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.
Oh, this is a lovely story. I really like the interaction with Aulë and Yavanna, especially these lines:
“We have a fox-cub present today,” Aulë rumbled, his booming laugh filling the large workspace though the nickname was fondly meant when he spoke it. Tinwië stared, keeping a hold on her father’s hair for safety but showing no fear in the face of the Vala who smiled at her.
I have a deep and abiding love for Aulë (I esp. love him in Carving a Door, which you won't have read - I removed it some time ago for rewriting purposes and then it kinda died, but the bit with Aulë interacting with his Dwarrow and with dead Celebrimbor was very good...) and particularly his relationship with his wife. I really should crosspost the rest of my Valar ficlets to SWG... Love for a Child until I do ;)
Oh, do, do crosspost! Not that I am not capable of finding them, but I do love to read things here. It's easier to find a story and to remember it in case I want to re-read. Also, gotta admit, I have spent a lot of time working on trying to make this site grow and be attractive for Silm fans.
It's on my to do list ;) I mostly struggle with defining which of my works fall under silm-fic headings ;)
So far, I feel most comfortable stating an answer such as "anything in Aman or First Age" but then where does that leave my SA fics?? I did post one of those, actually, which means I can then expand silm-fic to mid-SA mentally... but then what about my Last Alliance things - and a few years after?? What about the Early-TA - basically I'm lacking a guide, I think... I mean, I probably wouldn't post the Fourth Age Harad fic on here, but on the other hand it does have a blue wizard and draws lines back to Second Age and ARRGH.
Oh, I definitely think of Second Age fics as Silm fic according to the suggested standards here. Things that exist only in HoMe should fit also, right? There is a reason why the guidelines are pretty open, because it depends upon each writer what they reference in their stories. I have one and one only LotR fic here, but posted it because it is essentially all about an argument among the characters about their interpretations of the essay "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar."
I, of course(!), fill my LotR fics with tons of Silmarillion references much moreso than even Tolkien did, but I don't post them here. I would, personally, draw the line hard at fics based on The Hobbit. I think the site guidelines say that if one is uncertain one should drop a line to the moderator's email. (I am not a mod! So the above is just my opinion!) Generally, the idea is to be inclusive, but to maintain the site as a place for Silmarillion stories where those will not be swamped by the vast number of other Tolkien fanfiction. Around the time it was founded, ff net had tens of thousands of LotR stories and there were dozens of LotR archives and websites and only a paltry couple of thousand Silm fics on ff net and no Silm-only archives.
Good points. I'll have a think about which things to cross post. And how to structure it; on Ao3 I've made several less than 1k ficlets that really could be interlinked parts of a var focused series at least... Or should they be chapters of a story... To ponder when I'm back from this mall event :o thanks for the advice ;)
And Nerdanel is definitely her father's daughter; I have a few other vignettes to type up about these three (and Tindomiel) but right now I'm finishing a memory lane chapter so it will have to wait till tomorrow.
A sad backstory to an intriguing gap in canon—I like what you’ve done with this, and how you’ve shown a single event to shape the course of not only Nerdanel’s life, but her father’s a well.
In my head, Nerdanel is like Fëanor in many ways - she understands him in ways others do not, and part of that I theorise stems from this sort of shared lack of a mother. Nerdanel has her aunt, and genuinely loves her, but she's fully aware that Naica is not her mum, and even if Tindómë's fate is unlike Miriel's, it is still a similar gap in their lives.
Of course, this does leave Mahtan as an easily available vision of what Fëanor's own father could have done, adding to his anger towards Finwë/Indis... Even if the two situations are not the same - and Mahtan has some tiny bit of hope that he will be reunited with his wife that Finwe did not...
Comments on Scattered Stars
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.