New Challenge: Gates of Summer
Choose a summer-related prompt or prompts from a collection of quotes and events from Tolkien's canon and his life.
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: Gates of Summer
Choose a summer-related prompt or prompts from a collection of quotes and events from Tolkien's canon and his life.
Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow
Varda delle Stelle is the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves." Shadow spoke with Varda about her own connections to the earth and concepts in cloudyhymn's presentation, her creative process, and her hopes for her Mereth Aderthad paintings.
Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Kai by Shadow
Kai is the featured artist for Maglor's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation, "Gil-galad was an Elven King: Kingship and Personhood in the last High King of the Noldor." Shadow spoke with Kai about his wide range of interests and inspirations in the legendarium and why Maglor's presentation so intrigued him that he finished the art for it the first night.
Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Reese by Dawn
Reese is the featured author for polutropos's presentation "'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium" at Mereth Aderthad 2025. Dawn spoke with reese about the silences storytellers leave, mythology, and the appeal of alternate universe fanfiction.
[Writing] Star in the Darkness by StarSpray
Now a great crowd of spirits, both Elves and lingering Men, were gathered before the newest tapestry as it fell open down the wall, luminous, gold and silver threads glittering in the pale light of Mandos.
[Writing] Banked Fires Blaze by Chestnut_pod
What is it to be made for a kinder world?
[Reference] So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Giving the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff
Video and materials from our session on how to give a presentation at a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to practice, plan, and prepare for the presentation; what to expect on the day of the presentation; tips for participating in the Q&A; and how to plan ahead for common worries…
[Writing] High in the Clean Blue Air by StarSpray
They passed out of Lhûn and the wider coastline of Middle-earth opened up before his eyes. He had wandered those shores for centuries, and even now he felt the pull of that same wanderlust, and knew he would miss them for the rest of his life. Their wildness, the untamed waves, the rocky…
[Reference] Interview with fish by Shadow by fish, daughterofshadows
Fish is the featured artist for Stella's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol." Shadow spoke with fish about his creative process, the importance of both tragedy and eucatastrophe to Tolkien's works, and the appeal of "greyness…
[Writing] Set in Stone by silmalope
An artisan can never forget what she has made, for a part of her soul goes into the making. (Nerdanel character study/ficlet in six parts.)
[Reference] Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow by Varda delle Stelle, daughterofshadows
As the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," Varda delle Stelle describes her idea for this presentation as springing fully formed as Athena from Zeus's head. Varda chatted with Shadow about what drew her to this…
So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Giving the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff
Video and materials from our session on how to give a presentation at a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to practice, plan, and prepare for the presentation; what to expect on the day of the presentation; tips for participating in the Q&A; and how to plan ahead for common worries and mishaps.
Interview with fish by Shadow by fish, daughterofshadows
Fish is the featured artist for Stella's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol." Shadow spoke with fish about his creative process, the importance of both tragedy and eucatastrophe to Tolkien's works, and the appeal of "greyness" in Silmarillion characters like Elu Thingol.
Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow by Varda delle Stelle, daughterofshadows
As the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," Varda delle Stelle describes her idea for this presentation as springing fully formed as Athena from Zeus's head. Varda chatted with Shadow about what drew her to this presentation, her approach to painting, and her hopes for her Mereth Aderthad work.
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features fiction, artwork, and essays that transcend the idea of Orcs as the enemy, instead considering their humanity.
Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features alliterative poems about Middle-earth.
[Writing] Remembrance by StarSpray
They found Elrond’s sons with Legolas and Gimli, and with Éomer King and Lady Éowyn, standing before an enormous fresco of a charging army of horsemen. “Why, isn’t that what just happened, the way it was told to us?” Sam exclaimed, looking up at it.
