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.
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.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
[Writing] A Very Fire by Deborah Judge
Feanor and Fingolfin, from their youth to their fall.
"I will do this gladly," Fingolfin said, whispering into Feanor's mouth, grasping for reasons and sense. "Gladly, if it will bring peace between us. If it will end the madness."
"The madness will not end," Feanor…
[Writing] After the Kinslaying by Deborah Judge
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.
[Writing] Add Another Stone by StarSpray
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.
[Writing] How Tolkien Presents Ordinary People in "The Silmarillion" by Dawn Felagund
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.
[Writing] Blessed are the Leave-takers by Isilme_among_the_stars
As prince Curufinwë Fëanáro makes an historical speech from the high court of the King upon Túna, those at the back of the crowd strain to hear.
A silly little scene inspired by Monty Python's "Blessed are the Cheesemakers" scene from The Life of Brian, written for …
[Writing] I Sit and Think of Times There Were Before by Erdariel
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.
[Writing] Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna
Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring.
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Inventions
Consider an item or technology and use a fanwork to describe or explain its invention by the people of Arda. Read more ...
Fandom Draws the Line: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn Felagund, Grundy
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.
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma
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.
Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates
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.
[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…
[Artwork] The Mirror of Galadriel by skywardstruck
Smoke rises from the Mirror, where the Lady of Lothlórien awaits to share its visions.
[Writing] Bar-en-Eladar by Gabriel
Out of the shadow, light is born anew.
A Chieftain is dead. And whilst the events surrounding his death are unclear, a son tries to come to terms with his loss.
Week of Kiliel
A Tumblr event dedicated to the relationship between Kili and Tauriel.
Aspec Arda Week 2026
This week-long event celebrates asexual and aromantic spectrum interpretations and headcanons of Tolkien’s Legendarium.
April/May Teitho Challenge
Teithio is running a prompt challenge around the theme of "heartbreak."
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2026
The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang is back for another summer of collaboration between artists and writers!
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! What a bad way to go! When he reconsiders his decisions and sees his mistakes, when he finally realizes that his best creation are his sons, they react to the *bad* Feanor who swore the Oath, not the *good* Feanor who loves them and whose parting memory was going to be fun time with all the family together. So many regrets to work out in Mandos.:(
Great story.
I've had moments as a reader when I assumed he was blind to the wrongs he did, and felt only the wrongs done to him: but I realized that tragedy also lies in the possibility that he *had* such a realization: but all the mechanics of doom are already set going!
Oh this was so utterly heartbreaking. I love the memories you have chosen, the regret as he sees himself with more objective eyes and finds his actions petty, wrong, regretful. And that horrible misunderstanding at the end--he would do things diffently with the clarity death is giving him. Such a devastating comprehension.
But. I will find a shred of hope--for he goes to Mandos' Halls enlightened by his thoughts here. Not in anger or in rebellion but thinking of those he loved or who loved him tat evshould have cherished more. And that gives me hope for him in the Halls.
That's a wonderful thought. I am a HUGE fan of "what happens in Mandos, and beyond" stories: the second chances.
It's fascinating, isn't it? Tolkien gave us some of the most poignant character moments ever, of those who realized some great error they had made, and tried to make up for it in the face of doom: Thorin, Boromir. But he also gave us characters who make similarly tragic errors and never get the chance to change anything: Isildur. And those whom he lets us see only from the outside: and we are left to guess or imagine whether they felt regret or not: not only Feanor but Thingol come to mind.
And in every case. we readers say (and write, and draw): what if?
That he should have cherished more is what it should say in the previous comment! Sorry for typo--no way to edit it.
Oh wow, this story really packed a punch! Such a bitter list of regrets and could-have-beens already... and such an awful, heavy misunderstanding to finish it off. Powerful writing and such a satisfying, thought-provoking look at what may have gone through Feanor's head as he died. Brilliant work!
It flowed from the dense net of objects and connections that the first part of the Silm gives us: the sword, his brother, the sons . . . the wide lands of Beleriand, that are *meant* to mean freedom as well as vengeance.
So glad it worked for you!
I know I praised this on Tumblr and commented on AO3 but just want to go on record here (what I consider my home site) at how wonderful it is. Very special to me over the last couple of days, because I have been examining a lot why I find Feanor and sons so compelling.
Anyway, here is a cut and paste of my initial AO3 comment.
You ripped my heart out! This is such a keeper. I am so jealous. All of this stuff is in my heart and my mind when I write stories of Feanor and all of the Finwean brood, but I spend tens of thousands of words and never am sure I manage to communicate what it is that moves me so much about his story. Oh, well! That is what I do--write fanfic to try to ferret out those individual tangents.
And the end! I love the concept that he could have been trying to say something else. It is beautifully done. Thanks so much for adding this to fandom.
And I thank you for commenting here, too. This site has the totally unique--Silmarillion-ness---that steeped-ness in the legendarium that just delights me.
This week I ended up reading a story here from 2010 and it was amazing: that layered sense of fan creation and imagination, which this site can offer as a dedicated archive.
I am rambling a bit, I blame wine and Netflix.
But, that's why I cross post and why I appreciate your commenting here after being kind enough to do so on the other platforms.
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Comments on Da Capo
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