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.
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…
“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…
It was only the second time Finwë had come out foraging with them, and of course this would happen—of course the Hunter would come, the Dark Rider on his steed with its terrible, heavy footfalls, and the deep-throated laughter that held no mirth, only malice.
Finrod and Bëor stop for a while on the road to Nargothrond to rest. The bodies of the Secondborn often grow weary, and Finrod laments, massaging Bëor's back and renewing his beloved's vigor with the work of his hands. But Finrod has other burdens of his own, Bëor soon discovers, returning…
Maglor without Maedhros, Daeron without Lúthien. Alone, they are nothing, but together, they can be something more. Where do you turn, when you have no one else left?
Written for Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2023, featuring artwork by athlai.
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.
For most of my life, when reading Lord of the Rings, I read it through the perspective of Gandalf's words about Éowyn, that she'd spent years trapped as a caregiver, watching the realm she love fall from honor into disgrace.
But what if Éowyn was also a student of history?
…
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Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026
Gondor Week 2026
A Tumblr week event focusing on the history of the realm of Gondor.
Crablor Day
A day dedicated to everyone's favourite warcriminal crustacean - April 26, 2026
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.
I bet my bias for Elrond is showing here. He's one of my favorites. Cannot help but think he would try to track Melian after he sailed West and I believe he is just that determined. Thank you for reading it and letting me know you liked it.
Author's Response:
I bet my bias for Elrond is showing here. He's one of my favorites. Cannot help but think he would try to track Melian after he sailed West and I believe he is just that determined. Thank you for reading it and letting me know you liked it.
I really like your strange, almost alien Melian and how Elrond's interaction with her revitalizes her spirit. Elrond is always fun to write, there are many ways to go with him with all his history. I could imagine him getting weary just trying to relate it all. The ending of his return journey is perfect for his character too. Another great character piece with unique descriptions.
Thanks! Thanks! I wrote a big long thank you and somehow think I closed it without posting. I need a nap! You were good to me when I was sick and pathetic and made me feel like even with only half of my synapses firing I could still post a little ficlet and not feel shame! You are kind and warm person--kind of like Elrond the way I like him (a little smug too sometimes! Afterall, Elrond is almost half-Feanorian--the nurture half of the old nature vs. nurture discussion!).
A wonderfully entertaining read! I'm so glad I decided to visit DW and LJ after such a long absence, to discover the entries for this challenge that Dawn had posted! Yours is the second story I've read and I intend to read all of them.
Melian is one of my favourite of JRR's characters. Because I love her I've always written her as a more or less sympathetic character and I do love the "side" of her that you've painted here. She comes across as kind of scary - a witchy woman indeed. (Thanks for putting that song in my head. I'm sure it'll stay there until I can replace it with something just as catchy.)
" In the short time he had spent in Aman, he had found a most frustrating lack of any sense of absurdity among the Ainur."
This line made me laugh so hard. I'm not up on the latest lingo, but will 'As If!!'! do, or perhaps 'I know, right?' The Ainur certainly aren't known for their humour, are they?
Anyway, I do love the conversation between Melian and Elrond that you've written here.
His words and attitude almost verge on the disrespectful, yet he does sense her arrogance - she is very self-centred and I'm sure that irks him more than a little. It must have been very tiring to talk at length with her. At least Elrond seems to have a good sense of humour and managed to get through the encounter unscathed.
As usual you have written characters that seem so real!
OMG..."The Mists of Avalon" is a book I've had for ages but have not managed to pick up and read yet. I wanted to read it so badly ages ago. I don't know what is wrong with me.
Thank you so much for reading and leaving a comment!! I am glad you enjoyed it.
I am glad I made you laugh too! I was trying very hard not to write pure crack-fic but I got very close at times! My real-life is largely quasi-tragic crack-fic so I am not always a great judge. I am able to laugh at it though. So I guess I am channeling Elrond in this story! I think he has a lot of empathy with Melian, but also has a pretty dry sense of humor. Melian also occupied a human form for a long time--up to including giving birth which is quite the essentially human experience! Nothing else quite compares to that! So I believe that Elrond went into the encounter convinced that he could reach her. And I believed it too. And he finally did!
Short-shorts are really a challenge! I don't know why people believe they are easy! They are definitely not!
Too bad you did not read Mists of Avalon earlier! It's still not too late, but it does not improve with age! It's got a decent plot and a lot of great language and some terrific scenes! But it was more ground-breaking when it came out than it is now. But I enjoyed it a lot. I definitely recommend that you find the chance to read it if you can.
Comments on Sister, Lover, Priestess, Wise-Woman, Queen
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.