You may have been asked at some point if you prefer mountains or the sea, an entry in the "would you rather?" category of questions that seeks to dichotomize people as one or the other. I live in the mountains but very much prefer the sea. Part of the reason is the passing ships. I connect to Tolkien's description of Fëanor having hands and mind seldom at rest because that's me too, yet I will sit on a beach or stand on a pier and do nothing but watch ships passing for as long as you allow me. This odd interest/hobby always felt vaguely Tolkienish for reasons I couldn't quite articulate. (It is not as though a container ship poking along on the horizon is carrying Elves to Valinor! Cheap sneakers to Montreal, maybe, but not wearied souls to rest and healing in the Undying Lands.)

Simon J. Cook's latest installment in his series about towers for A Sense of History begins to explain why. For exactly a year now, Simon has been exploring towers across Tolkien's work, focusing mostly on the tower analogy in Tolkien's lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" but also the many towers that dot the landscape of Middle-earth in his more familiar works.

This month's article, "Passing Ships," is just as the name suggests. Returning to the tower analogy of "Monsters and the Critics," Simon considers why the ability to look up on the sea in that analogy is so important. He considers the exordium to Beowulf, which he describes as a myth "framed by two ships" related to the mythic heathen king Scyld Scefing. Even in these days, Simon claims, the significance of these two ships, coming and returning over the sea from the west, has been lost, the poem offering a glimpse back at that forgotten tradition.

You can read Simon's article "Passing Ships" here.

SWG News

New Challenge: Title Track
Tolkien's titles range from epic to lyrical to metaphorical. This month's challenge selected 125 of them as prompts for fanworks.

Instadrabbling Sessions for January, February, and March
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.

Character of the Month: Marhwini
A minor character who doesn't appear in any of Tolkien's major works, Marhwini nonetheless plays a key role in the histories of Rohan and Gondor, and his character exemplifies the essential theme of the importance of acting in service of an alliance.

Beta Readers

For the past several months, we have been making changes to our site to eliminate or decrease the use of modules that trigger an occasional error on user pages. This past week, we took the final step in this process and moved our Beta Directory off of a problematic module and onto a more dependable core software module.

Maybe it is news to you that we even have a Beta Directory! We do! It's located on the Tools menu of the archive.

When we rebuilt the archive in 2021, we wanted to make it easier for writers to find someone to help them with their projects. The Beta Directory is the result of that goal.

Any SWG member can set up a profile in the Beta Directory. The only requirement is a desire to help writers improve their work! The Beta Directory is searchable across multiple criteria to make it easier for writers to find someone likely to be excited about their project.

If you'd like to set up a beta-reader profile (or edit your existing profile), go to My Account and click Edit. You will find a tab for Beta there. Fill out as much or as little information as you like and make sure to check "Activate this profile" (which you can uncheck anytime you need to go on hiatus or be removed from the list, without losing your data. Simply recheck the box when you're ready to be listed again.)

This is slightly different than how beta-reader profiles were managed before. Our beta profile FAQ has more information and screen captures to help you find where you need to go. Hit REPLY here if you have questions or run into any snags.

New Fanworks

Umnenyalië by by Serinquanion [Writing]

He was going to die. The molten rocks would burn him just like the cursed gem in his palm did. Maybe less painfully but still being burnt hurt and Maedhros knew it. He intimately knew it from his time in Angband where Þauron burnt him often in frustration and to toy with him and his master burnt his skin even more often just to mock his ancestry. At least here he would pass on to Mandos and not linger in pain only to be sewed back together to be tortured again and again.

But it wasn't true for his next clear memory was of the same pain from which he escaped soon and half-mad entered the Girdle to never never leave till now.

Read more ...

Winter Warmth by by Serinquanion [Writing]

A winter night in Himring. But inside the quarters where fire blazed in hearth was warmer, and not only from the fire or quilt.

Read more ...

In Early Spring by by Serinquanion [Writing]

In what Maedhros was re-embodied early and was sent back to Middle Earth on his volition with Glorfindel.

This isn't about what happened right then but years after Fall of Sauron when he still refused to return to Valinor.

He found a strange sapling at the shore of what remains of Cuiviénen.

Read more ...

Who Will Hear Me? by by XirinOfArvada [Writing]

A lonely elf finds a flute half buried beneath the sand and wonders if its owner will hear him when he calls.

