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.
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[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.
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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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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…
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Smoke rises from the Mirror, where the Lady of Lothlórien awaits to share its visions.
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I'm going to write a stream of consciousness review as I read. :)
Firstly, I love the opening song. It fits the story and now I shall never hear this song without thinking of Fingolfin! :)
This sentence:
"Opening his eyes, he once more sought for his son, so like himself – driven by duty and responsibility. He smiled slightly to himself. There were some things Findekáno had inherited from his mother rather than himself: the compassion, the love and the humility that he and his own elder brother both lacked."
I was a bit confused by this sentence; I had to read it a few times. There are lot of pronouns that make it hard for me to follow who the "he" and "him" are. I'd suggest putting proper names in their places, something like:
"Opening his eyes, he once more sought for his son, so like himself – driven by duty and responsibility. Fingolfin smiled slightly to himself. There were some things Findekáno had inherited from his mother rather than his father: the compassion, the love and the humility that Fingolfin and his elder brother both lacked."
Fingon's musings about the world Ereinion will inherit--and Fingolfin's reply--is heartbreaking. So is the way that Fingolfin folds his rings into his son's hand. One can only imagine Fingon's awakening (and you mention this too, later! What a sad moment.)
In the fight scene, the word "dance" is used a lot. It's a great word, but I'd suggest being a little more sparing so that it doesn't become redundant.
But in all, a beautiful and heartbreaking story about a time in the history of the Noldor that receives surprisingly little attention. (I am among the guilty. :) You effectively bring these characters down from their places as epic figures, princes, and kings and show the personal impact that this must have had on the Noldor.
Hi Dawn, and thank you for a lovely piece of feedback. :)
There were severeal elves fighting for the use of the starting song but Fingolfin won ;) He pointed out how badly I had negelcted him until that point.
Thank you regarding the constructive critism regarding the pronouns in the particular sentance and also regarding the overuse of the word 'dance' I will take both suggestions under consideration and edit the story accordingly. (Probably it will take a few days dueto more pressing commitments though)
I am glad that you enjoyed the story and found it both heartbreaking and that I managed to bring the characters down to a personal level. I struggled a lot in writing this story and it is always ncie to hear that I managed to in the end post a successful story.
Thanks again!
*hugs*
Uli
Very powerful. I very much like the characterization of Fingolfin and Fingon in this piece. Extremely plausible scenario of why and how Fingolfin chose to act as he did. I've often asked myself what kind of man would do what Fingon did to rescue Maedhros--a similarly suicidal stunt, but with a purpose that is, despite that, life-affirming. Well, the one answer could be: the kind of man who had a father who would act as Fingolfin did when he called out Morgoth.
Thank you for another lovely review and once again sorry to take so long to respond. I had been trying to get into Fingolfin;s head for some time when I started writing this, deciding to start from the end of why he decided to take on a battle he must have known he could never win.
I had also seen/heard to many interprentions of FIngolfin as a harsh possibly abusive father and I go stubborn :) A lot of the reason behind wriitng it was a backlash agaisnt that and writing a loving father instead. I am very glad you enjoyed the story, in many ways it was the hardest one I have written so far (I do not do fightscenes well and lost count of the amount of times I was told by my betas that it didn;t work and needed rewritten again :D)
Thanks for the review.
*hugs*
Uli
I think this is a very vivid retelling of Fingolfin's death. You were able to convey the dark hopelessness of the Quendi at that hour so well.
Thank you. I love the Noldor, they are all flawed but at the same time so increadibly heroic.
Really glad to find this. Fingolfin has to be one of the most unfairly underappreciated characters in the Silm (I really want to write something for him but haven't managed it yet). I've often wondered what was going through his mind at the end and this is a fine take on it.
Thank you for the lovely feedback. You are right, I read far too many stories with Fingolfin as a bad or even abusive father and I wanted to write him as someone who, in the end, sacrifices himself to give his children a chance to escape and survive. :)
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