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.
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: 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.
Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
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.
Cultus Dispatches: Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey
Ten years of demographic data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey show consistencies in who reads and writes fanfiction, as well as a few key demographic shifts.
[Writing] From That Rubble by StarSpray
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] Explain This by Elrond's Library
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
[Writing] Message in a Bottle by StarSpray
Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just…
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously…
[Writing] A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray
When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.
[Artwork] Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard by Independence1776
A Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard.
[Writing] The Stars of Home by Idrils Scribe
Elrohir has been found after his long abduction by the Black Númenóreans of Umbar. He comes home to Rivendell, but all is not well: the Elf-child that was taken is now a Man grown. War and darkness have left Elrohir deeply scarred, and even at home there is danger...
An alternate universe…
Halls of Mystery
Explore the place and ideas behind one of the most mysterious locations on Arda, the halls of Mandos, or the ideas of Elven "death" and rebirth. Read more ...
"The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far) by Dawn Walls-Thumma
The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies mark perhaps the most influential events in the history of the Tolkien fanfiction fandom. As the Rings of Power show approaches its third season, data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows that it is not even close to matching the impact of the films ... yet.
Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Data from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows demographic changes in participant gender, age, and education and new revelations about neurodiversity.
Communities Do Comment: Expanding the 3C's of Commenting with SWG Data by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Expanding on my 2018 article "Why People Don't Comment," comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
[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.
Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
A prompt-based fandom event aiming to focus on celebrating Finwë's children: Fëanor, Findis, Fingolfin, Lalwen, & Finarfin - ships, gen relationships, or character-centric
Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.
Gigolas Week 2026
Gigolas Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Legolas and Gimli
Innumerable Stars 2026
A character-based Tolkien fandom gift exchange is returning for another year of gifting.
A lovely story.
He's just been reembodied, right? Why didn't he see Maedhros in the Halls? Did Mae get out before he got there?
First of all, thank you so much for commentin. You have no idea how happy it made me to see this!
As for your question, Why Maglor hadn't seen Mae already is because of two things. The first is that, while it is only hinted at slightly in the fic, the idea I had in mind is that it has been a LONG time since Maglor cast the Silmaril into the sea. It was definitely past the 3rd age when Maglor arrived in Mandos. Therefore, it is unlikely that Maedhros was still there, but even if he was, in my headcanon when an elf first arrives in Mandos he is not immediately put out into the "group area" if that makes sense, and is instead given some time where he is alone, to sort out himself so to speak. As far as I know this is neither supported nor rejected by canon, but it is what happens in the version of Mandos's halls that exists in this fic.
I hope that explains things! Honestly, I played around with a few different ideas but this is the one I decided on. It's fairly ambiguous in the actual fic, and is left somewhat open to interpretation.
I can see that, drowning not immediately, but a long time after. You do achieve an interesting symmetry with Maedhros in that way (who is also "tombless"!).
I'm glad you let them meet again and begin life together again!
I really love your writing Himring, and am honored that you enjoyed mine!
Yes, I really wanted to combine his HoME fate with the one in the published Silm, and I thought this would be a good way to do that, both because it gives him that "symmetry" with Maedhros, and also fitting really well with my interpretation of his character.
I had to give them some form of a happy ending(although I'm not sure how much I believe in its canon likely-hood)! It came out as a sort of "life can find a way to begin again", which is part of the idea that "roads go ever on", which in my opinion is one of the central themes of Tolkien's legendarium. The truth is I didn't think about any of that while writing, while I was writing I just wrote, and it is only now that I'm replying to your comment that I think about any significance to what I wrote😂.
He did not know how much time had passed since then, in Mandos's endless halls. Time had long ago lost all meaning.
I rather enjoyed the mental state evidenced by thi line; Maglor being the one left in a kind of timeless limbo is very in-character
I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I feel it is in character too. I wanted to have Maglor survive the longest, but in a sort of empty, half alive state. Alive but not really living, as the endless years pass him by. "Timeless limbo" is a good way to describe it...
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Comments on Fire and Deep Water
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