That the words canon and cannon are homophones doesn't seem entirely a coincidence. I doubt I am the only person reading this who finds that idioms like "cannon warfare" and "loose cannon" could just as easily drop the second and apply to Tolkien fandom. While canon is sometimes a delight—inspiring deep discussions and thoughtful fanworks, serving as the shared ideal around which communities and friendships form—it has also provoked its share of conflicts across the decades of the Tolkien fandom's history.

Over the next several months, our Cultus Dispatches column on Tolkien fandom history and culture will consider the concept of canon: how fans define it, use it, and build communities and friendships around it.

First, if you've thought about how to define canon, we are collecting responses to that question for the next iteration of our Fandom Voices project. Fandom Voices is part of Cultus Dispatches and exists as a means for Tolkien fans to share their experiences, views, and memories on questions related to the fandom. If you'd like to share your views on how to define canon, you can do so here. All Tolkien fans are welcome to participate, not just fanworks creators and readers/viewers (though there is a special section on fanworks and canon).

Next, this month's Cultus column is about canon and authority. Who gets to say what is canon and what is not? Using Tolkien Fanfiction Survey from the 2020 survey, this month's article spotlights three groups of fanwriters: those who disregard Tolkien's authority, those who embrace Peter Jackson's, and those who write based on The Silmarillion but not the films. The similarities and differences between these three groups of authors reveal how complex the question of canon and authority can be. You can read "Who Gets to Say? Canon and Authority" here.

Finally, if you know of a creator or a group with an interesting approach to the canon, or if you have a fandom-related memory related to canon, hit reply and let us know!

SWG News

New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.

Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.

New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.

Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.

New Fanworks

Explain This by Elrond's Library [Writing]

Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.

Read more ...

Message in a Bottle by StarSpray [Writing]

Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just another beer bottle.

Read more ...

Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard by Independence1776 [Artwork]

A Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard.

Read more ...

Updated Fanworks

The Stars of Home by Idrils Scribe [Writing]

Elrohir has been found after his long abduction by the Black Númenóreans of Umbar. He comes home to Rivendell, but all is not well: the Elf-child that was taken is now a Man grown. War and darkness have left Elrohir deeply scarred, and even at home there is danger...

An alternate universe for the Under Strange Stars series, in which Elrohir goes with Glorfindel instead of running away from him after the events of Under Strange Stars. This story can be enjoyed without having read the original.

Many thanks to Grundy and Marchwriter for their excellent beta-reading and brainstorming.

Read more ...

A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray [Writing]

When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.

Read more ...

From That Rubble by StarSpray [Writing]

Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I have much else to do. I need to build something new there,” he said after a few moments. “To do that, I must first clear away the old and broken things.”

Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived. 

Read more ...

Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael [Writing]

This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously thought on the matter who the Ainur are, who Eru is, how he matches our own religious pantheon, and this has been conducted after serious research of many esoteric teachings of our own planet's heritage.

Read more ...

Around the World and Web

Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
A prompt-based fandom event aiming to focus on celebrating Finwë's children: Fëanor, Findis, Fingolfin, Lalwen, & Finarfin - ships, gen relationships, or character-centric

Gigolas Week 2026
Gigolas Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Legolas and Gimli

Innumerable Stars 2026
A character-based Tolkien fandom gift exchange is returning for another year of gifting.

Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.