Character of the Month: Marach
There are few details in the texts about Marach, but he is noteworthy for his allegiances and his descendants, who would become pivotal to the history of Middle-earth and the eventual defeat of Morgoth and Sauron.
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!
Character of the Month: Marach
There are few details in the texts about Marach, but he is noteworthy for his allegiances and his descendants, who would become pivotal to the history of Middle-earth and the eventual defeat of Morgoth and Sauron.
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.
[Writing] An Alluring Offer by octopus_fool
Tata is offered a solution to a grave problem, at a very low price...
[Writing] The Mirror Crack'd by AdmirableMonster
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…
[Writing] From That Rubble by StarSpray
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…
[Writing] most days I don't recognize me by annarobots
Of course, she knew that in the Blessed Land, true harm was unlikely to come to him. The Valar watched over them all, and the lesser spirits were everywhere. It was a great hound of Oromë who had found him happily splashing in the creek, in fact. But anyone could drown in mere…
[Series] Eat, Pray, Love by AdmirableMonster
The Darkest Timeline AU for my Steampunk Númenor series.
In which the Mouth of Sauron is originally a Númenorean chemister rescued from Ar-Pharazôn's intimate attentions by Sauron himself.
[Writing] Rise from the Ashes by AdmirableMonster
In the wake of Sauron's death, his Mouth remembers Númenor.
[Reference] Speak Friend and Enter: Trends in Fandom Entry Year by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Across three surveys and ten years, the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey has document when authors began writing. These data reveal trends in how film promotions, the films themselves, the books, and other historical contexts have influenced not only who writes but how long they stay.
Allusive
Choose from our list of allusions to history, literature, mythology, and art to create a fanwork. Read more ...
Differing Perspectives
Remix another author's fanwork (with their permission!) by rewriting it from another character's perspective. Read more ...
Speak Friend and Enter: Trends in Fandom Entry Year by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Across three surveys and ten years, the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey has document when authors began writing. These data reveal trends in how film promotions, the films themselves, the books, and other historical contexts have influenced not only who writes but how long they stay.
There are few details in the texts about Marach, but he is noteworthy for his allegiances and his descendants, who would become pivotal to the history of Middle-earth and the eventual defeat of Morgoth and Sauron.
[Artwork] A Memento of Faery by Grundy
TRSB26 art 144 - an artifact brought back from Faerie by a Starbearer.
[Writing] Down the Long Years by Isilme_among_the_stars
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…
LotR Week 2026
A week-long event for The Lord of the Rings
Finwëan Ladies Week 2026
Finwëan Ladies Week will run from September 21-27, 2026!
Fingon x Finrod x Maedhros Day 2026
A day to celebrate the relationship of the three eldest princes.
Forgotten Ground Regained Features Tolkien-Inspired Alliterative Poetry
The quarterly journal "Forgotten Ground Regained" publishes alliterative poetry and, in Issue 11, turns to focus on poems written about Tolkien's world, including several pieces by SWG poets.
Sindar Week 2026
A Tolkien event week for the Sindar, the Grey-Elves, from the Years of the Trees to the Third Age.
This is an impressive effort. You managed to find light within the darkness of your plot line. And courage under thralldom. I'm a coward when it comes to reading violence; it was a little on the dark side for me. OK, I am trying not to laugh at myself, if you did this stuff to a man, it probably would not have bothered me much at all. In my life, I have found more tenderness and compassion with women, a desire not to hurt (of course, there are plenty of women who enjoy hurting people also). I think that is one reason the violence repelled me--therefore, it was effective within the construct of your story. Another may be that we are accustomed in our fandom existence to run across more m/m stories than f/f stories and, therefore, have become more inured to violence and torture in the m/m stories.
The title is very good and especially moving given the source.
I am so sorry that you found the violence in my story so unsettling and I adjusted the rating for violence accordingly prior responding, I thought it would fit the moderate category since it was not explicitly shown (rating a story is not my strongest thing) - I did had that planned initially, to tell the story from Morwen's point of view as she lived through those long twenty years. However the story ended up differently and I opted for letting the character tell what she did want to tell, through my storytelling.
To write a story about a woman claimed for spoils of war as requested by another woman, with domination to any degree: I can imagine that it can be read as very disturbing... Also it is writing about a very sensitive issue because it is nowadays considered as a war crime and to dive into those details throughout history made me feel uncomfortable as well. It still happens though, sadly enough. Since Ludovica gave it as an option to write it in our history, I considered writing it during either the roman age or dark medieval age, but as I was reading bits of Children of Húrin and knowing what happened after the Nírnaeth in Dor-Lómin... the bit where Turin finds out when Brodda speaks so brashly made me wonder... if Morwen intimidated the male incomers, how could she serve as a thrall then? Together with the parts where it is said too often how cruelly the people of Morwen were treated, being held as cattle in Brodda's mead hall, I decided to weave in many Saxon-Anglo elements like Acca the peace weaver - yet with middle eastern/Arabian influences. I hope that that shone through though and that the violence used didn't throw you that much off the story. If so, my apologies: that was not my intent.
By the way, I never said: I really like this first part of the story and it made a strong impression on me.
I'm afraid I found the rest of the story too difficult for me. I can be rather a wimp, on some subject matters!
I remember that once I got the assignment to write this request, I wondered how far I should go in describing thraldom/slavery, combined with the other elements. It is one thing to read about slavery and women being claimed as spoils of war - even into present day - but to write about it... that was an entirely different matter. But this was the fate of those men in Dor-Lomin after the fifth battle, and it shaped Morwen's fate and that of her son. For me to write it was a journey, because I wanted to have it a meaning for her in the end and also that Húrin's words shortly after she died would carry that extra meaning.
Thank you for taking your time to read and review it, I know it is an unsettling story for some and you have my utmost respect for making it so far, and to admit that it was hard for you shows that what I wrote hit to close home. I hope that one day these war crimes will no longer be committed against women and children alike, but I am afraid we're not there yet.
Your drabble today led me here, and wow, what a rollercoaster of emotions this story gives! It is so dark in places, with such palpable relief when Morwen is safe in Doriath, and of course, the concluding scene is hot as hell. :) There is such ambivalence too that makes the story unsettling (in a good way and as a way that seems very honest about how a woman in Morwen's situation might have felt) in her simultaneous attraction/love/desire for Acca and the terror and loathing that accompanies her mutilation. Then, of course, discovering that the mutilation was itself a work of art, which itself has unsettling implications.
I also liked what you did with the motif of kneeling throughout the story, much in the same way.
I thought your characters were great: Morwen so strong and unbroken, Melian so peaceful and ethereal, but Artanis I just loved and thought you did such a wonderful job in capturing her character in relatively few words.
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Comments on Unconquered
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