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.
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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.
New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.
[Writing] Alone Yourself and Nameless by StarSpray
It was easier than he had thought it would be to leave his name behind—to put on a new one when needed, like changing one set of clothes for another.
[Writing] Kesäkuningattaret by Erdariel
Celebrían ja Varyandë viettävät kesäpäivää Imladrisin puutarhassa.
[Writing] Wound Care by StarSpray
He’d ventured into the little fishing village in search of food and maybe a dry place to sleep for a night of rain and wind—he hadn’t expected this, to be bullied into a hot meal and a healer’s attention.
[Writing] Swelling from the Sea by annarobots
Tuor and Elwing’s recreational sailing excursion goes terribly awry when a carnivorous siren casts her gaze upon their vessel. With her song, she enchants the mariners and boards with evil intent. She kills and eats their crewman, she demands Tuor’s hand in marriage, and for dessert…
[Writing] A Song Amidst His Torment by Elrond's Library
Of course it was a trap.
Maitimo has to survive. He must. But what price is too high to pay for survival?
[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…
[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…
Building Middle-earth
Receive a prompt of an architectural style or a location on Arda—or both!—to inspire your fanworks. Read more ...
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Create a fanwork about fear that involves a prompt you select from our list of common fears. 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.
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Data from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows demographic changes in participant gender, age, and education and new revelations about neurodiversity.
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[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.
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Silvergifting Week 2026
A week dedicated to Celebrimbor/Mairon | Annatar | Sauron pairing, aka Silvergifting. August 10-16, 2026
Extremely interesting choice of subject matter. It kept me hooked throughout.
I do have a question, if you don't mind.
He turned to Círdan. "I am Falmarin, as is my family. Fëanor and his sons forced us to sail our own ships East, only to burn them in Losgar. We allied ourselves to Turgon in Nevrast, whence we had fled after the burning of the ships."
Círdan nodded grimly. He'd already noticed the Tree-light in Tîrpethron's eyes, but knew better than to ask about it.
I was not sure what was intended by these lines. I had never heard of the Feanorians kidnapping sailors from Alqualonde, although it might have made practical sense. I am wondering by Cirdan is nodding grimly--because he does not believe the sailor, or because it would have been such an awful things to have done?
The Feänorians 'kidnapping sailors from Alqualondë', as you name it, is a personal headcanon of mine. The workings of a ship are intricate, and you do need someone skilled to sail it, especially with the storms Ossë was making at the time. I doubt there were enough Noldor who could sail that many ships through Ossë's storms without some ending up on the sea-bottom, and just letting them dumb Teleri sail them would just be practicality.
As for those lines, Tîrpethron and his family have been receiving strange stares for four-hundred and seventy-two years at the least, because they did nothing when the Fëanorians took their ships at Alqualondë but still grieves over their lost ships. Nobody understood them, not the Sindar of Nevrast ("Why would you just go with them? You could've fought back!), nor the Noldor of Gondolin (They are just ships, what would it bother you?"). He speaks to Círdan about it because he knows Círdan will understand what a ship means to a sailor, and that you'd rather go under with it than see it in the wrong hands. Círdan nods in acknowledgement of the story, and grimly because, well, Alqualondë. That'd make any elf grim.
Thanks for the comment!
If they were abducted Falmari, it makes their fate seem the harsher, that they were drowned by Osse before reaching Valinor!
Or is it your intention to suggest that, although they did not return, they did not drown?
Thanks for the comment!
It is said in the Silmarillion, chapter 12, Of the sun and moon and the hiding of Valinor, of the Enchanted Isles that "Hardly might any vessel pass between them" and "and of the many messengers that in after days sailed into the West, none came ever to Valinor - save one only: the mightiest mariner of song."
But Valinor is defined as the region beyond the Pelóri, and it does not include Tol Eressëa or Alqualondë. Plothole found! They could stay there, if their vessel could pass between the Isles. And so, in my special place of fanon, I grant these valiant mariners mercy (after all, this is fanfiction).
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