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!
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.
Our Annual Amnesty Challenge: New Year's Resolution Start 2026 off with creativity! If you missed a challenge or didn't get to finish or post a challenge fanwork, complete any 2025 challenge before 15 February to receive the stamp.
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…
“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…
Aldarion storms off towards Middle-earth. For the Title Track challenge.
Current Challenge
Title Track
Create a fanwork using our collection of 125 titles from Tolkien's books, chapters, essays, poems, and fragments as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Words of Wit and Wisdom
J.R.R. Tolkien wasn’t just the creator of Middle-earth. He was also a scholar of philology. One of his first jobs was with the Oxford English Dictionary, where he was assigned a welter of words beginning with W. In this month’s challenge, we’re presenting you a bingo card with Prof. Tolkien’s W words we hope will inspire a wealth of wonder, wit, worldbuilding, and general whimsy. Read more ...
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.
This presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025 discusses the many similarities between Tolkien's three "twilight children," Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel (Luthien, Maeglin, and Arwen) in terms of appearance, plot, and cultural background. Yet these three characters play very different roles in the text.
Presented at Mereth Aderthad 2025, this paper makes the case thata, although the term "aromantic" had not yet been coined in Tolkien's day, many of his characters can be read as aromantic. The paper takes a closer look at Aredhel, Bilbo, and Boromir as three examples of characters who can be read as aromantic.
“There’s a goblin hiding in the taters, Dad!” Pippin hefted the pan, which was much too big for him to carry, let alone wield.
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.
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
Back to Middle-earth Month 2026
Back to Middle-earth Month is returning for it's 20th year with many prompts and archival efforts.
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.
Oh! I love the point of view in this one. Interesting to ponder the shift from captive to something more.
Favorite lines:
"A pursuit suitable for a lady of Numenor," he had written on the note he'd included with needle, thread and material.
She'd laughed. The only stitches she knew were the careful lines of rivets binding sheets of armor, whether on man, beast or machine.
So she is careful to devote her full attention to each problem, aware that proof of the trust she does not possess earns her hours outside her rooms and additional freedoms. Pharazon may not trust her. He may never trust her. But she may yet prove herself to be indispensable.
Good stuff. Hope that you will be inspired to give us a little more.
There is this Thing in fandom, where you click on something out of curiosity just before bed and find the fic you didn't know you were looking for. This is -- I don't have the right words, but god I can see him and the settings, and I can see and feel her. I even hear her voice.
I know this is never a comfortable request/demand, but honestyly I would love to read more. Like maybe a novel? Anyhow, thank you for sharing.
Hi! I've been trying to respond to both of these lovely comments, but it's been a very long time and I must be forgotting something I need to do for it to work. Thank you both for reading and commenting. I do hope there's more of these two playing games with the universe.
Thank you. They're terrific fun to write. I think Pharazon isn't a fool by any stretch, but he must've felt very isolated and afraid, afraid enough to turn to someone he can't find trustworthy.
It is possible his vision was a warning. I would say that she is very comfortable with night (and day) terrors. At this point, she lives in nightmares. But I would also say that she is an extraordinarily unreliable narrator and confidant.
Author's Response:
It is possible his vision was a warning. I would say that she is very comfortable with night (and day) terrors. At this point, she lives in nightmares. But I would also say that she is an extraordinarily unreliable narrator and confidant.
“But she came to save him, and I was bested by a lovestuck girl and a hound.”
She settled back into her chair and frowned, and then she moved her castle forward. “That still smarts, and I cannot say I agreed with her decisions.”
I do love this. Almost she is laughing at herself, though it will never not bother her. I read the chapter on DW but it was late and I wanted to come back and read it a second time. The look at life, destiny, predestiny, free choice... nice. That two-sided duel, on the board and in the way they felt out each other's soft points with words, built so well. I kept waiting for one of them to get careless - no, I was waiting for her to get careless, say one word too many, but she counts her words, doesn't she? And the dream made me shiver because - well, we know.
She is most definitely laughing at herself but she isn't about to let that defeat go, even if it would be wise to do so.
Yes, almost everything she says is very intentional; her one tender area, that ill-fated relationship (partnership/friendship/haven't yet found the correct term) with Celebrimbor, might be the one place she might slip, but it seems to be that she might have learned that displays of vulnerability can be very tactical. Show the limp, exaggerate it even and your opponent might underestimate your strength and resolve. Pharazôn could very well be susceptible to a display of humanity, after all.
Comments on A Game of Chess
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.