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.
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.
And honestly, boy has to be bad at something (it is almost painful for me to give him negatives, which is why it's even more important that I do so). I want to say that it's just a matter of impatience. He doesn't want to take the time to do what is required to get a good result. He prefers to spend his attention on other tasks. He will spend years studying and recording the various unique culinary approaches by various people groups without without ever setting foot in a kitchen.
Having someone cook for you while you watch and ask questions, or serving as prep partner for a better cook while talking about what will be done with the mise is a lovely way to learn and build trust and connections. Finrod not being a cook is a smart strategy for his anthropologist's soul!
LOL That's true - he could indeed spend all day in a kitchen watching and asking questions and drooling over the preparations, so long as he does not need to be the one doing them. :)
So many interesting thoughts and ideas here! Finrod really would have had such a multicultural experience growing up and I think you are right that would help him later on in Beleriand. I love the idea that building things makes him happy. And appreciate the nod to Daeron. I have no doubt they talked at length.
Perhaps, in a way, it was Finrod pushing back on the idea that he was wise, or at least pushing back on the claim of it. The almost paradox of being more wise by denying wisdom seems to fit Finrod oddly well. Perhaps it’s his way of trying to temper the arrogance he might otherwise fall into more readily.
That's a very interesting idea! It is so unique that Finrod has names in so many languages. Really emphasises the point you keep coming back to about how he builds bridges between cultures.
Comments on Finrod: 30-Day Character Study - Study Days
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.