Building Middle-earth

Building Middle-earth - SWG Challenge - 15 July through 15 August 2026 - silhouette of city towers on the edge of the sea with the tallest lit from behind

While Tolkien is known for his vast natural landscapes, those expanses are populated by people—and the buildings they construct. Whether a cottage tucked into the forest or the soaring spires of a grand city, the architecture of Arda can send the imagination adventuring through settings ethereal and astonishing.

This month's challenge uses architecture to inspire fanworks. Participants will receive a prompt from the challenge moderators; you can choose if you'd like to receive an architectural style, a location on Arda, or both. As usual, if the prompt you are assigned isn't working for you, just let the challenge moderators know, and we will draw again. You can request a prompt by emailing us, sending us an ask on Tumblr, commenting on our Dreamwidth, or requesting a prompt on the #monthly-challenges channel on our Discord. (Note: Now that the challenge deadline has passed, the unassigned prompts are available below. If you are using this challenge for an amnesty, you can select your own or use one of the methods above to let a moderator choose one for you.)

You can use your prompt however you want to inspire your fanwork. While setting and architectural descriptions are one approach, this certainly isn't required!

Thank you to Sallysavestheday for this month's stamps!

This challenge opened in .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

Architectural Styles

Places

  • Angband
  • Belegost
  • Bree
  • Dol Amroth
  • Edoras
  • Erebor
  • Eryn Lasgalen
  • Havens of Sirion
  • Himlad
  • Himring
  • Hobbiton
  • Lothlórien
  • Menegroth
  • Utumno

Fanworks Tagged with Building Middle-earth

This is a Writing fanwork

Building towards Faith by octopus_fool

Freshly re-embodied, Glorfindel realizes that Tol Eressëa has changed, and not just in terms of its architecture.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Formenos by Grundy

Anariel visits Formenos in the Fourth Age. (Joint effort for August Fic-A-Day and Building Middle-earth - my prompt was Songnic Architecture.) 

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Mandos Child by Deborah Judge

Children who return from the Halls of Mandos without their parents need familes in Valinor to care for them. The task of finding these families falls to Olwë's son Elulindo, once a Mandos child himself, and his new husband Ingwion son of Ingwë. Ingwion's sister Indis, who learned many things from her years with the Noldor, is building skyscrapers and telescopes and waiting for news of her own children. All of them, parents and children alike, will play a role as Valinor prepares for war.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Built Far from the Sea-Board by Himring

The story of a delayed building project: in Vinyamar, Enerdhil decides to branch out in his making from jewellery to architecture, but is initially denied permission to build.

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Thumbnail image. A mosaic depiction of the Oath of Feanor.

Weight of a Mythic Past by silmalope

Maglor reflects on the past after returning to Valinor. Created for the August 2026 "Building Middle-Earth" challenge.

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This is a Writing fanwork

Foundations by AdmirableMonster

The Mouth of Sauron visits the Witch-King in her newly-founded kingdom of Angmar.

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This is a Writing fanwork

Shaped From Rock by Fuin

A Dwarven merchant travels from Nogrod to the far south in search of greater wealth – and finds something else entirely. 

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents