how long they stay.
Allusive
Choose from our list of allusions to history, literature, mythology, and art to create a fanwork. Read more ...
Speak Friend and Enter: Trends in Fandom Entry Year by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Across three surveys and ten years, the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey has document when authors began writing. These data reveal trends in how film promotions, the films themselves, the books, and other historical contexts have influenced not only who writes but how long they stay.
There are few details in the texts about Marach, but he is noteworthy for his allegiances and his descendants, who would become pivotal to the history of Middle-earth and the eventual defeat of Morgoth and Sauron.
[Artwork] A Memento of Faery by Grundy
TRSB26 art 144 - an artifact brought back from Faerie by a Starbearer.
[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…
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Intriguing!
I like that you chose Fingolfin's point of view.
And also Lalwende's involvement.
Thank you, I'm glad it interests you :) Fingolfin just started talking to me about this strange idea, so it had to be his POV (plus I don't really want to be inside Feanor's head!) Hope you continue to enjoy the story.
What an ending!
You've packed in plenty of intriguing twists and resisted the temptation of tidying-up the loose ends too neatly.
Thank you :) Yes, I was trying to avoid, y'know, rewriting the entire Silmarillion as an AU where Feanor lives, so I thought an open ending was most fitting. Possibly it asked more questions than it answered, though. Thank you for reviewing and glad you enjoyed reading!
Oh, this is original! I really, really like. I love the details--the repeated “You are an arsehole" exchange is perfect and totally believable.
I love all of the family interactions. The ring very true, or perhaps more one of few possible interpretations that could feel true to me. So many small details delight me. I love you included Lalwen--ten years and nearly 100 stories later I wish had when I was plotting my backstory of these same characters, too many words under the bridge for me to go back and re-work that now. I love that others beside just Fingon are trying to find him.
Curufin, ha! That made me giggle. Afraid he is not the favorite anymore.
Of course, I love most of all that Feanor survives and a chance to look at how that might have changed the story. I love seeing him begin to let go and listen to others. Maedhros may have been tempered by his suffering, but then so has Feanor.
The flip in who had the most internal difficulties in keeping their flock in order is really interesting to read. The fanon favorite is that Maedhros would have problems with the Feanorians when he hands the crown over to Fingolfin. Here Fingolfin's willingness to deal with Feanor makes problems for him among his followers. I really like the considerations that your storyline manifests when you change an outcome like this big one--Feanor lives--so many little things must change as well.
Obviously, I really enjoyed it! Thanks so very much for sharing.
I like where and the way it ends. But you know how fanfic readers are--we always want more of good thing--putting all literary or artistic considerations aside.
Extremely entertaining AU.
Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry for not responding to this before! The email must have gone into my spam or something.
Thank you so much for such a fantastic review! Writing Feanor was a first for me - I'd always been slightly intimidated by him before, but I actually found that I really enjoyed him. And there was so very much that needed considering, because Feanor's survival had the power to completely derail all the events in the Silmarillion. This was just one take, but there were many others I considered so I'm glad to hear that it worked.
(Of course, I wasn't actually brave - or stupid? - enough to write the outcome of the Nirnaeth. That could have been a whole can of worms! And I'm still not sure what happened! Nonetheless, the temptation to continue with the storyline was very strong; I just don't think it would have done the story any favours.)
Again, thank you for reviewing, this was wonderful to read :) And I'm off to check my email spam filters!
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Comments on The Brightest of Us All
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