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…
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.
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.:(
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?
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.
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.
Comments on Da Capo
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.