The SWG started almost twenty-one years ago on early versions of social network sites, namely Yahoo! Groups and LiveJournal. Our website and archive wouldn't come for another two years, and while that has since become the center of our organization in many ways, it is not the center of community life on the SWG, and we maintain presences on several social media as a way to reach out beyond our website and foster community among our members.
Because we have new members joining us all the time, we like to periodically use the newsletter to share information that, to those of us who have been around a while, can be easy to forget that everyone doesn't know.
So if you are new or just want to get more involved on the SWG, how can you do it?
If you want to read, view, and post your own fanworks, the SWG site and archive is the place to begin. The SWG, like Archive of Our Own and many other fanworks archives, structures its site much like Rebecca Smallwood's highly influential eFiction script, so using it should be familiar if you've wandered around a fanworks archive before. Start at the Fanworks menu and explore from there. If you want to do stuff with your own account, start at the My Account menu. Our FAQs have detailed instructions on how to post and do things on the site, or you can reply here and get our mod team and ask for help—that's what we're here for!
The social center of our site is our Discord. For fandom olds who don't use Discord, it functions like the instant messaging platforms back in the day, letting you talk with other SWG members in real time. The #read-me-first channel will get you start, then each channel has a description of what it's used for. You can join our Discord here—and again, if it's a new platform for you and you need help, just reply here and ask!
The SWG maintains a presence as well on Tumblr and Dreamwidth. All announcements are posted here but both are also open to contributions from our members. (No one has ever submitted anything to our tumblr! You could be the first!) We accept Silmarillion-based fanworks, links to work you've posted elsewhere, essays and meta, and announcements for fandom events and projects.
Yahoo! Groups closed in 2019. In 2022, we stopped using LiveJournal as one of our official social media platforms, meaning that we stopped posting official SWG announcements there. The community remains open, however, and is also available for SWG members who want to use it to share their work, including event announcements.
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: Revelations from Marquette's Fanzine Dataset
In September 2026, Marquette University released a dataset about their Tolkien fanzine collection. Analysis of the data reveals what these fanzines contained and show how pre-internet Tolkien fandom responded to the publication of "The Silmarillion."
New Challenge: Unquote
Choose a prompt from our selection of misheard, miswritten, and misrepresented unquotes that are in no way part of the actual "Silmarillon."
Character of the Month: Eönwë
This month's biography focuses on Eönwë, who started with a variety of identities but settled into the role of Manwë's herald, exemplifying the values of strong leadership and justice.
Instadrabbling Sessions for October, November, and December
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
Featured Article
Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Ten years of demographic data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey show consistencies in who reads and writes fanfiction, as well as a few key demographic shifts.
Art Credit: Dís and her partner during their courting years by telesodalite (Tumblr)
New Fanworks
The last son of Feanor by ford_of_bruinen [Writing]
Maglor long after elves have left middle earth
Read more ...Room in the Heart by Dagstjarna [Writing]
Newlywed Indis begins acquainting herself with married life, both its highs and lows.
Read more ...The Parting Birds by Dagstjarna [Writing]
Dior tells Elwing a bedtime story.
Read more ...Burdens Carried, Burdens Shared by Elrond's Library [Writing]
Haleth will break Aredhel’s heart, but not before loving her.
Read more ...Did Somebody Order a Silmaril? by annarobots [Writing]
Eärendil arrives in Valinor with a special delivery. But in this version, it’s not Eönwë who hails him…
Read more ...Updated Fanworks
Darling Enemy by octopus_fool [Writing]
Eärendil thought he would have the sky to himself.
Read more ...Bury Me to Release Your Splendor by annarobots [Writing]
“Do you know what grows on the shores of the southern isles? A trading-merchant might bring many strange specimens to our lands, like nothing I have ever seen. In recent days, I have tasted a ripe fruit with firm flesh that parted beneath my tongue in a burst of liquid sweetness. So moist, so yielding, its juices dripped down my chin like fragrant honey. Have you ever known such succulence?”
Fingon’s wife has arranged a special surprise for the Lord of Himring.
Or: everyone’s cool with a little ethical nonmonogamy until someone throws a temporary sex change into the arrangement. Lord Maedhros loves Fingon with all his heart, that is known. But how will he react to Fingwen?
Read more ...The Day Transcending Night by StarSpray [Writing]
The Rings have been forged. The armies of Mordor are marching into Eriador. Eregion burns.
Far away from it all, by the shores of the Sea, Celegorm remembers his name.
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 ...Drabble-poems by Flora-lass [Writing]
All written for SWG instadrabbling sessions/prompts. Updated in October 2026 with Ambarussa, and Firiel.
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 ...Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks
IN THE SHIRE-RECKONING by Diane Finnis-Robb [Writing]
-This novel was completed for Hobbit Day 2026 and will be updated in serialized fashion here as I make final edits; so feedback is very much welcome.
-It is a multi-generational novel spanning a period of time from the formation of the Shire to the Great Plague in Year Thirty-six and focuses on the origins of an old feud between the Bucks and the Tooks.
Read more ...For a Better World by Ellynn [Writing]
Thirteen years before the War of the Ring, an orcling — more intelligent and more curious than most — is born in Mordor. His curiosity will lead him to both incredible discoveries and perilous situations, all of which will shape him into a leader unlike any Mordor has ever known. But to become that leader, he must defeat all his rivals, especially the most abhorrent of them all — his enemy since earliest childhood.
Read more ...Around the World and Web
14th International Tolkien Mailing Competition
The Hungarian Tolkien Society invites you to join the international “Quendi” category of the Tolkien Mailing Competition: five rounds of quizzes, riddles and creative tasks. This category is organised in English, open to any individual participant, and also to teams of 2–5 people. The five rounds of the competition will last from November to April.
Glorfindel Week 2026
A Tumblr fandom week dedicated to the elf Glorfindel.
Tolkien Food Week 2026
fandom event from the 2-8th nov 2026 where we share recipes, fics and comfort food for body and soul.
Silmarillion Secret Stockings 2026
A fandom event to celebrate the end of year holidays with prompt-based gifts.
Tolkien Horror Week 2026
Tolkien Horror Week is back for another year of celebrating all the terrifying and unsettling bits of Tolkien's work!
Erestober 2026
An event running throughout October, to show appreciation for Erestor!
