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.
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…
“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…
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.
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.
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.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'd had the mental image of Gil-galad, Finrod and the toy for a long time, but it wasn't until Curufin intervened that I had a story. Thank you for the feedback. The accidental review of my own work was me trying to reply to your review. Sorry, my brain is obviously numb.
Nice! You've managed to give Celegroma nd Curufin very believable reasons to be resentful of their cousin Finrod, which certainly makes their later behavior more understandable. It would indeed be ablow to their pride to be refugees instead of rulers.
That chapter was basically a character study to spell out the relationships between the characters. I find the ways people think and interact very interesting. And just because I admire Finrod doesn't mean everyone else likes him or that he is easy to live with if you have a guilty conscience. Thank you for the feedback.
I'm glad you liked it. I find JRR Tolkien has a tendency to leave women nameless unless they are directly involved in the story, with the result you abruptly get female characters appearing from nowhere in the later HoME books as required. To be fair, Argon does that too so it isn't exclusively female characters.Thank you for the feedback.
The pun on the names (if pun is the proper word for this kind of word play) is very well done. But what makes it even better is how it fits into your characterization of Celebrimbor here--and, of course, the idea of the encounter itself, which seems a very logical thing to happen, but which I don't remember having read a description of before.
The only thing that is perhaps slightly confusing is the name of the apprentice. Did you want it to resemble that of Celebrimbor's uncle? If so, I can't quite see why?
Carantir is an OC from Rings of Pride and Ruin who was of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain and involved in the Rings of Power fiasco. The name isn't intended to be confused with Caranthir and I don't think thir and tir are from the same root. I'm not sure about that. I was using tir, as in tower (tirith), so the name is supposed to mean red tower. In this story you see Carantir's earlier history as one of Celebrimbor's apprentices and one of Curufin's people who stayed in Nargothrond. Iwanted to get some continuity between these shorts and my longer stories.
I'm glad you like it. You did mention your fondness for Annatar-the-owl before, but I really like having the feedback. You'll probably enjoy the next installment, which stars Annatar in owl form, Celebrimbor, and a dead mouse.
An excellent glimpse of T&C's first meeting, Aiwen! Completely believable, and very well-executed. And your take on Agarwaen/Umarth is very interesting! This part of the canon is far more gap than story -- all Tolkien actually says about C is "In that time Celebrimbor the son of Curufin repudiated the deeds of his father, and remained in Nargothrond." Most people (for whatever reason) take that to mean C --renounced-- his father. Personally I take JRRT's sentence literally as written: "repudiated the deeds of" falls way short of renouncing his father (let alone his whole family, as some seem to write him). You seem to take a very believable middle path :)
I'm glad you like it. I think Celebrimbor hates what the House of Feanor is becoming and refuses to follow their current path, but he can't change the fact that he is Feanor's grandson and a craftsman is what he IS. He lives and breathes creating things and learning. To stop inventing and creating would be to stop being alive.
Comments on In the House of Feanor
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.