When most people think of poetry, they think of rhymes.How many poems, which includes songs and nursery rhymes, can you recite from memory? How many of them rhyme?

But the earliest poetry in English was not structured around rhyme but alliteration: multiple syllables in a metrical line that share the same initial sound. This early verse, which includes examples like Beowulf, has an earthier, driven feel when compared to the later bouncing meters of rhymed poetry that came with the French during the Norman Invasion. Alliterative verse also tends to handle heftier topics and is darker in tone: the Northern feel that Tolkien sought to capture in The Silmarillion. Tolkien himself was an avid practitioner of alliterative poetry, translating key examples of the craft (Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl) and writing his own original verses, some set in the legendarium.

At Mereth Aderthad 2025, Paul D. Deane will be presenting a paper on alliterative verse and Tolkien, titled "Love, Grief, and Alliterative Verse in Tolkien’s Legendarium." Paul is also an avid practitioner of alliterative verse and edits the quarterly journal of alliterative poetry, Forgotten Ground Regained. Himring spoke with Paul about his upcoming Mereth Aderthad presentation, which considers how both Tolkien and fans use alliterative verse to explore the key themes of love and grief in the legendarium.

Paul's work on alliterative poetry entwines with involvement in the Tolkien fandom, roleplaying an Avarin poet named Rhunedhel who, like Tollkien's own historian-poets, witnessed and recorded many events of the legendarium. Paul describes alliterative verse as having a "raw power" strong enough to be magical in the legendarium—the perfect form for the early legendarium, where magic and downfall are deeply entwined. His work exemplifies significant research and skill that many fanworks creators use to build the legendarium beyond what Tolkien gave us.

You can read Himring's interview with Paul here.

Some additional news: Keep scrolling for a first look at the full program for Mereth Aderthad! Also, next weekend, Anna (IdleLeaves) hosts our monthly instadrabbling session on the Discord server. If you're not a member of our Discord server, you can join us 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.

The Silmarillion Writers' Guild Presents 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. Registration is open!

Mereth Aderthad Program

9:00-9:15 Welcome!

9:15-9:45

  • "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol" by Stella Getreuer-Kostrouch
  • "Elu's decision" by Idrils Scribe
  • "Of Thingol and the Silmaril" by Helen Waterspring
  • Featured art Grey by fish

9:45-10:15

  • "The Aromantic in Tolkien" by Shadow
  • "Unexpected Commonalities" by chrissystriped
  • Featured art A Spectrum by Silmalope

10:15-10:45

  • "The Design of Dragons and Doom of the Dwarves" by cloudyhymns
  • Written fanwork by bunn
  • Featured art The Dragons, the Earth and the Dwarves by Varda delle Stelle

10:45-11:15

  • "Gil-galad was an Elven King: Kingship and Personhood in the last High King of the Noldor" by Maglor
  • "Arisen" by Shadow
  • Featured art Banner of Stars by Kai

11:15-11:45

  • "Exile, Ruin and Resistance: Beleriand as Postcolonial Palimpsest" by Dr. Zara Ashkenazi-Khan
  • Story by cloudyhymns

11:45-12:15

  • "By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf" by Savannah Horrell
  • "Noble Thieves" by Dawn Felagund
  • Featured art by bunn

1:00-1:30

  • "Mythmakers vs. the made myths: Exploring a reader’s levels of religious alienation and connection in works about and by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis" by Acha Rezak (Quente)
  • "Great Stories" by Janeways
  • Song by Zdenka

1:30-2:00

  • "Love, Grief, and Alliterative Verse in Tolkien’s Legendarium" by Paul D. Deane
  • Poem by Zdenka

2:00-2:30

  • "Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation" by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates a.k.a. pandemonium_213
  • "Lightborn" by Azh, Admirable Monster
  • Featured art by Grundy

2:30-3:00

  • "Twilight, Child Of: Comparisons Between Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel" by JazTheBard
  • Story" by Maglor
  • Featured art Three twilight children for the elven-kings under the sky by sesame

3:00-3:30

  • "How To Make a Star From a Tree: The Science of Telperion and Laurelin" by Zhie
  • "Light of the World" by Shadow
  • Featured art Light of the Two Trees by Anérea

3:30-4:00

  • "'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium" by polutropos
  • "Lost Stars" by reese

All times are in US Eastern Time.

Note that the program will continue to evolve and is subject to change. You can always find the most up-to-date program available on the Mereth Aderthad webpage.

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