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.
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.
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Strong Women
Choose a female character from The Silmarillion or related texts who contributes something of value and create a fanwork about her. 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.
elennalore has requested the following types of constructive criticism on this fanwork: Characterization, Conflict, Mood/Tone, Plot, Style, Worldbuilding. All constructive criticism must follow our diplomacy guidelines.
I loved the use of first person here! I also think you carried the victorian language well through the piece; it's not a tone that's frequently used in Tolkien-fic but it works surprisingly well. And then it became witch-queen Tar-Míriel. I really liked at the end how she requested a different form; an interesting response from someone who had had her gender used against her before.
Thank you for reading and commenting! I took the first person POV from the prompt text, but I agree that it works well here, as well as the general tone inspired by the prompt. When I started to write this, I had no idea that she would become the Witch-queen (king), but that plot idea appeared in the process of writing, and I found myself liking it.
I found myself liking Míriel in this story and the voice in which it is told.
I am proud to admit that I made a Maia come that night. -- I love that she's proud of that.
I think it is very understandable that she's worried about getting pregnant, even if she hasn't had her period in a while.
I like how you fitted in her running up the mountain as something Mairon told her to do and how she wants to have the body of a man afterwards, because it's the men that have power. Also that Mairon had intended the Ring for Ar-Pharazon but changed his mind.
I’m happy you liked the story and Míriel’s voice. :)
And nice, you spotted the Meneltarma incident, and the real reason she was there, according to this fic. One of my favorite things about writing fanfic is that you can take a canon incident, and with some subtle change in the plot, make it different in context.
Thank you for your comment! I'm happy that you liked my take on Witch King Tar-Míriel. I came to like the idea a lot during the writing process. Míriel's voice was enjoyable to write, especially spurred by the text prompt.
Oh I love this. The voice of Tar-Miriel is excellent and the sort of factual way she goes through what happened, like making a record of it. A fascinating exploration of Sauron's time in Numenor--and Witch King Tar-Miriel is fantastic.
Comments on Unlikely Bedfellows
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.
elennalore has requested the following types of constructive criticism on this fanwork: Characterization, Conflict, Mood/Tone, Plot, Style, Worldbuilding. All constructive criticism must follow our diplomacy guidelines.