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.
SWG News
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.
"The Fëanorian Zine" Available to Read and Download
We are pleased to be able to offer "The Fëanorian Zine" to read and download on the SWG for free.
Call for Artists for the 2026 Challenge Stamps
We are soliciting help from artists who want to help create the stamps we award to challenge participants.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] A Hundred Miles Through the Desert by StarSpray
“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…
[Writing] Who Will Hear Me? by XirinOfArvada
A lonely elf finds a flute half buried beneath the sand and wonders if its owner will hear him when he calls.
[Writing] Loyal, Faithful by Himring
Late in the Second Age, one of the Faithful reflects critically on past developments. (Free verse.)
[Writing] East Away! by Flora-lass
Aldarion storms off towards Middle-earth. For the Title Track challenge.
[Writing] Don't You Ever Look Away by Elrond's Library
“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…
[Writing] Break Me by Elrond's Library
“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
[Writing] Three Black Islands by Idrils Scribe
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…
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
Breaking Boundaries
Create a fanwork that shows a meeting between characters of two or more cultures. Read more ...
New in References
Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates
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.
Twilight, Child Of: Comparisons Between Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel by JazTheBard
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.
The Aromantic in Tolkien by daughterofshadows
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.
Featured Themed Collection
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] here you will dwell, bound to your grief by Elrond's Library
Arwen grieves, and loves.
[Writing] Faramir's Verse by losselen
“Come, Faramir. Let us not stand in ceremony. I think words are due between you and I, and not only those between a King and his Steward.”
Faramir has speech with Gandalf and his King.
[Writing] In a Hole in the Ground... by StarSpray
“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.
References by Title
Ancalagon the Black by oshun
Ancalagon is the "darkest and most powerful weapon of Morgoth" and this biography explores what we know of this greatest of dragons, Tolkien's fascination with dragons, and the story's role in providing rare eucatastrophe in The Silmarillion.
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Annael by Silver Trails
Annael was the foster-father of Tuor and a Sindarin Elf who played a minor but important role in his life.
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Answers from Old Sources: Elven Food by darthfingon
Tolkien's early Elvish word lists reveal details about what Elves ate.
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Ar-Gimilzôr by oshun
In Ar-Gimilzôr, we see the first signs of the divisiveness and decline of Númenor into two factions. This month's biography details this prequel to Númenor's cataclysmic fall.
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Ar-Pharazôn by Russandol
In honor of Akallabêth in August, this bio explores the history, evolution, and some of the questions surrounding of Ar-Pharazôn, one of Arda's darkest characters. Originally featured August 2009.
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Arien by Silver Trails
The story of Arien, the Maia who guides the Sun, changed as the legendarium evolved.
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Arwen Undómiel by oshun
Largely relegated to the margins of the story, Arwen nonetheless represents a strength that is "intellectual, psychological, and spiritual," as well as serving as a symbol of the simultaneous waning of one people and rise of another. Arwen presents the usual thorny questions of how women are presented in the legendarium, compounded by a well-known film depiction that stretches the bounds of the canon.
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As I Say and As I Do: Negotiating Transformational Impulses in Tolkien-Based Fanfiction by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Data from the 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows that, while authors and readers of Tolkien-based fanfiction are growing more comfortable with perceiving their work as having a critical purpose, they are still more likely to describe fanfiction as literary criticism when the process is not depicted as a challenge to Tolkien's authority as the author.
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Aulë by oshun
One of the Ainur, the demi-gods of Tolkien legendarium, Aulë is said to have been created by the thought of Eru Ilúvatar. He ranks third in importance among the Valar, following only Manwë and Ulmo. Usually referred to in The Silmarillion as Aulë the Smith or Aulë the Maker, he is given the name Mahal by the Dwarves.
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Azaghâl by oshun
The leader of the renowned Dwarven army that saved the lives of the Elven host at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Azaghâl appears only briefly in the published material but in scenes of cinematic scope. This biography reviews what we know of Azaghâl and what remains open for fans to explore.
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Becoming Bookverse: Jackson's Films as an Initiation Point for Tolkien's Book Fandom by Dawn Walls-Thumma
As the debut of Amazon's Rings of Power series approaches, fans wonder how their Tolkien fandom communities will be changed by the new show. Using Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data, this article makes the case that, while Tolkien-based media franchises bring new fans to the fanfiction fandom, the stories those fans write become almost wholly book-based.
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Beleg Cúthalion by oshun
Beleg Cúthalion is one of the most storied of the Sindarin characters in The Silmarillion.
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Beleriand in Beowulf by Simon J. Cook
Beowulf offers an Anglo-Saxon view upon the world of the old homeland, before migration to the British Isles and conversion to Christianity. The poet takes history as a process of forgetting. In the world of the poem, knowledge of heaven above was forgotten a long age before, while what is beyond the western ocean is in the process of being forgotten.
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Beowulf in Beleriand by Angelica
Basic historical background on the Anglo-Saxon people that Tolkien studied.
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Beregar of Númenor by oshun
The father of Erendis and grandfather of Tar-Ancalimë, Beregar is one of the few men in the legendarium who is defined primarily by his relationship to important women.
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