The History of Middle-earth and other texts related to how Christopher Tolkien constructed The Silmarillion out of his father's unpublished drafts can seem both a blessing and a curse to the fanworks creator. On the one hand, they give us so much raw material for our works. On the other, they muddle the water considerably where "canon" is concerned.
Fanworks creators have different views on which of these posthumous, draft, and previously unpublished works count as canon and which do not. Many, however, reject the earliest concepts when they were replaced later by different ideas (which often went on to become that "canon" that is the published Silmarillion). This isn't shocking. Tolkien's earliest writings on the legendarium date to the 1910s, when he was still in his 20s. The Book of Lost Tales, especially, seems at odds with the Silmarillion we know, in terms of plot, character, and style. Tolkien himself appears to have agreed. When he recommenced work on the first phases of what, decades later, would be published as The Silmarillion, he stripped almost all of his Lost Tales work away and began again with something termed, literally, "The Sketch of the Mythology." (Though many of these ideas would end up rejected too.) From there, decades of successive revisions, many letters, and much noodling about brought about the various materials that Christopher Tolkien used in putting together the published Silmarillion.
This month, however, we are embracing those early rejects like they were never cast ignobly out of the legendarium. Prompts for our challenge this month, called Rejects, are just what they sound like: rejected concepts from Tolkien's pre-LotR work on the legendarium. These were the days when the Silmarils had yet to achieve central status, Victorian fairy-story and the medieval Northern mythos somehow coexited, and Tolkien hadn't yet abandoned his "mythology for England" (do not laugh!) We're asking creators to pretend like their assigned event did transpire as it did in the early works and explore any aspect of the legendarium with that revised canon in mind.
If you'd like a Rejects prompt, you can reply to this email, and we'll send one along.
Also: The schedule for the Second Age Book Club hosted on our Discord server on April 29-30 has also been posted. (If you need a Discord invite, reply to this email!) And this is the last call for responses on the Fandom Voices project on defining canon, if you want your response included in the article. (Incoming responses will be added to the collection forevermore ... or as close to it as we mortals can achieve.)
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New Fanworks
Is it raining with you? by AdmirableMonster [Writing]
In the last days of Númenor, two very different men meet in Umbar and fall in love.
(Please note that while this work is heavily inspired by Disco Elysium, no knowledge of the game is necessary to read the fic!)
Read more ...Wrensong and Roses by Isilme_among_the_stars [Writing]
Concerned by his responses to the paraphernalia of healing, Fingon steals Maedhros from his room for an impromptu garden excursion. Maedhros battles with dark thoughts.
Read more ...Bon(e)fire by Fuin [Writing]
On the night before the battle, Caranthir and his ally share thoughts about their peoples' traditions:
Burning bones ward off evil.
Read more ...McShady by Babblecat [Writing]
Melkor has himself a bad time in the Void.
Read more ...
Updated Fanworks
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 ...Nasyalossë by Lovimmy3365 [Writing]
Erestor lay up against a tree, brown washed to black in the wet of the snow. The black disc of the new moon sailed across the dark sky. Erestor wished it were gone. He had no need to look into dark eyes any longer.
He was dying.
(AKA Erestor unwittingly travels back in time to the days between the Dagor Bragollach and the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, meets the sons of Feanor, Thingol and his ilk, many Laiquendi, many Dwarves, and Men besides, and THEN decides to solve the drowning of Beleriand himself. This has nothing to do with his personal problems. Nope. Not at all. Erestor is having regular feelings.)
Read more ...Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna [Writing]
Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring.
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 ...The Mirror Crack'd by AdmirableMonster [Writing]
Rescued from a brutal Angband hunt, an ex-thrall with a strange and powerful artifact embedded in his spine is brought to Himring, for it is one of the only places in Beleriand which welcomes such folk. Though he has no memories of his life before, Anniavas slowly becomes accustomed to his new life and finds he has a queer connection with Maedhros, Himring's lord. As their intimacy grows, however, so do the dangers surrounding them, both without and within. What secrets are hidden inside the depths of Anniavas's lost memories--and how will those with whom he is forging and deepening bonds react, when those secrets are at last revealed?
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
Scribbles and Drabbles 2026
Scribbles & Drabbles is a fic and art exchange with a minimum word count of 100 words.
Tolkien Disability Pride 2026
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Tolkien Gen Week 2026
Tolkien Gen Week will run from July 6-12, 2026 to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen.”