A common way to teach children about narrative structure is through the concept of the story mountain: a character climbs through the rising action, reaches the turning point at the summit, and then lets gravity take hold as their choices pull them through falling action and resolution. The metaphor can be extended further when we consider that every story—every mountain—arises from the strata beneath, from the stories and myths and beliefs of a culture that came before.
Our upcoming Mereth Aderthad 2025 event on July 19 will feature twelve presentations of meta and scholarship, each accompanied by fanworks that tackle the same topic. Each week, we are featuring interviews with the fanworks creators whose work will be presented at Mereth Aderthad, and this week, Shadow spoke with two creators whose work draws deep from around the roots of the mountain.
Bunn is writing a story for cloudyhymn's presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of Dwarves" and creating art for Savannah Horrell's presentation "By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf," both of which rely heavily on Germanic myth, folklore, and literature. Bunn's story draws on cloudyhymn's theory that Dwarves and dragons share the same origin, with dragons a corrupted form of Dwarves, similar to one of Tolkien's theories that Orcs derive from Elves.
Likewise, bunn is making art for Savannah Horrell's presentation on thieves in Beowulf, the best-known work of Anglo-Saxon literature and a source of Tolkien's inspiration. (The Hobbit can certainly be understood as Beowulf fanfiction!) "People often feel that Tolkien kind of appears out of nowhere with a bunch of ideas," they told Shadow, "but I think he's very much rooted in a tradition, it's just the tradition is ... about a thousand years old, and not much had been written in it in the intervening period. I feel Elrond would have loved Tolkien." For this one, bunn is drawing on Savannah's connection between the thief in Beowulf and Tolkien's numerous thieves.
Shadow likewise interviewed me. I am writing fiction for Savannah's presentation, likewise drawn to her identification of the connection between thieves in the two works, though I spoke more to Shadow about planning Mereth Aderthad than the "thieves' triptych" that will be my creative contribution.
You can read Shadows interview with bunn here and Shadow's interview with Dawn (me) here.
If you want to catch up on other interviews you might have missed, you can find all of the Mereth Aderthad interviews here.
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Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
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Featured Articles
Interview with bunn by Shadow
Bunn is the featured author for for cloudyhymn's presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of Dwarves" and the featured artist for Savannah Horrell's presentation "By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf." Shadow spoke with bunn about the mystery of dragons, the appeal of Dwarves, and the many ways Tolkien's work connects to Beowulf.
Interview with Dawn Felagund by Shadow
In our series of interviews of creators for Mereth Aderthad, Shadow spoke with Dawn about her story, written for Savannah Horrell's "By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf" presentation, the balance of planning an event and creating for it at the same time, and the intersection of Tolkien and Beowulf.
Art Credit: An Elderly Bilbo, retired from being a Thief by bunn (SWG | website)
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.
Read more ...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.
Read more ...McShady by Babblecat [Writing]
Melkor has himself a bad time in the Void.
Read more ...
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.)
Read more ...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.
Read more ...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.
Read more ...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?
Read more ...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.”