In 2006, after the films had ended and as the Lord of the Rings fandom began to fade like First Age Elves with no wars to fight, an anonymous* fan proposed the idea of Back to Middle-earth Month or B2MeM. The concept was simple: Pick a day of the week and post something Middle-earth-related on that day throughout the month of March.
B2MeM, then, was never owned by anyone. So while it is deeply entwined with the SWG's history, there is no point where B2MeM was an SWG event. Rather, for many years, the SWG ran a B2MeM event ... but other groups were free to run B2MeM events too and in fact often did!
This year is the nineteenth year that B2MeM has run in some form. It is a tale that has grown in the telling. From its humble origins, it grew in some years to highly organized and complex events. (In other years, the mods attempted to tame it to reasonable proportions, with mixed success.) In a fandom that has many large events, B2MeM is unique in that way: Part of the point was that every year should be different. (Of course, B2MeM belongs to no one so this isn't mandatory! But it is definitely how it's unfolded so far.) When the SWG ran a B2MeM event, we tried to make every year's event different from the last. For example, it was an unofficial rule that daily prompts would never run multiple years in a row! The thinking behind this was maximum inclusivity. If this year's event wasn't your speed, there was a good chance the next year's might be.
It's now March, so it's Back to Middle-earth Month. And, for the nineteenth time, there is something happening for B2MeM. This year's event is The Minhiriath Midway, and this year's organizers have many ways to get involved. Or go back to the OG B2MeM concept: read or view a fanwork, write something, make something, draw something, comment on someone's work, reblog or signal boost, jump into a discussion, answer someone's question, spend an hour reading a favorite chapter or work from Tolkien. Do something. Keep the fandom not just alive but vibrant!
*At least, they've remained anonymous this long. If you know who came up with the idea of B2MeM, hit REPLY and let me know! Their idea is responsible for many years of joy and thousands of fanworks ... and a Tolkien fandom that long outlasted the LotR films.
SWG News
New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.
Cultus Dispatches: Communities Do Comment
Comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
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
This Tumblr event focuses on ALL creative works focusing on disability in Tolkien's universe.
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.”