Founded in 2005, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild exists for discussions of and creative fanworks based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and related texts. We are a positive-focused and open-minded space that welcomes fans from all over the world and with all levels of experience with Tolkien's works. Whether you are picking up Tolkien's books for the first time or have been a fan for decades, we welcome you to join us!
Sign-Up to Hand Out Scavenger Hunt Prompts Our May challenge will be a Matryoshka built around a scavenger hunt. If you'd like to hand out prompts (and receive comments on your work for doing so!), you can sign up to do so.
New Challenge: Everyman Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration.
Cultus Dispatches: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn and Grundy The fan studies column Cultus Dispatches returns with a history of how Tolkien fanworks fandom has reacted and resisted generative AI by drawing strong boundaries in a way that is not typical for the fandom.
Inspired by collecting the prompts for the Everyman challenge, this essay considers how ordinary people are subsumed and silenced in The Silmarillion, which begins a three-book arc that ends with the rise of the humble and ordinary.
A Teleri fishing boat captain turns to farming on abandoned Noldor lands after her ship is stolen. A Noldor farmer returns with Finarfin to find that his land belongs to the Teleri now.
In his old age, Isildur's former esquire Ruinamacil, known to later histories only as Ohtar, writes his own account of his escape from the ambush at Gladden Fields and journey to Imladris, and the history of his friend whom Isildur ordered to flee with him.
These were simply flashes, a hint of a wider, greater world. A tantalizing glimpse of more, always at the edge of awareness, never within reach. Míriel would grasp it, if something as intangible as the concept of color could overflow in bounteous wonder over her hands.
By definition, fanworks fandom does not draw a lot of boundaries, but community archives and events have taken a strong stance against AI-generated fanworks due to ethical considerations and member input.
In a book as full of death as the Quenta Silmarillion, grief and mourning are surprisingly absent. The characters who receive grief and mourning—and those who don't—appear to do so due to narrative bias. Grief and mourning (or a lack of them) serve to draw attention toward and away from objectionable actions committed by characters.
This presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025 discusses the parallels between the concept of abnegation in the scientific work surrounding the atomic bomb and in The Silmarillion. The relinquishment of self-interest in favor of the interests of others, abnegation was identified by Tolkien as a powerful act of spirit and reason. The legendarium has many examples of the complexities of abnegation, which parallel similar discussions held by physicists during and after World War II.
Bilbo, the strange old hobbit with the wandering feet, senses something special in young Frodo the first time he sees the lad; as they become close, they find in each other a cameraderie not well understood by other hobbits. Five poignant moments between Bilbo and Frodo Baggins over the course…
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.
Well, this was certainly a surprise! Awww! What a heartwarming story. Much better than a B-movie. I needed a feel-good story tonight. Also got a kick out of reading the only phrase I know in Hebrew: "Barukh atah Adonai, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, etc."
I wrote it on Monday; it's very much me trying to cope. (My first fic for the Matryoshka challenge didn't work well, so I thought I wouldn't post anything for it. And then Saturday happened and I remembered I had this idea…)
A really nice take on Nerdanel! I like Maglor's wondrous smile and that lovely final scene. Also a neat idea about the Kinn-lai leaving for Valinor in 1492.
(Aside: I'm sort of wondering whether they sing "Morenika" in Valinor, because I'm fond of that song.)
Re: neat idea. Well, the Kinn-lai would have been perfectly happy to stay in Spain… but when the choice is leave, convert to Christianity, or die, they left. Actually, thinking about it, their choice was leave or die; the Inquisition would not have seen them as human, but as agents of the devil.
(I don't know; I've never heard of that song before.)
Follow-up comment: I meant that 1492 would explain neatly how you would have a Jewish diaspora in Valinor--not at all meaning to imply that "neat" would apply in any way to the events in 1492 in Spain!
I was first introduced to the song "Morenika" (or "Morenica") in a concert of Sephardic (Ladino) songs from Spain, hence the association (apparently it's also called "La Morena" or, in Hebrew, "Shecharchoret"). I have since heard it from a number of singers.
Here it is as sung by Mor Karbasi on YouTube, with a translation of the text below.
Sorry this is a little late. I've just remembered you posted something on tumblr.
This was lovely! Nerdanel turning up to bring him home. For a moment I thought he was going to turn her down, but it so nice to have him agree, especially after discovering his brother's were reborn. I love happy endings and unfortunately you don't read that often enough concerning Maglor. But this was a nice change from all the angst normally surrounding him.
I'm sorry to say I'm not at all familiar with the Jewish Prayer that you wrote in the story. I am rather embarrassed as I do have a little Jewish blood, but I know nothing other than that simple fact. It is a lovely prayer though.
This is lovely! The idea of a Jewish community in Valinor is fascinating. Nerdanel is wonderful, and I really like Maglor's just kind of "ugh, fine" response to the note--and then his surprise to find out who really left it! And the ending scene is just wonderful--I love happy reunions, and this one is really delightful.
Thank you! It is definitely fascinating-- I wouldn't have the first idea about how to go about writing anything specifically about them, though. I was a very little bit worried about the ending scene, so I'm thrilled people keeping pointing it out.
I have been meaning to read this since you posted it, and kept putting it off. After an unexpected trip to Florida I figured it was finally time.:)
Anyway, I really enjoyed this fic. I really liked you having Maglor aquiesced to modern life-and with friends and a house and all. It’s an idea I don’t see too often- it tends to be either returned to Valinor, or wandering the shores in mourning for all time, which, to be fair, is what the story says. But I see no reason to believe after all that time he wouldn’t need a house of some sort, as “just wandering” is a nice idea in writing, but in practical detail could prove difficult. I’m not sure what I’m saying, my point is I liked your idea.
I also liked Maglor being Jewish. It does make me wonder the circumstances behind his(and Nerdanel’s!) conversion. Did you have any idea in mind as to the when and why of that?
And I loved the inclusion of the Shehechianu. It is possibly my favorite prayer, something about it really speaks to me. It is one I hold close to my heart, so to see it used in such a way in the story was rather fun.
As for any sort of criticism, the story felt perhaps a bit too lighthearted for being about facing eternity and seeing family for the first time in thousands of years and leaving behind people and places you’ve known for so long, forever, even if it does mean returning to a long ago home. (Although perphaps it’s not so permanent and uncrossable if Nerdanel was able to return?) I feel that the emotions involved would be a bit more complicated.
I am not suggesting you change it, as I like the feel of what you wrote, so it’s not a criticism exactly, just a comment. I may also have been projecting some of my own emotions and thoughts, as it touched on things that I’ve been thinking about, and thus it may be more about that than your actually story.
Anyway, this is getting to be a long-winded comment. What happened last Saturday was awful, and there isn’t really anything I can say about it. It just feels sort of helpless. All the same, “the road goes ever on,” and the best we can do is continue living I suppose.
I honestly tend to assume that Maglor settles down for a bit and then moves on. Him perpetually wandering is really something that I see him doing for the Second and Third Ages.
Maglor's conversion happened around 60 CE, before the Second Temple's destruction. Nerdanel's, well, I honestly didn't put that much thought into it.
Well… this was specifically written as self-indulgent fluff. The eternity and family stuff are things I deal with in my other Maglor-returns-to-Aman fics. I was not in the mood for anything heavier.
Living, I think, is the only thing we can do. Anything else is letting the terrorists win.
I really did enjoy how happy your story was,despite what I said,if I didn’t make that clear in my previous comment. It was just fun and enjoyable to read.
Comments on The Holy or the Broken
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.