When we first started our Akallabêth in August challenge in 2008, the fandom was very different. Second Age fanworks were relatively rare—hence the challenge—as were fanworks focusing on women and characters of color. As for femslash??

As we close out our seventeenth Akallabêth in August—which we've mostly run unofficially since its inception but which shapes the challenges we plan during August—fanworks look different in a lot of ways. Many creators aim to increase the visibility of women, characters of color, and LGBTQ+ characters in their fanworks, and of course, the Second Age is no longer an obscure pocket of Arda's history. For our very first Themed Collection, Himring has gathered fanworks that prove that point in many ways, focusing on the three ruling queens of Númenor: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën, and Tar-Vanimeldë.

"Named female characters with any accompanying biographical information are not all that common in the Legendarium," Himring writes in her introduction to the collection. "Even fewer of these are shown exercising political power." The three ruling queens are a notable exception to that rule—yet they still remain somewhat obscure, with most information about them coming from Unfinished Tales, and as Himring also notes, with "tantalizing gaps in the available canon material that invite filling in and expansion by fan interpretations." As Himring's collection shows, creators have done admirable work to fill those gaps, often expanding the diversity of the people of Arda as they do so.

Himring has selected eleven works of fanfiction and fanart that show various perspectives on the ruling queens. But our Themed Collections are not in any way intended to be definitive, and if you find that your favorite story, art, or other fanwork about these three intriguing women is missing, we encourage expanding the collection by leaving a comment so that others can fall in love with it too!

You can check out the fanworks Himring chose for "The Ruling Queens of Númenor" here.

Finally, we invite anyone who is passionate about fanworks focused on a specific topic to consider creating a Themed Collection for an upcoming newsletter. You can find our call for contributors here.