New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: Communities Do Comment
Comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.
New Challenge: Scavenger Hunt
In this Matryoshka-with-a-twist, you will solve clues that point you to the challenge prompts.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Artwork] A private audience by skywardstruck
After wandering through the forests of Oromë, Maitimo and Makalaurë discover a quiet clearing, stopping to rest. With lyre in hand, the private audience begins— for this song, Makalaurë will only allow his brother to hear.
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously…
[Writing] A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray
When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.
[Writing] Is it raining with you? by AdmirableMonster
In the last days of Númenor, two very different men meet in Umbar and fall in love.
(Please note that while this work is heavily inspired by Disco Elysium, no knowledge of the game is necessary to read the fic!)
[Writing] Nasyalossë by Lovimmy3365
Erestor lay up against a tree, brown washed to black in the wet of the snow. The black disc of the new moon sailed across the dark sky. Erestor wished it were gone. He had no need to look into dark eyes any longer.
He was dying.
(AKA Erestor unwittingly travels back in time to the…
[Writing] From That Rubble by StarSpray
Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I…
[Writing] Wrensong and Roses by Isilme_among_the_stars
Concerned by his responses to the paraphernalia of healing, Fingon steals Maedhros from his room for an impromptu garden excursion. Maedhros battles with dark thoughts.
Current Challenge
Epic 80s
Create a fanwork using on of our righteous prompts based on popular culture from the 1980s. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Hero's Journey
Prompts for this Matryoshka challenge are based on the stages of the hero's journey archetype. Read more ...
New in References
Communities Do Comment: Expanding the 3C's of Commenting with SWG Data by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Expanding on my 2018 article "Why People Don't Comment," comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
Fandom Draws the Line: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn Felagund, Grundy
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.
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.
Featured Themed Collection
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Down the Long Years by Isilme_among_the_stars
Bilbo, the strange old hobbit with the wandering feet, senses something special in young Frodo the first time he sees the lad; as they become close, they find in each other a cameraderie not well understood by other hobbits. Five poignant moments between Bilbo and Frodo Baggins over the course…
[Artwork] The Mirror of Galadriel by skywardstruck
Smoke rises from the Mirror, where the Lady of Lothlórien awaits to share its visions.
[Writing] Bar-en-Eladar by Gabriel
Out of the shadow, light is born anew.
A Chieftain is dead. And whilst the events surrounding his death are unclear, a son tries to come to terms with his loss.
Around the World and Web
Tolkien Gen Week 2026
Tolkien Gen Week will run from July 6-12, 2026 to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen.”
Tolkien Disability Pride 2026
This Tumblr event focuses on ALL creative works focusing on disability in Tolkien's universe.
Scribbles and Drabbles 2026
Scribbles & Drabbles is a fic and art exchange with a minimum word count of 100 words.
Fanworks Tagged with Fëanor
Far Over Land and Sea by polutropos
Maglor's use of Songs of Power. Currently includes Alqualondë and the Dagor-nuin-Giliath.
My Greatest Joy and Deepest Sorrow by Rocky41_7
A brief history of one of the more noteworthy relationships of Noldor history.
It's About the Journey by Rocky41_7
Just getting to the campsite is its own adventure.
A Clouded Gem by Rocky41_7
Indis struggles to understand her husband's son.
A Distant Peace by Astrance
Someday you’ll go far. And I really hope you stay there. Finarfin’s words to Fëanor haunted him throughout his life, from the idyllic land of Valinor to the shores of Middle-Earth.
Envy by polutropos
Even the greatest artists struggle with petty jealousy. Fortunately, they have siblings capable of snapping them out of it.
World Turned Upside Down by grey_gazania
A Fëanor/Nerdanel fanmix.
A Favor for the Prince by Rocky41_7
Feanor has a proposal for Nerdanel.
The Library of Mandos by kimikocha
FIRST NOTICE: Library records show the following item(s) overdue. Please return or renew them as soon as possible to avoid further charges. Note that late fees for Dark Lords accrue at the rate of one (1) Silmaril per day.