Read more ...

Loyal, Faithful by by Himring [Writing]

Late in the Second Age, one of the Faithful reflects critically on past developments. (Free verse.)

Read more ...

East Away! by by Flora-lass [Writing]

Aldarion storms off towards Middle-earth. For the Title Track challenge.

Read more ...

Don't You Ever Look Away by by Elrond's Library [Writing]

“They can’t just assume we’ll let them leave us behind.”
“But they are, and they will. Our fathers are the Heads of their Houses. Fëanáro is king. Defiance would be treason, beloved.”
“I am his firstborn.”
“You are his only daughter.”
“I have done everything to be the son he wished me to be.”
“And yet, you are not.”

Findekánë and Maitindë do not go to Beleriand with their fathers. This changes very little, and yet so much.
For Scribbles and Drabbles 2025 SFW Slide 213 Two Queens

Read more ...

Break Me by by Elrond's Library [Writing]

“You’re not going to break me,” Russo huffed, finally cracking open his eyes, which were bright with amusement. “They could not, what makes you think you could?”

For Scribbles and Drabbles 2025 SFW Slide 33
 

Read more ...

Three Black Islands by by Idrils Scribe [Writing]

When Celebrimbor's attempts at forging the Rings of Power fail yet again, Annatar knows where to find the missing know-how.
For all the wrong reasons, Celebrimbor agrees to an expedition to the ruins of Angband to search Morgoth's own laboratory, deep in the icy Northern Wastes.
What awaits those two in the Hells of Iron?
A spooky season special, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's 'At the Mountains of Madness'.

Read more ...

The Fall by by Elrond's Library [Writing]

Ossë raged.

Read more ...

The Mirror Crack'd by 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 ...

Beating Fate by by Paul Williams [Writing]

Lúthien, a woman who has spent her entire existence being acted upon — desired, directed, possessed, mourned, celebrated, but never truly seen — reaches the end of her borrowed life and discovers that death is not an ending but the first free choice she has ever been permitted to make.
 

Read more ...

Updated Fanworks

One Flesh, One Soul. Part I by by FellFireFan [Writing]

As beautiful as he is dangerous, Aegnor, an elven prince, stands against the looming shadows of Angband. Brother to Galadriel, he commands the siege with a fierce intensity, a duty that exacts a heavy toll on him. Beneath the iron walls he has built lies a broken soul, haunted by a devastating trauma and a well of deeply guarded secrets. His demons, kept at bay by his unyielding intensity that is both his greatest gift and his biggest curse. 

Little does our Noldorin prince know that a chance encounter with a terrified young girl of men will set him on a collision course, igniting an extraordinary bond wrought with challenges, sacrifices, and intense love that threatens to unravel his guarded heart, and all he keeps within it.

Brace yourself for Part I of this captivating tale, where the primal power of love and devestating loss will tear lives apart forever.

Read more ...

A Hundred Miles Through the Desert by by StarSpray [Writing]

“Come on.” Maedhros grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the path, both of them quickening their pace now, until the trees opened up into a wide meadow filled with flowers, bright yellow celandine and dandelions and sweet-scented pale chamomile mingling with cornflowers and irises. On the other side of it was a larger party than Maglor had ever seen in Lórien—five figures sitting in the grass. Huan barked again, and they all looked up. “It seems everyone has come to fetch us home,” Maedhros said, laughing, as all their brothers scrambled to their feet.

After years in Lórien, Maglor and Maedhros are ready to return to their family and to make something new with their lives--but to move forward, all of Fëanor's sons must decide how, or if, they can ever reconcile with their father.

Read more ...

Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks

here you will dwell, bound to your grief by by Elrond's Library [Writing]

Arwen grieves, and loves.

Read more ...

Around the World and Web

March Challenge - Tolkien Short Fanworks
Tolkien Short Fanworks is running a challenge for the month of March to create a Back to Middle-earth Month themed challenge.

Back to Middle-earth Month 2026
Back to Middle-earth Month is returning for it's 20th year with many prompts and archival efforts.

Tolkien Fashion Week 2026
This two-week-long Tumblr event is dedicated to honoring the world of fashion and textiles Tolkien wrote about in his books.

Celegorm and Curufin Week 2026
Celegorm and Curufin Week is a Tumblr week celebrating the relationship between Celegorm and Curufin Feanorion