New Challenge: Building Middle-earth
Let global architecture be your inspiration in this challenge, where you will work with a prompts that are architectural styles, locations in Arda, or both.
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey
Ten years of demographic data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey show consistencies in who reads and writes fanfiction, as well as a few key demographic shifts.
New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.
Cultus Dispatches: Communities Do Comment
Comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Retina Burn by annarobots
At the End, when Morgoth, cloaked in doom, came forth through the Door out of the Timeless Night and into the world, it was the Sun he sought before aught else.
…
An eclipse, thought Elwing, on the wing with her flock. What else could bring nightfall at noon?
[Multimedia] Laws and Customs (Cover and Art Edition) by AdmirableMonster
While searching for a series of his lost notes on Gondolin, the scholar Pengolodh is taken by bandits and used cruelly.
Rescued by a friend and taken to the remnants of Melian's Girdle, he begins a slow road to recovery that will lead to the apprehension of the attackers, the judgement of…
[Writing] 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.
[Writing] The Name of the Fire by Kios
Some journeys cannot be lightened, and some destinies cannot be commanded.
Fëanor rejects Mandos. He burns Halls and leaves ash behind him, as defiant in death as he was in life.
In the Void, he encounters something else.
[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] A Song Amidst His Torment by Elrond's Library
Of course it was a trap.
Maitimo has to survive. He must. But what price is too high to pay for survival?
[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.
Current Challenge
Building Middle-earth
Receive a prompt of an architectural style or a location on Arda—or both!—to inspire your fanworks. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Three Silmarils
Create a fanwork concerning one of the three selected quotes about Fëanor (although your fanwork can be about any character). Read more ...
New in References
Six Demographic Takeaways from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey by Dawn Walls-Thumma
Data from the 2025 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows demographic changes in participant gender, age, and education and new revelations about neurodiversity.
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.
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 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 Arien/Elwing
Retina Burn by annarobots
At the End, when Morgoth, cloaked in doom, came forth through the Door out of the Timeless Night and into the world, it was the Sun he sought before aught else.
An eclipse, thought Elwing, on the wing with her flock. What else could bring nightfall at noon?
Elwing and Arien, together in a little boat on the wide seas at the end of the world.
