What passage in Tolkien made you see the world with fresh eyes or experience Middle-earth as though you were in it? Tolkien's rich worldbuilding is one of the qualities of his work that fans consistently identify as drawing them into the story. Many of us have scenes that took our breaths away and made the barrier between our world and Tolkien's Secondary World dissolve.
This week, as part of our ongoing series of interviews of fanworks creators for Mereth Aderthad, Shadow spoke with two artists whose work will be featured as part of the event. Varda delle Stelle is our assistant art editor, whose input helps to bring us the artwork featured each week with newsletter articles, and she is also the featured artist for cloudyhymn's presentation The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves.
"One of the first memories that I have of reading The Silmarillion is about Varda Elentari lighting the starry vault," Varda told Shadow, "... it was like I saw the Stars for the first time too and I fell in love with them from the deepest part of my soul." Varda's pen name reflects her deep connection with the stars in Tolkien's work, a connection reflected in the luminous quality of her artwork. Varda spoke with Shadow about her inspirations, her approach to art, and her not one but two Mereth Aderthad artworks.
You can read Shadow's interview with Varda here.
For fish, the featured artist for Stella Getreuer-Kostrouch's presentation "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol," it is appropriately enough the shades of gray that draws him to Tolkien and inspires his art. Like Tolkien himself, fish sees the turn to eucatastrophe as an essential and inspiring element of the legendarium. "I think I've always been something of a romantic in the literary sense, or at least a believer in what Tolkien called 'fairy-stories,'" he told Shadow. "That eucatastrophe is what keeps me coming back to Tolkien—it can't exist without dyscatastrophe, and that feels real to me." But he also loves the complexity of character that Tolkien draws in The Silmarillion and other works.
For Stella's presentation, fish was drawn to the concept of grayness in conjunction with Thingol's character, who cannot be seen solely as a villain or a hero, like most Silmarillion characters.
You can read Shadow's interview with fish here.
Today was also our third and final installment in our So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? series and focused on giving the presentation: how to practice, plan, and prepare to deliver a presentation and Q&A that is effective and fun while taking mishaps in stride. You can find the entire series on YouTube here and on the SWG as part of our Master Class column.
And finally, our new challenge, the Gates of Summer, debuts tonight with prompts from Tolkien's life and books that focus on summer, as half of the world welcomes the summer and the other half bids it farewell. As always, we invite creative interpretation and use of the prompts. If you're new to our challenges, find the full challenge guidelines here.
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Featured Articles
Interview with Varda delle Stelle by Shadow
As the featured artist for cloudyhymn's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," Varda delle Stelle describes her idea for this presentation as springing fully formed as Athena from Zeus's head. Varda chatted with Shadow about what drew her to this presentation, her approach to painting, and her hopes for her Mereth Aderthad work.
Interview with fish by Shadow
Fish is the featured artist for Stella's Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation "Cherished antagonist, despised protagonist - a defence of Elu Thingol." Shadow spoke with fish about his creative process, the importance of both tragedy and eucatastrophe to Tolkien's works, and the appeal of "greyness" in Silmarillion characters like Elu Thingol.
Art Credit: Floating through the Forest River by Varda delle Stelle (SWG | Tumblr)
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.”