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!
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.
Finrod and Bëor stop for a while on the road to Nargothrond to rest. The bodies of the Secondborn often grow weary, and Finrod laments, massaging Bëor's back and renewing his beloved's vigor with the work of his hands. But Finrod has other burdens of his own, Bëor soon discovers, returning…
Maglor without Maedhros, Daeron without Lúthien. Alone, they are nothing, but together, they can be something more. Where do you turn, when you have no one else left?
Written for Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2023, featuring artwork by athlai.
It was only the second time Finwë had come out foraging with them, and of course this would happen—of course the Hunter would come, the Dark Rider on his steed with its terrible, heavy footfalls, and the deep-throated laughter that held no mirth, only malice.
“Come on.” Maedhros grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the path, both of them quickening their pace now, until the trees opened up into a wide meadow filled with flowers, bright yellow celandine and dandelions and sweet-scented pale chamomile mingling with cornflowers and irises. On…
Haleth leaves to find her brother, even though her father does not permit her to.
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
Turning Point
The Silmarillion has many moments when a character stands upon a crossroad: He or she will have to make a decision. At such a turning point in your story, create a fanwork about that moment that will define or alter the life of your character. 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.
For most of my life, when reading Lord of the Rings, I read it through the perspective of Gandalf's words about Éowyn, that she'd spent years trapped as a caregiver, watching the realm she love fall from honor into disgrace.
But what if Éowyn was also a student of history?
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Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026
Gondor Week 2026
A Tumblr week event focusing on the history of the realm of Gondor.
Crablor Day
A day dedicated to everyone's favourite warcriminal crustacean - April 26, 2026
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.
For in the Song of Nienna he perceived the Void, in which Arda moves, a glinting speck of Light amidst the unfathomable black depths and the endless darkness of naught. A horror and terror had seized him, he would have fallen had his very fear not locked his froze.
As the reader, I've always found it hard to get Ingwe and the Vanyar, there on the edge of the story, because they are the Good Children who find the light, and go straight to the peaceful city, and never come out.
Mr Admiral sir, you do astonish me, indeed you do, for I have heard many tales of your valour and, *aside* he what ? he eloped with another woman ? by thunder, sir, i had thought better of you !
Ingwë doesn't often inspire fanfiction. A good character without contradictions does not always inspire as much interest or loyalty as one who shares a combination of flaws we understand and struggles for goodness as well. Pure evil even interests the fanfic writer more than the virtuous characters, whose flaws are not shown to us. So it was interesting to read an interpretation of Ingwë as being seduced by the beauty that Varda created and his fascination with the elements of mystery and longing contained in that beauty.
Thanks for giving me a new look at Ingwë--I was never able to relate to him very much at all before.
you might recall the passage from The Charioteer about Ralph, "He was lika a lone outpost, standing fast in a rout..." i guess i was using him as a model.
also there is a quote, i dont know where from, or who, "the wise and brave are nothing, or corrupted.". so its probably pleasing to him to be nothing... like Tolkien said, happy times are dull to read (humans are so bloodthirsty...)
Comments on Varda
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.