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: 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.
Finrod and Bëor stop for a while on the road to Nargothrond to rest. The bodies of the Secondborn often grow weary, and Finrod laments, massaging Bëor's back and renewing his beloved's vigor with the work of his hands. But Finrod has other burdens of his own, Bëor soon discovers, returning…
Maglor without Maedhros, Daeron without Lúthien. Alone, they are nothing, but together, they can be something more. Where do you turn, when you have no one else left?
Written for Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2023, featuring artwork by athlai.
It was only the second time Finwë had come out foraging with them, and of course this would happen—of course the Hunter would come, the Dark Rider on his steed with its terrible, heavy footfalls, and the deep-throated laughter that held no mirth, only malice.
“Come on.” Maedhros grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the path, both of them quickening their pace now, until the trees opened up into a wide meadow filled with flowers, bright yellow celandine and dandelions and sweet-scented pale chamomile mingling with cornflowers and irises. On…
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.
For most of my life, when reading Lord of the Rings, I read it through the perspective of Gandalf's words about Éowyn, that she'd spent years trapped as a caregiver, watching the realm she love fall from honor into disgrace.
But what if Éowyn was also a student of history?
…
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Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026
Gondor Week 2026
A Tumblr week event focusing on the history of the realm of Gondor.
Crablor Day
A day dedicated to everyone's favourite warcriminal crustacean - April 26, 2026
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.
What a gripping story you have written, Robinka! You successfully inhabited the mind of Carcharoth. In doing so, you created a fearsome creature yet a vulnerable one, too. Carcharoth's pain and subsequent frenzy are readily apparent. You describe the fight between Carcharoth and Huan vividly - you write action so well. And as horrific as Carcharoth might be and with all the devastation that the animal caused at his master's behest, I have to say I kind of feel badly for the creature in that he would have had a happier and less eventful life out hunting aurochs* in the eastern steppes of Middle-earth than as Morgoth's lupine slave. That your story elicted this flicker of sympathy speaks to your ability to "see" the tale from the wolf's perspective. Well done!
*I love, love, love the detail of the auroch! Tolkien had an interest in paleontology, and his "kine of Araw" surely sound like they were aurochs. It makes eminent sense to me that some fauna from the Pleistocene would still exist in the First Age.
I have to say that this story gave me a headache, because I wrote in Polish first and I struggled then with the translation. It wouldn't have been as tough if I'd written just in English, but the challenge meant the challenge ;)
Oh, and the aurochs -- I wondered what animal might be a challenge for Carcharoth and I thought that it should be one mightier that an European buffalo. I'm so glad that my idea worked. :D
Tak sobie pomyślałam, że będzie miło jeśli ktoś zostawi recenzję w języku polskim, więc postanowiłam, że tym "kimś" będę ja. :)
Bardzo dobrze napisana historia! Ciężko jest napisać coś z punktu widzenia zwierzaka (choćby nie wiem jak bardzo była to interesująca postać) na tyle znaków i na takim poziomie. Przyczyna jest prosta - ludzie nie "czują" tak jak zwierzęta. Hmm, no może czasami.... ;) Ale nie odbiegając od tematu, chcę powiedzieć, że genialnie oddałaś charakter tego polowania. Posłużyłaś się instynktami wilka i na potrzeby tej historii wyciągnęłaś z niego to, co najlepsze. To, że go ścigają, nie oznacza, że jest ofiarą. ;) Wstawienie rozmów "istot dwunożnych" sprawiło, że całość jest jeszcze bardziej interesująca i "żyje". :) A teraz przejdźmy do wersji angielskiej... pod wersją angielską. :)))
Dzięki serdeczne za przeczytanie i za komentarz. :) No, było z tym opowiadaniem trochę problemów, poza tym chyba jednak wolę pisać po angielsku. Jakoś lepiej brzmi ;) Chociaż po polsku też nieźle, ale to nie jest to jednak. Chyba się odzwyczaiłam ;) za te wszystkie lata. Ale przejdźmy do wersji angielskiej...
As I said under the Polish version - the story is brilliant! Firstly, a few words about translation - it's really good. I'm giving you my bow to this part of your work. I know how difficult it was, because it required a change of thinking. Great job! Both versions are wonderful, but I think that the English version is the one that I like more. Maybe it's because of the fact that for me all Tolkien stories sounds better in English than in Polish, though it is my native language. ;) Yeah, I know it's weird.
Secondly, something about the wolf - I know he was a bad, bad animal ;), but as long as I was reading your story there were some moments that I felt sorry for him. This never-ending pain that was growing inside him was cruel. After all, he was an animal, a wolf. And I like wolves very much. ;)
Again, thanks a million for reading and reviewing :) I appreciate your kind words very much. I too, at some point, felt sorry for Carcharoth, and I wanted to show that he was meant to be cruel and an ultimate baddie, he was still an animal, with no say upon the ways in which he'd been bred and trained. I'm glad that my idea somehow worked.
I know I reviewed this elsewhere, but still the re-read is fabulous! I don't think its easy to crawl under the skin of such a beast and yet, as you write, make me as a reader still feel sympathy for him. The fight with Huan is just... wow and just to think that you wrote it in Polish first, then in English: deepest respect here. Well done, what a ride (again!).
Comments on My Blood, Your Blood
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.