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.
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.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
[Writing] How Tolkien Presents Ordinary People in "The Silmarillion" by Dawn Felagund
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.
[Writing] Blessed are the Leave-takers by Isilme_among_the_stars
As prince Curufinwë Fëanáro makes an historical speech from the high court of the King upon Túna, those at the back of the crowd strain to hear.
A silly little scene inspired by Monty Python's "Blessed are the Cheesemakers" scene from The Life of Brian, written for …
[Writing] After the Kinslaying by Deborah Judge
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.
[Writing] I Sit and Think of Times There Were Before by Erdariel
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.
[Writing] Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna
Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring.
[Writing] a riot of shadow and shine by Elrond's Library
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…
[Writing] The Exchange by Elrond's Library
An exchange is made during the Great Journey
Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration. Read more ...
Secret Gate
A Matryoshka challenge where prompts are based on the common plot points and tropes from mystery novels. Read more ...
Fandom Draws the Line: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn Felagund, Grundy
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.
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma
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.
Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates
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.
[Writing] Down the Long Years by Isilme_among_the_stars
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…
[Artwork] The Mirror of Galadriel by skywardstruck
Smoke rises from the Mirror, where the Lady of Lothlórien awaits to share its visions.
[Writing] Bar-en-Eladar by Gabriel
Out of the shadow, light is born anew.
A Chieftain is dead. And whilst the events surrounding his death are unclear, a son tries to come to terms with his loss.
Week of Kiliel
A Tumblr event dedicated to the relationship between Kili and Tauriel.
Aspec Arda Week 2026
This week-long event celebrates asexual and aromantic spectrum interpretations and headcanons of Tolkien’s Legendarium.
April/May Teitho Challenge
Teithio is running a prompt challenge around the theme of "heartbreak."
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2026
The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang is back for another summer of collaboration between artists and writers!
Thank you for writing this. I loved this tender and atmospheric story very much! Mairon's perspective when he realizes that he's unexpectedly falling in love is spot on. So THIS is what there was between Aulë and Yavanna, he thinks, and is shocked because it goes against his plans, but at the same time he can't stop loving his elf.
And because he is Mairon, he tries to overthink it. He's such a worrywort, and I love it how Celebrimbor in this story notices it at once. They know each other so well! And Mairon's answer "Nothing to worry about" is so suspicious, Celebrimbor must know that something IS wrong. I love it how he tries to make Mairon feel better.
He needed the Ring to have a reinsurance, if Celebrimbor took it badly.
Oh no, Mairon! That's where it starts to go wrong. The Ring doesn't help you!
Once he’d finished the ring project, he’d tell him the whole truth. He’d make him understand somehow so they could be together forever.
I love it how sincerely he hopes that he wouldn't need to lie to Celebrimbor anymore. But it's so heartbreaking that he makes that ring project as his insurance against Celebrimbor's rejection, and the project always comes first, even before their love. He has a lot to learn.
I'm so happy you like it!
He did not plan for this, it didn't even occur to him that he might to start having feelings for Celebrimbor, let alone fall in love with him! He knows it's going to complicate his plans. But he can't not love him. He needs to find a way to keep him!
Mairon's biggest problem is his lack of trust (and his wish to rule the world entirely on his own conditions). He doesn't want to lie to Celebrimbor, but he also can't tell him the truth now, because if Celebrimbor takes it badly, he won't have a contingency plan. He tries to convince himself that Celebrimbor will accept him, if he knew the truth, but he doesn't have it in him to trust him. He thinks he needs the Ring to make sure he'll win, whatever Celebrimbor is going to do with the truth (because he still thinks that keeping the upper hand is the most important for him). And, of course, the way Celebrimbor finds out is a catastrophe, Mairon didn't mean it to happen like that! And he can't trust Celebrimbor, either, that he'd take him back, even now, if he doesn't come back at the head of an army...
Celebrimbor knows he's hiding something and wishes he'd convide in him so he can help. But then, he guesses that 'Annatar' has secrets and that him being an ambassador from the Valar might not be the whole truth. So he doesn't pry, because he knows how it is to have a somewhat complicated past.
Love this intimate moment with the ominous future lurking in the background!
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Comments on I've Fallen in Love just a Little
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.