“No! This is a painting of the Battle…
[Artwork] Floating through the Forest River by Varda delle Stelle
Bilbo and Thorin's Company are arriving to Lake Town floating through the Forest River with the barrels
[Writing] The Wondrous Tale of the Bee-wolf by bunn
Once upon a time, JRR Tolkien wrote a fairy-tale retelling, an attempt to reconstruct an alternative version of the ancient poem called Beowulf, and he called it Sellic Spell: 'strange tale' or 'wondrous tale'.
Once upon a time, on the long road home from the Lonely…
Teitho June/July Challenge: Inheritance
The theme for the June/July Teitho challenge is "inheritance."
Kidnap Fam Survey
Polutropos is collecting survey data as part of her research on the "Living Legendarium", i.e., how the legends of Arda, from their earliest drafts by Tolkien to the posthumously published Silmarillion edited by Christopher Tolkien to the creative engagements by fans, are inherently indeterminate and mutable, inviting many and diverse interpretations.
Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest 2025
This Tumblr event aims to celebrate the diversity in the Tolkien fandom by giving all creators a chance to use their creativity to explore and experiment with all languages.
Russingon Week 2025
Russingon Week is a Tumblr and AO3 event for fanworks that center a romantic or queerplatonic relationship between Maedhros and Fingon.
Tolkien South Asian Week
Tolkien South Asian Week is a fandom-wide event on Tumblr to celebrate South Asian peoples, cultures, and lives through Tolkien’s Legendarium.
I like this! Maedhros was certainly broken after the Fifth Battle, and you have Maglor explain why he went along with it so well. He will not forgive himself, I don't think. Interesting that he mentions Miriel, not Finwë, at the end. I can see how that fits.
Glad you enjoyed it! I always saw Maedhros as being broken by the Fifth Battle in a way he wasn't before and so he no longer kept himself or his brothers back from following the oath. In fact I tend to suspect he ahd a deathwish himself.
Maglor intrigues me because he is the only one to survive which to me makes him a bit harder and smarter than the others, not neccssarily altogether nice but fascinating ;)
This version of Maglor at least sets down the problems of the family in particular and noldor in general to Miriel's choice. After all had she chosen to live things would have been very, very different.
Thanks for the fb
*hugs*
Uli
I don’t know how I didn’t find this sooner, but I absolutely love it... It fits with my vision of post-Nirnaeth Maedhros perfectly, and your characterization of Maglor was excellent. This was a good explanation of why Maglor is the survivor – “I still missed you, I ached for you every day and night during the years that followed, I still do, but I was unable to break.” And the bit about Miriel at the end was interesting: it all comes back to her, doesn’t it? So overall, very nice work.
Thank you very much :)
I'd say there was certainly something broken about Maedhros after the Nirnaeth whatever the reason was, after that he seems to have stopped holding his brothers' back. Maglor I think, in one way, was the hardest of the brothers, He was the one that survived, the one that just kept going. I think there may have been a streak of cynism in him to be completely honest.
And yes, so much of the history of Beleriand was set off into motion with the death of Miriel...
What a dark, sad tale of Maglor's fate. The way you described Maedhros' and Maglor's emotional state towards the end was also gripping: "He had been broken so long and he was the only one I had in these shores." and "they crushed whatever life was still left in him and after that he merely existed." A sad, sad end to a once-proud and noble house. What I like the most about the Feanorians is that they are so tragic and so "human". Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for reading :)
I am glad you liked it. And yes I like the humanity in the Feanorians (or maybe that should be the Finweans) as well, makes them a lot more interesting to me than someone like Luthien who was just too perfect. And the tragedy of Feanors house is that all that promise and brilliance in the end came to nothing.
Site © Dawn Felagund
Logo © Bunn
All copyrights for creative work hosted on this site are retained by their creators.
This site is built using Drupal and the theme W3CSS.
Characters and stories associated with J.R.R. Tolkien's works remain the property of his estate. Creative work using this material has been written solely for the enjoyment and enlightenment of its creator and their associates. No profit is made on the materials shared on this site.
Comments on Yet another winter
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.