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: Scavenger Hunt In this Matryoshka-with-a-twist, you will solve clues that point you to the challenge prompts.
Sign-Up to Hand Out Scavenger Hunt Prompts Our May challenge will be a Matryoshka built around a scavenger hunt. If you'd like to hand out prompts (and receive comments on your work for doing so!), you can sign up to do so.
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.
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…
In his old age, Isildur's former esquire Ruinamacil, known to later histories only as Ohtar, writes his own account of his escape from the ambush at Gladden Fields and journey to Imladris, and the history of his friend whom Isildur ordered to flee with him.
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…
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…
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.
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…
A Chieftain is dead. And whilst the events surrounding his death are unclear, a son tries to come to terms with his loss.
Around the World and Web
Scribbles and Drabbles 2026
Scribbles & Drabbles is a fic and art exchange with a minimum word count of 100 words.
Russingon Week 2026
A Tumblr week event focusing on the relationship between Maedhros and Fingon.
Boromir Week 2026
If you are Boromir girlies/gents/stans/simps, then this event is for you! So, come join us, and bring your fanfiction, art, gifs, moodboards, and headcanons that highlight everything you love about our Captain of Gondor!
Silmarillion Epistolary Week 2026
Silmarillion Epistolary Week is a Tumblr challenge dedicated to creating fanworks to tell the story of the Silmarillion in the style of an epistolary novel.
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.
Awwww ... okay, they may be in the terrible twos, but I can never resist wee!Ambarussa. You have such a gift for voice in your stories; the tanner comes through perfectly here. Is this going to continue? I know, I know, just what you probably want and need: another work in progress! But I'd be intrigued to read more. :)
Thank you so much. I am tickled pink that you liked it. I was worried when I had finished that the little devils ought to have been complaining about the smell. (I think tanneries smell bad or maybe I am mixing that up with a glue factory and a tannery side-by-side on the outskirts of the little town on the Ohio River where my mother grew up.) I almost continued the scene to include that element but it seemed like it would ruin the symmetry so I decided I wouldn't worry. (Or maybe those clever Noldor would have figured out a way around that problem.) It definitely was a one-shot, although if I had had months to work on the Seven in ’07 I might have been inspired to do a whole series of ficlets of the impressions of different townspeople of Formenos (as you imagined it in AMC) had of their most famous summer residents. So I won’t rule out continuing it.
(Believe it or not. it was inspired in part by your chapter of the visit to the healer in Formenos with Feanor, Fingon, Celegorm and Maglor. I know they appear on the surface to have nothing in common at all, but made me wonder how it would have been written from her POV which you communicated remarkably well in the POV of Celegorm.)
I agree with your opinion that the 'ordinary' people of Formenos would be interested in what was going on in Feanor's family as much as modern people are interested in the comings and goings of royal families today. :) Lovely tale. Thank you very much for sharing.
I cannot believe I never responded to this comment! I am so sorry, I try to always respond. Someone wrote me an email about this story today and said they didn't remembered if they had reviewed it before or not, so I came here to look. Thank you so much. I am so happy that you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun with this one, imagining the little imps, Maedhros trying to be helpful, Nedanel a little harried, and the voice of the tanner bragging about his encounter with the local celebrities (almost canon!).
When I read your comment on Gold-Seven's image, I wondered whether you'd ever written about Maedhros and the twins and found that you had! I think I had missed this story before, somehow. What a nice glimpse of the family! And it sort of goes with your more recent story of Finno helping with the harvest.
I definitely think that they were constantly gossiped-about and, in my interpretation of them, spending part of their time in Formenos before the exile period means they would have had a following there as home-town celebrities. Dawn Felagund had the idea years before me that it is likely that it was one of their bases support, since a significant minority of hardcore Feanor supporters endured through the Flight of the Noldor and for centuries afterwards in Middle-earth.
Thanks so much for reading! I like bad little toddlers--they make me laugh. And, yes, they do drive me crazy also!
Comments on Two for Trouble
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.