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.
Amazing concept! I love the movement from description to a question to Fëanor directly addressing the question. I'm not sure of the intention, but it makes me think of the artist justifying their work to themselves rather than to any real critic.
And, of course, the theme of the world beyond Valinor.... Very fitting to start this series (?) with Fëanor.
'the artist justifying their work to themselves' - Oh I like that interpretation! I was thinking it was criticism he'd received sort of swirling in his mind but I like the idea of imagined criticism, too.
Not sure how much of a series this will end up being, depends on how many of the prompts I end up doing I suppose, but thank you :)
Thank you, I think this will likely be a bit of cumulative inspiration, not necessarily building on the last installment but influenced by what came before :)
While obviously not looking to inflict mental damage on my friends I'm glad it came across so viscerally, I always worry that it might come across too 'flat'. Thank you so much for reading along and commenting <3
Oh, powerful! Remarkable you got a poem into a drabble. Someone once described the transition from prose to poetry or music in drama as a moment where a scene's emotions become too big to be contained in prose. This definitely fits Fëanor at the time of canon.
Feanor being very Feanor, poetically, poor Celebrimbor (and sympathetic Curufin!); nice and unusual Finrod and Daeron encounter (book lovers, unite!)....
Thank you very much (book lovers unite, indeed! Now the ultimate question, will Daeron actually use the blank journals or will they be "too precious"?? LOL)
Delighted that you enjoyed this one! Toooootally didn't have you in mind at all. lol The urge to add "and then they made out" was so strong (but I resisted. ...well, almost)
What a real treat to read these glimpses: Fëanor's delight in his invention and indeed, others content to remain ensconced in the Light would not see their point.
That necklace! I'd like one please, I rarely wear jewellery but it sounds like one I would.
A sleepy Ent tickled by a squirrel is just so cute; a content Avar almost pitying those who left; Gwindor's first moment of freedom; Fëanor's rage, Finrod's precious possession (well, two of them); Celebrimbor... aww, sweetie, it's OK, we've all done it!
Ooooooh! Ok, I so very very much relate to the sentimentality in this! And your description is as fine as this worn, comfortable and comforting fabric. And, I just love seeing Andreth and Bregor share a moment of sibling intimacy. ♡
Hah! I am with Celebrimbor on this, if the bridge looks anything like it did in the films. These are all so clever, becoming a favourite little word snack in my day.
Andreth as sister, Celebrimbor sharing a fear with Narvi, Telchar making something that isn't a weapon, and protective Nuin: what a wonderful selection of characters and ideas!
Excellent! When you said you were writing about Gil-estel I had a feeling we'd be getting a POV we don't get in canon and I'm glad you picked these two. I love how it's a very real moment interrupted by a miracle.
Oh, I'm so with Celebrimbor here!! It's really not the sheer precipitous drops that are the problem, but what lies at the end of them. (Says she who, despite a lifelong fear of sheer precipitous drops, somehow found herself climbing sheer precipitous cliffs for fun for a lot of her life, admittedly initially motivated by a very hot guy, so maybe Narvi will do the same for Celebrimbor.)
Aha! So it's the ang in the northern reaches that draws the needle? Clever.
I love Nuin here — probably utterly confused himself by the odd light, but still being so reassuring to the now-awake sleepers. (I've never really thought about how surprising and terrifying the sunset may have been.)
I have a weird relationship with heights myself - sometimes I can manage, sometimes I am nearly frozen in terror. Bridges just absolutely churn my stomach in knots (moreso if I'm walking than driving), but I can stand on a cliff and be like "yep, this is cool".
Comments on Tengwar: To The Letter
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.