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.
The original submission actually only took me an afternoon to draw — I had a zot of inspiration at the right moment (yes it was Last Minute Panic — I'm noticing a theme here!), and I mostly just did the doodles my hand likes to do naturally. The pseudo tengwar was fun too.
The illustration inspired by the description in the fic was another matter, however, and took lots of drafts over a few months. (Although it coincided with some pretty stressful months!) The creation myth was very inspiring and also very specific, so a fun challenge. And lots of practice with pencil — although finishing it off digitally felt almost relaxing without the worry of irrevocably messing something up. (I drew the main drawing, the book, and the writing separately and bright them together in Photoshop.)
I often thought of you while I was reading the fic drafts, and was bursting to tell you about it, so here's your personal rec: I think you'll thoroughly enjoy it!
Beautiful art but also fantastic concept!! I love this, pages of a book - very inspirational! Reminds me so much of the Voynich Manuscript - beautiful! The figures in that second uh.. first one (lol), the plants, the moon phases (?) - all so so so beautiful!! <3
I'm so delighted that you like both the art and the concept! (I think someone had mentioned a manuscript on the art suggestions list, and I was fully in manuscript mode after my Bestiary of Arda"research". (wandering through wonderful rabbit warrens.)
(Ha! You must have been looking when I was updating, as I jiggled them around!)
And you're spot on, in the double page spread, the right page was inspired by the Voynich manuscript (what a trip that is!!) and the left is from a Persan manuscript (wow! are those ever so beautiful!).
And the one with the figures was inspired by the description in Chapter One of the fic — the creation myth is just so beautiful, I've wanted one for the early Edain, and what EilinelsGhost had created is just perfect.
After reading your Finrod collection (which I so thoroughly enjoyed, not just your 30 days, but all the ones I found) I'm 100% certain you're going to enjoy Atanátarissë, and I look forward to reading your comments on it. (I always enjoy your comments, btw. And thank you for comment here!)
Oh, thank you! I'm so happy the joy comes through. I really wanted to convey her description from the fic:
Iuthap [the sun/Arien] awakened too at the call of her sister and illuminated the bare world about them. She set her lips to the face of each figure and sight came into their eyes. Then she leapt laughing into the firmament to take up once more the gods’ dance in the sky.
In one of my many concept/pose sketches I just did a quick scribble without thinking too hard on it, and I just loved the whole vibe, so I really hoped I'd be able to recreate that, because sometimes I just can't!
I'm delighted you like these! I remember getting existed when I saw it on your claims list and wishing I could be geedy and have two writers, because I would have loved to read what you might have written about it every bit as much as Frankie!
Comments on Book of Lore
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.