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SWG News
New Challenge: Tengwar
Each day for thirty-six days, we feature a randomly chosen letter from the Tengwar as a prompt.
A Sense of History: Crossroads
In the ongoing series on towers in Tolkien's work, a thread runs through "The Lord of the Rings," revealing the divine assistance of Varda in the travails of the Fellowship.
Cultus Dispatches: Canon Deviations, Multifandoms, and Original Content
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data gives some insight into what connections, if any, exist between fanfiction and original fiction.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Words of Wisdom by AdmirableMonster
One or more drabbles about Pengolodh and his babysitter Salgant.
[Writing] Tengwar (working title) by cuarthol
For the Tengwar prompt challenge. To be updated as new prompts are completed.
Current up through 'Óre'
[Writing] Upon Cirith Thoronath by StarSpray
A horrid cacophony of cries erupts ahead of them, as orcs appear—up the cliff on hidden ledges, on the path, with bows and swords. And behind them rises a figure of darkness and flame. The heat rolls down the path over them, bringing the smell of burning flesh and bitter fear with it. Someone…
[Writing] Fire in Four Quarters by sallysavestheday
For the Tengwar challenge, four poems in which Beleriand and Middle-Earth are threatened by flames (once from each cardinal direction).
[Writing] Analysis of "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" by Rocky41_7
Examining the relationship between Andreth and Finrod as shown in the Athrabeth.
[Writing] Perspective by Rocky41_7
Grandfather brings a treat back from Valmar.
Current Challenge
Tengwar
A daily prompt of a Tengwar letter per day. Read more ...
Random Challenge
New in References
[]
With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]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.
In the House of the Fairbairns by Simon J. Cook
[]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.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Waybread (The Waybredlik) by Himring
[]Lembas speaks out.
[Series] Apr 1st Stories by Uvatha the Horseman
[]Once a year on April 1st, a canon character from LOTR or the Silmarillion gets pranked.
[Writing] Crossing Forest River by Dawn Felagund
[]Bilbo recounts, in verse, the attempt of Gandalf, Beorn, and him to cross the Forest River after the Battle of Five Armies. Written for the Hungarian Tolkien Society's 2024 Mailing Competition.
Around the World and Web
May challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The May challenge has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic challenge: name; formal challenge: acrostic. As usual, these can be filled independently and freely combined with other prompts such as the SWG challenges. New participants welcome!
May 2024 Calls for Papers
Conferences and publications that have open calls for papers in May 2024.
Angbang Week 2024
All new, unpublished fanworks about the Angbang (Melron) ship are welcome during this Tumblr event, running 6-12 May 2024.
Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2024
This is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event dedicated to the art of ekphrasis in Tolkien's worlds, hosted on Tumblr and Dreamwidth.
Glorfindel Week 2024
Glorfindel Week is a week-long Tumblr event for creating fanworks that celebrate Glorfindel. Glorfindel Week will run April 29-May 5, 2024.
Fanworks Tagged with A Sense of History
Crossroads by simon
With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.
Seeing Stones in Dark Towers by simon
As inscribed above the western doors of the Mines of Moria, that magical illustration of Elf-Dwarf collaboration, the name of the game is treachery. From Frodo’s far-seeing dream of Orthanc in his first night in the house of Tom Bombadil, the post draws in the person of Frodo Baggins the image of the Stone by which the will of the Necromancer enters a Tower.
In the House of the Fairbairns by simon
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.
The Peaks of Taniquetil by simon
In 1946, two towers appeared in Tolkien's writings. The tower found in The Fall of Númenor may shed light on the meaning of the tower analogy of "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."
Never Mind the Dwarves by simon
This story was penned some years back as a way of marking the Peregrin Boffin of the 1939 drafts of The Lord of the Rings. Boffin was a Hobbit who walked to Moria but vanished from the story in summer 1940, when his character, Trotter, the Ranger met in Bree, became Aragorn, heir of Elendil.
First Brick in the Wall by simon
Jane Chance's interpretation of the tower analogy in Tolkien's lecture-turned-essay "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" dismisses historical inquiry as a valid reading of the poem.
Fawlty Towers by simon
The tower analogy in "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" wasn't simply a poignant extended metaphor about the poem but addressed specific scholars about academic debates around Beowulf. The lack of addressing this historical context has led to misreadings of Tolkien's meaning.
The Rock Garden by simon
An early draft of Tolkien's essay on "Beowulf" used a rock garden analogy to show how the critics—who were actual people whom Tolkien knew—were responding incorrectly to the poem.
Beleriand in Beowulf by simon
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.
The Fall of Gondolin Reflected in History by MirienSilowende
The Fall of Gondolin has historical antecedents in sacks of cities in the ancient and medieval world, all featuring military destruction and a grievous impact on innocent civilian survivors.
Galadriel: Parallels among Women in History and Literature by MirienSilowende
Tolkien may have taken inspiration for Galadriel's character—an outspoken queen figure—from literary and historical figures like Circe, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Joan of Arc.
Sieges in the First and Second Ages by Fernstrike
From ancient times to the present, siege warfare has been used to wear down an enemy through time and deprivation. Siege tactics, defense against a siege, and humanitarian concerns from real-world sieges have analogues in sieges in Middle-earth.
The Plague in Gondor by MirienSilowende
Midway through the Third Age, a plague devastated Gondor before spreading northward. This element of the legendarium connects to the history of real-world plagues, namely the Black Death.
The Easterling Hostages in Middle-earth and Their Parallels in Welsh Medieval History by MirienSilowende
The use of hostages as a political strategy in Third Age Gondor has historical parallels in medieval Welsh history, and the bloody outcome of the real history may explain some of the tensions between the Easterlings and Gondorians as Sauron's power grew.
"I Desired Dragons" by Angelica
History of dragons in world myth.
Plato in Númenor by Angelica
History of the Atlantis myth that inspired Tolkien's Númenor.
Beowulf in Beleriand by Angelica
Basic historical background on the Anglo-Saxon people that Tolkien studied.
