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.
Galdor of the Tree appears in The Book of Lost Tales, in the story of the Fall of Gondolin, a notable supporting character in this central tale of the legendarium.
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Whether in the guise of Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White, Tolkien’s most famous wizard plays the role of the nearly perfect guide, instigator, and mentor for the heroes of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
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This Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation considers what we know of Gil-galad beyond his primary role in the text as king. While we have some information about his character, such as his appearance, other facts—names and parentage, for instance—remain unsettled. In other areas, we know almost nothing about Gil-galad, especially compared to the other Noldorin kings, which "leads to him feeling unmoored in the narrative." Gil-galad does not speak, performs no actions outside of kingship, and is given no meaningful relationships. Basic facts, such as his burial, are missing. He is seen from the outside, becoming a side character despite being the longest-reigning Noldorin king. It becomes the task of fans to answer the question Merry asks in "The Lord of the Rings": Who was Gil-galad? Fan creativity plus tantalizing glimpses of his character have filled in the blanks Tolkien left.
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Gildor Inglorion is one of the many links between The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, providing a final glimpse in the Third Age of the exiled Noldor.
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A character appearing only in The Book of Lost Tales, Gilfanon nonetheless survives later in the legendarium in the character of Pengolodh.
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Glorfindel is one of several among Tolkien’s notable heroes who have provoked a substantial amount of controversy, most notably in the appearance of two essential Glorfindels and the ensuing debate over whether they are the same character.
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Before he was the Unhappy, he was one of the nine faithful servants of Barahir and deeply in love: an oft-overlooked but tragic figure from The Silmarillion.
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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.
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What we know of Guilin of Nargothrond occurs only through inference, as his personal history is never described in any of Tolkien's writings.
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Given a richer and more nuanced characterization in The Children of Húrin, Gwindor is a tenacious character who gives us insight into the lives of captives of Morgoth. The effects of his captivity haunt him as he becomes a pawn in the tragic tale of Túrin.
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This comprehensive essay discusses how to write balanced and effective fiction critiques with a special emphasis on Tolkien fan fiction.
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The famed hound, Huan is one of the most if not the most truly noble beasts in The Silmarillion and a hero by the standards of almost any reader.
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A character who remained in the legendarium, largely unchanged, since its earliest writings, Húrin lives an early life defined by valor and heroism. This first part of his biography explores his heroic youth, including connections to ancient and medieval history.
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After the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Húrin's heroic life takes a turn for the tragic and illustrates themes of courage, betrayal, and the promises and perils of vision. Although given one of the most inconclusive endings in the legendarium, Húrin retains a heroic reputation that resonates through the ages to follow.
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Idril Celebrindal's footprint in the canon is light and hard to discern beyond the bare bones given in The Silmarillion and The Fall of Gondolin, yet she exists at the epicenter of the most ancient and shifting ground of Tolkien's entire legendarium.
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The first of some posts on the Elf-tower on the western margin of The Lord of the Rings attempts to frame the relationship between the narrative and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings and an analysis of Frodo's dream-visions.
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Shadow spoke to Acha Rezak about her upcoming presentation for Mereth Aderthad, which reads Tolkien less as a Catholic Christian work and more as a world inclusive of many religions, especially in its focus on nature and landscapes
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