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!
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.
The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
Inspired by collecting the prompts for the Everyman challenge, this essay considers how ordinary people are subsumed and silenced in The Silmarillion, which begins a three-book arc that ends with the rise of the humble and ordinary.
A Teleri fishing boat captain turns to farming on abandoned Noldor lands after her ship is stolen. A Noldor farmer returns with Finarfin to find that his land belongs to the Teleri now.
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.
These were simply flashes, a hint of a wider, greater world. A tantalizing glimpse of more, always at the edge of awareness, never within reach. Míriel would grasp it, if something as intangible as the concept of color could overflow in bounteous wonder over her hands.
But…
Current Challenge
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Ancestors
Create a fanwork in which a character's resemblance or connection to an ancestor plays a central role. Read more ...
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…
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.
This reader will be more than indulging! (You can always have it beta-d later ;)). This vividly calls to mind Catherine Karina Chmiel's illustration of Maglor and Maedhros riding off with Elrond and Elros. I imagine it would have been difficult for Elrond to forgive his true parents, and you've made his fostering convincing.
Oh, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I am happy you enjoyed reading it. I did have that picture in my mind near the end of writing it, although it wasn't the original inspiration. I adore that picture (the birds in the background and the flags--Maedhros grim and Maglor slightly softer!) Enough squeeing over my favorite artist of Feanorians. (I probably would have sat on this story for weeks and continued to pick were it not for this deadline--I am not a fast writer.)
I love the way you've gotten inside Elrond's head here. He's a difficult character to write and you did a great job of showing how his past experiences shaped him into the kind of father and person he became. Plus your mastery of language always leaves me in awe. Beautifully done!
This is lovely, oshun, not needing the begging of indulgence, I don't think. It reads very smoothly, both in a technical sense and more importantly, an emotional sense. It saddens me to see the portrayal of them distanced from Earendil, but I well understand it. And you do reflect my own beliefs that they must have been loved and caredfor, and returned that love - to the ones who did raise them.
If Elrond would live in our time, he would have been diagnosed with the Stockholm syndrome. He is quite harsh towards his own mother, is he not? I sit here thinking how easy it is for him to pass such cruel judgement over her while later in his life his own wife forsakes her own children as well. When I was reading how he thought about his father, I thought… Elrond does not understand the sea-loving drive of men here; he chose his own race wisely. It is curious to see how Elros might get that, given his choice though. The piece could use touches here and there, that is for sure, but it made a lovely read nonetheless. Although I am not sure if I loved Elrond more after I finished this piece, on the contrary even (no I don’t think Elwing’s choice was just as a mother, to chose protecting a heirloom above her kids, but it is understandable in a way).
I thought when I first posted this--somebody is going to see this as Stockholm syndrome! Oh, well. Not really my intent, but one of those cases where I don't care for the canon implications or interpretations, so I've re-done it. (One of the reasons I write fanfic--otherwise I'd just let the original stand untouched! We each have our own reasons for writing these things.) I'm just too much of mom not to object to Elwing's choice. Always been a WTF?-moment for me. I know, I know, I've heard the objections before--why I labeled it controversial. Thanks for much for the comments. I always get a lotfrom your opinions even (or esepcially?) when they differ from my perspective. I'm sure I will do some more work on it. But think it needs to age a little for me. First-person narrative is not an easy genre for me either. Thanks again.
This is very haunting. I"ve read a number of Elrond stories but few like this. His distance from his father and his cool feelings toward his closer blood relatives are understandable and sad to read. I like the respect and love he still bears for Maedhros and Maglor. Nicely done!
Thanks for reading. I sort of took off from Tolkien's line "Maglor took pity upon Elros and Elrond, and he cherished them, and love grew after between them." No where does he give us anything that indicates the popular fanon interpretation: Elrond finds out what happened and hates Maglor and Maedhros's guts. LOL. My own little rant, I guess.
Great job! I did enjoy this story very much (especially because you decided to use the first-person narrative). You captured Elrond's thoughts and brought his reflections on his childhood beautifully. Very touching!
Thank you so much for reading and commenting Robinka, I'm really happy that you liked it. I like first person a lot too--the intimacy and honest it conveys, It just scares me to write it!
Hi, there. Nice vignette, full of conflict and emotions. I must say that your prejudices are flying their flag full out. All hail the House of Feanor! Woohoo!
Elrond's story is full of possibility, and you've just begun to plumb it. Perhaps Maglor and Maedhros were a reason for him to choose to become an Elf?
Oh, thanks! What I meant to say was "When I was young..." Claudio re-wrote those four words for me and I STILLL couldn't get them right! OMG! I need a secretary/editor/copy-checker fulltime. Seriously, I do intend to write some Elrond in the future, just playing around with possibilities in some of my ficlets. Thanks for reading--I know you have been so busy!
Children do judge their parents harshly, but if anyone is entitled to, it's Elrond and Elros. I loved how defined his voice is and how steadily he goes through his musings, how fondly he remembers Maedhros and Maglor and how his own parenting is moulded by what he lived with them.
Comments on My Shining 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.