Fëanor starts a library in Mandos. The question of the day: Which member of the Arda Evil League of Evil borrowed Twilight and forgot to return it?
Antarctica by elennalore
Thou shalt lead and I will follow. Saying those words, Nolofinwë had not guessed that his brother would lead him all the way to Antarctica.
Who Told Me Time Would Ease Me by sabcatt
Maedhros cuts his hair off for the first time after Losgar, and never quite shakes the habit.
Or: Five hundred years of haircuts, give or take.
Five Letters Caranthir Sent His Wife (And One Letter He Didn't) by grey_gazania
When Fëanor is exiled to Formenos, his seven sons accompany him, but Caranthir's wife stays behind in Tirion. A selection of their correspondence.
Written for the Vintage challenge prompts "epistolary" and "five things".
Spark by grey_gazania
A brief moment between a young Curufin and his future wife.
Started for a B2MeM prompt from a few years ago, "meeting your future spouse".
The Pet from Next Door by Rocky41_7
Nerdanel and Earwen disagree about free-roaming pets.
She's Touched Your Perfect Body by polutropos
The hot, dry stones darken as rivulets of water fall down from her hair. Crouching beside the river, she twists and wrings it with strong hands, tossing it over the opposite shoulder and spreading her lips into a broad smile when she catches my eyes.
Fëanor and Nerdanel, by a river, when everything was still wonderful.
The way of things by firstamazon
Maitimo helps Fëanáro, and Fëanáro decides something important.
Written for the Monthly Challenge Opposites Attract with the prompt "organized-chaotic"
A Difference of Interpretation, A Similarity of Intent by Rocky41_7
Nerdanel is certain she and Prince Fëanáro are not courting; Fëanáro has another perspective.
Transcript of Divorce Proceedings: Mairon v. Melkor by Rocky41_7
Official family court transcript of the divorce proceedings in the matter of Mairon v. Melkor.
Expletives have been redacted from the transcript.
Half and whole by firstamazon
Fingon tries to convince his (half) uncle.
Finwean Ladies Week 2021 by Kaylee Arafinwiel
Loosely connected Finwean Ladies Week snippets written for the prompts.
Chapter One: Indis & Miriel (mostly Indis conflicting with Feanaro, mention of Findis, small Lalwen and Nolofinwe)
Chapter Two: Findis & Lalwen (Findis protesting Lalwen's desire to follow their brothers into Exile.)
Chapter Three: Artanis & Irisse (Galadriel and Aredhel on the Helcaraxe. Fingon being a teasing brother, mention of Finrod)
Chapter Four:
Chapter Five:
Chapter Six:
Chapter Seven:
Hidden, Healing, Shaped to Touch by Lferion
During the long, strange years After the Sun, Nerdanel made sculptures. Not statues, not the likenesses she was known for, but abstract pieces intended to be touched as much as seen.
A 5 drabble sequence
Short stories of Valinor by Aprilertuile
My answers to some recent instadrabbles, featuring wild noldor in their natural habitat and disaster siblings.
A harpist's injury by Aprilertuile
Child Makalaurë is just learning to play the harp, and as all students do at times, he overdid it...
Inspired by a real-time event, harp strings are pure evil.
The Teleri Times. by hennethgalad
Controversy rages at the Games as the House of Fëanor is accused of using performance enhancing drugs.
Once Upon A Time And Long Ago by AdmirableMonster
When the twins' fathers finally leave them to go after the Silmarils, Elros and Elrond decide they don't deserve to be orphaned a second time. In the midst of a great storm, though, strange magics are unleashed, and they wake up five hundred years earlier in an unsullied paradise. But dark things are stirring in Valinor, and the twins are told to tread lightly, lest they unweave their very existence.
Can they find a way to save their fathers and return to their own time, or will it all play out the same way and end in fire?
