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.
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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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Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.
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.
[Writing] An Alluring Offer by octopus_fool
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.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I…
[Writing] most days I don't recognize me by annarobots
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…
[Series] Eat, Pray, Love by AdmirableMonster
The Darkest Timeline AU for my Steampunk Númenor series.
In which the Mouth of Sauron is originally a Númenorean chemister rescued from Ar-Pharazôn's intimate attentions by Sauron himself.
[Writing] Rise from the Ashes by AdmirableMonster
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 ...
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. 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…
LotR Week 2026
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Finwëan Ladies Week will run from September 21-27, 2026!
Fingon x Finrod x Maedhros Day 2026
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The quarterly journal "Forgotten Ground Regained" publishes alliterative poetry and, in Issue 11, turns to focus on poems written about Tolkien's world, including several pieces by SWG poets.
Sindar Week 2026
A Tolkien event week for the Sindar, the Grey-Elves, from the Years of the Trees to the Third Age.
Such a deeply conflicted self, by then.
Curufin, of all people, is the one most likely to be challenged by his image in the mirror and Nargothrond the most critical phase for him.
You really bring that out here! And it is quite wrenching.
Conflicted, yes! That's the least we can say. And I tend to believe that during the Nargothrond years, this image of himself would keep on evolving and would probbably hardly remain stable afterward.
Thank you very much for your kind review!
Curufin is so complex. I love that about him! Which is what draws me to him as a character.
Curufin really didn't have his own identity. His life, successes and failures were modelled after and measured against Feanor's accomplishments.
He really put such a lot of pressure on himself which is quite heartbreaking.
And you conveyed this in a way that had me riveted.
Thank you for sharing.
He's fascinating indeed - I wouldn't go as far as to say that he has no identity - I think he definetly has his own self which is far from being only a copycat - but it is true that he struggles to find and define it (and thus himself), precisely because, as you rightly said, everything he belives in (or wants to believe in) stemmed from his idealization of Fëanor.
Thank you for your review, I really appreciate and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
He used to delight in his reflection, in the so many hints that pointed at his inheritance; all these details that reminded him – and everybody around - his father and grandfathers. He used to be able to see them everywhere in his face, and he loved it – his own reflection could have been that of Fëanáro, and Curufinwë used to define himself through these similarities.
This has always been the crux of the tragedy of Curufin for me, the idea that his self-identity was so tied into being like his father but a lesser version. How sad!
Well done.
Oh yes, I totally agree, this is definitely the main feature on which rely my characterisation, and it is, indeed, very sad (and it parly explains the complexity of the character).
Thank you very much for you comment!
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