No, it is not Saturday, but we are sending the newsletter a day early since our moderators will be busy with our Mereth Aderthad event tomorrow. This event will showcase presentations from twelve Tolkien scholars along with stories, poems, music, and artwork that creatively respond to the topics of their presentations. So what will the weekend look like?
The big event is Saturday, at 9:00AM Eastern (find this in your timezone) with both in-person and virtual attendance options available.
We will have both in-person and virtual social events throughout the weekend. Find the social event schedule here!
Some of the presentations and all of the fanworks created for Mereth Aderthad are available on the archive beginning on Saturday the 19th. Beginning on the 19th, you can find the interactive program here, which includes links to all of the fanworks, presentations and materials when available, and interviews with most of the presenters and creators. Some presenters will be sharing their presentations, papers, and transcripts after the event; you will find those here when they do.
Mereth Aderthad has a fanzine, which includes many of the creative works you will see and hear at the event, as well as several that were created especially for the zine. You can find those works linked on the interactive program, where you can also download a digital copy of the zine, beginning on Saturday the 19th. Attendees will receive information on how to get a print copy at the event, and any leftover print zines will be made available after the event.
If you want to join us and haven't registered yet, you can register here. You will receive a link to the virtual event when you do (unless you're joining us in-person, in which case we'll see you at the South Burlington Public Library!) Even if you can only join for a short while, you're more than welcome; we have upgraded our Zoom account to have room to accommodate anyone who wants to attend. If you have issues with your registration or have trouble getting into the event, email the mods or use the #mereth-aderthad channel on our Discord. SWG moderators will be monitoring both throughout the event to assist when needed!
A huge thank you to everyone who is making this weekend possible: event volunteers, presenters and fanworks creators, donors, and attendees!
SWG News
New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.
Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.
New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
New Fanworks
Explain This by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
Read more ...Message in a Bottle by StarSpray [Writing]
Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just another beer bottle.
Read more ...Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard by Independence1776 [Artwork]
A Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard.
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
The Stars of Home by Idrils Scribe [Writing]
Elrohir has been found after his long abduction by the Black Númenóreans of Umbar. He comes home to Rivendell, but all is not well: the Elf-child that was taken is now a Man grown. War and darkness have left Elrohir deeply scarred, and even at home there is danger...
An alternate universe for the Under Strange Stars series, in which Elrohir goes with Glorfindel instead of running away from him after the events of Under Strange Stars. This story can be enjoyed without having read the original.
Many thanks to Grundy and Marchwriter for their excellent beta-reading and brainstorming.
Read more ...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 ...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 ...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
Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
A prompt-based fandom event aiming to focus on celebrating Finwë's children: Fëanor, Findis, Fingolfin, Lalwen, & Finarfin - ships, gen relationships, or character-centric
Gigolas Week 2026
Gigolas Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Legolas and Gimli
Innumerable Stars 2026
A character-based Tolkien fandom gift exchange is returning for another year of gifting.
Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.
