Last weekend was Mereth Aderthad 2025, and it was a truly excellent experience! Eighty-eight of you were able to join us, both in-person and virtually for a day of incredible fanworks and presentations.

Enough happened that day that, even if you were there for all of it, you probably weren't able to take it all in. Our interactive program contains All The Links to every Mereth Aderthad presentation (when available) and fanwork on the archive. If you enjoyed a fanwork or presentation, please consider letting the creator know! If you haven't read my Mereth Aderthad Thank Yous, make sure you check them out! This event was a big undertaking, requiring the help of many volunteers!

Mereth Aderthad also included a fanzine of stories, poems, and art created in response to the twelve presentations shared at the event. You can download a digital copy for free here.

And we had a pair of interviews posted to the site the week of the event that didn't get their proper due in last week's newsletter. Himring interviewed Zdenka, who shared her poem The Death of Bëor the Old and sang the hauntingly beautiful song "Repair the World (Dwarvish Hymn)" at the event last week. You can read their conversation here. And I spoke with sesame, who did a pair of artworks for Jaz's vibrant presentation on the "children of twilight" in the legendarium. You can read my chat with sesame here.

To answer some questions I've been asked: Some presenters requested that their presentations be recorded. I will be working on getting those videos edited and sent out to presenters for final approval. Likewise, some presenters hope to archive their papers in our Reference Library. As videos and papers become available, I will update the interactive program and announce the new material here in the newsletter as well.

Contributor and volunteer zines will go out very soon. (My printer ran out of ink, so as soon as that's in and I can print address labels, they will go out!) Our "store" for ordering zines is ready to go, so if you attended virtually, you will have information soon about getting your copy of the zine. Virtual attendees only pay shipping; the zine itself is free. If you attended virtually and missed the link to request your copy, reply to this newsletter, and I'll get you headed in the right direction.

Once those zines go out, whatever is left will be available for "purchase" at the cost of shipping and printing.

Shifting away from Mereth Aderthad, we did a major software update this morning. If you notice a problem, report it to the moderators.

Our Swinging 40s challenge is also ongoing. As we are in the season of the year where several big Tolkien fanworks events are gearing up or in full swing, remember that you can combine our challenge prompts with other challenges or events. We intentionally plan our summer challenges so that they are easily combined with other events. If the other event requires you to post your work after fanworks for our challenge are due, just let the mods know and post with us when you can. Tell us when you archive your fanwork, and we're happy to award you the stamp.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Loyal, Faithful by by Himring [Writing]

Late in the Second Age, one of the Faithful reflects critically on past developments. (Free verse.)

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East Away! by by Flora-lass [Writing]

Aldarion storms off towards Middle-earth. For the Title Track challenge.

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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

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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
 

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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'.

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The Fall by by Elrond's Library [Writing]

Ossë raged.

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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?

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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.
 

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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.

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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.

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Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks

here you will dwell, bound to your grief by by Elrond's Library [Writing]

Arwen grieves, and loves.

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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