Part of what makes Tolkien's world so enduring and appealing (and ripe for fanworks-creating) is that it hints at unlimited stories beyond the perspectives we are given. Fanworks creators have used their work to foreground perspectives neglected in the original texts or to challenge the points of view of the narrators of the legendarium.

This month's challenge, Orctober, begins from this premise. To be clear, you don't have to take alternate perspectives, discuss Orcs or resistance or rebellion, or create a fanwork that is dark and spooky. For our challenges, you can always make any kind of Silmarillion fanwork that you want. However, the premise of the challenge originates from the idea that the Free People of Middle-earth observed the "servants of Melkor" and sometimes switched sides to serve Melkor themselves. Even though the texts don't document it, the opposite happened surely as well, and Orcs (and other "servants") observed Elves, Mortals, Dwarves, and others and decided that they also wanted a different, better life for themselves. Wherever there is oppression, there is resistance. Cuarthol's recent themed collection Orcs Are People includes fanworks and scholarship that engage with some of these ideas.

This month's challenge has two components. As a challenge, prompts come from an old parchment map made by Orcs that shows locations where an Orc seeking freedom can find protection, shelter, or objects useful to resistance. Each location has a spooky-themed prompt, an icon on the map (since Melkor, like most oppressors, likely did not encourage his "servants" to learn and read), a small storyline about the location's importance to Orcish freedom, and of course the location itself. You can use any of these elements to craft a fanwork.

The second part is an optional puzzle to solve. There is one place in Middle-earth where Orcs have established a home where they can be truly safe and free. Will you be able to find this place? For each prompt you complete, there is a clue that leads to its discovery. Once you complete prompts, request your clues here. (Note that collaboration is allowed and encourage!) If you think you've solved the puzzle, email the mods—you can reply to this email to reach us!

Complete guidelines for Orctober are here. And if you're new to our challenges (welcome!) and looking to get started, SWG challenge guidelines are here.

SWG News

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Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.

Silmarillion Writers' Guild - Mereth Aderthad 2025 - July 19, 2025 - Burlington, VT, and online - a celebration of creativity and scholarship inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien

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.

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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.

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McShady by Babblecat [Writing]

Melkor has himself a bad time in the Void. 

 

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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.)

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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. 

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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. 

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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?

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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.”