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.
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.
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.
But…
Current Challenge
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Rise Above
Create a fanwork using a quote from a woman who made contributions in science. 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.
Yes, it's the same 'verse. (Most of my Tolkien stories are - otherwise I find it hard to keep track of what I decided applies to which story. Dancing in the Dark is the exception that might stand alone. Although now that I say that, I think I incorporated a detail from DitD into this without thinking about it...)
This made me cry, but I love it. Poor Elurín, trying to drag Eluréd to safety, and poor Ambarussa, to be left with both of them and unable to join his own twin.
And I love that the tree was willing to protect their bodies.
The tree felt like a fitting resting place - and I thought if the river of Gondor would ensure no evil creatures disturbed Boromir's body, a tree of Doriath ought to be willing to do the same for the twins.
This is a real tear jerker. Not only for the actual horrible death of the two little princes, but also because Amras seems other, not whole, with a huge hole in his soul and that "otherness" is palpable. And hat's off to you for the tree :)
Amras in my mind is never quite right again after the death of his twin, so I am glad that came through. He is also the one person who would completely and totally understand Dior's sons not wanting to be separated, even though his initial impulse is to try to save Elurin.
Robinka turned me on to this story and I'm very glad/sad that she did, because what a tale! The horrible fate of the little princes, and how gently Ambarussa handled them, how he recognised his own pain in Elurin's. D:
Very sad, very touching story, and altogether well-done. You write an intriguing portrayal of Amras; he's sweet-tempered and brighter than anyone appreciates, but there's a lack you can feel.
I'm fascinated by the dynamic you create between Amras and his older brothers. They love him but have no faith in him, and he knows it but is privately indulgent. They treat him so much like a child, and he seems so aware, that the older brothers come off as controlling. But this is from Amras' point of view; from theirs, it might look differently.
Two details I have to highlight and praise, because they capture so much: The line "I was twins once" and Maedhros chiding Amras for not having the sense to wear a cloak when we know the real reason Amras hasn't got it.
Wow! This is a great story. I missed it earlier. It's devastating and totally believeable. You took the sadness to another level by weaving the Ambarussa story around it.
Comments on Us Two
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.