A Sense of History: Thálatta! Thálatta!
While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
SWG News
Choose a Name for Our New Column!
Our temporarily titled "location bio" will focus on the landscapes and locations of Middle-earth. We need your help naming it!
New Challenge: Tengwar
Each day for thirty-six days, we feature a randomly chosen letter from the Tengwar as a prompt.
A Sense of History: Crossroads
In the ongoing series on towers in Tolkien's work, a thread runs through "The Lord of the Rings," revealing the divine assistance of Varda in the travails of the Fellowship.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Tengwar Acrostics by Himring
Responses to the Tengwar Challenge in which first letters spell out the name of a tengwa.
1) Early Encounter (Nerdanel, Indis)
2) Numenorean Lullaby (Almarian, Aldarion)
[Writing] Tengwar: To The Letter by cuarthol
For the Tengwar prompt challenge. To be updated as new prompts are completed.
Current up through '…
[Writing] Tengwar Drabbles by cílil
A collection of Silmarillion-centric drabbles written for the Tengwar Challenge. Short and sweet!
[Writing] If i get home before daylight by BloodwingBlackbird
a traveler meets a stranger at a crossroads.
[Writing] I Stood Aside by Flora-lass
Maedhros' horror at the burning of the ships. Inspired by a painting (see notes).
[Reference] Thálatta! Thálatta! by Simon J. Cook
While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
Current Challenge
Crossroads of the Fallen King
Create a fanwork that crosses with a second text or fandom. Read more ...
Tengwar
A daily prompt of a Tengwar letter per day. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Within the Pages of Lore
Get your Silmarillion off of the shelf. Close your eyes, let your book fall open at random, and put your finger down on the page. Your challenge is to create a fanwork using that quote. Read more ...
New in References
Thálatta! Thálatta! by Simon J. Cook
[]While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
[]
With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.
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.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Waybread (The Waybredlik) by Himring
[]Lembas speaks out.
[Series] Apr 1st Stories by Uvatha the Horseman
[]Once a year on April 1st, a canon character from LOTR or the Silmarillion gets pranked.
[Writing] Crossing Forest River by Dawn Felagund
[]Bilbo recounts, in verse, the attempt of Gandalf, Beorn, and him to cross the Forest River after the Battle of Five Armies. Written for the Hungarian Tolkien Society's 2024 Mailing Competition.
Around the World and Web
Teitho May/June Challenge: Joker
For the May/June Teitho challenge, you can pick ANY of our past challenges that stir your imagination and write a story or create art for it.
Monstrous May 2024
Monstrous May is a Tumblr event where, for each day of the month of May, there is a prompt involving and invoking the monstrous.
Fellowship of the Fics: Modern AU May
During May, Fellowship of the Fics offers modern AU prompt lists for setting, character occupation, and dialogue on Tumblr.
May challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The May challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic challenge: name; formal challenge: acrostic. As usual, these can be filled independently and freely combined with other prompts such as the SWG challenges. New participants welcome!
May 2024 Calls for Papers
Conferences and publications that have open calls for papers in May 2024.
Awesome Ladies by daughterofshadows
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Lúthien - her life, death and life again
Canonical Beren & Lúthien levels of angst.
Rather than being chronologically more or less immediately after each other, these drabbles span Lúthien's life from early childhood all the way to just after the birth of Dior.
She watches him walk away and hates herself just a little for breaking his heart. But Daeron is her brother, and her love will never be more than that.
It is the first time she sees that love causes pain.
Lúthien does not yet know it, but that pain will accompany her for the rest of her life.
She meets it again, when her father tries to lock her up, desperate to keep her safe, but cutting her wings, nonetheless.
And it is the pain of love that will claim her life, but that is a story for another time.
A silver mist covers the glade, and dew drops wet the hem of her dress, but Lúthien cares little for the water as she dances across the grass.
She sings with the nightingales and greets the new dawn with a smile, and when the sun peeks out behind the clouds, she rests on a rock and lets her dress dry.
Around her the forest wakes up.
Lúthien knows no greater joy, no greater peace than these early morning hours.
Her heart beats in time with the forest’s, and for a moment she just is.
This is what happiness feels like.
Angband is dark. Darker than any place Lúthien’s ever seen.
It holds terrors beyond measure.
But she will not submit to the fear crawling up her spine. Not tonight.
Morgoth holds no dominion over her.
She is Melian’s daughter, half maia, half elf, and she will bow to no one.
Her song slips into the halls quietly, twisting and turning the strands of reality; as gentle as a mother’s touch, it lures everyone to sleep.
She is a dream maker. Not even Morgoth can resist her.
The silmarils shine bright in the darkness.
At last, they have found their quarry.
When it is all over, after they survived Morgoth, and fought death itself, Lúthien takes Beren’s hand, leads him out into the forest and asks him to dance.
And dancing through the woods, they remember their first meeting, and he calls her Tinúviel again, her name falling from his lips like a prayer.
She watches every sunrise, singing with the nightingales again, and she thinks her happiness could grow no further, but when she holds her son in her arms for the first time, she is proven wrong.
And Beren cradles him against his chest, and they all dance together.
Chapter End Notes
This time the prompts were
Lúthien +
1. I hate myself for loving you
2. Freespace, for which Himring prompted me: "at her feet was strewn a mist of silver quivering"
3. Dream Maker
4. Dance with me
