Choose a Name for Our New Column!
Our temporarily titled "location bio" will focus on the landscapes and locations of Middle-earth. We need your help naming it!
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] Tengwar (working title) by cuarthol
For the Tengwar prompt challenge. To be updated as new prompts are completed.
Current up through 'Ampa'
[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.
Something not seen since the Years of the Trees comes to light. (A sequel of sorts to What A Tangled Web We Weave...)
[Writing] "Tengwar" ficlets by chrissystriped
Fics written for the "Tengwar" challenge.
Current Challenge
Tengwar
A daily prompt of a Tengwar letter per day. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Breaking Boundaries
Create a fanwork that shows a meeting between characters of two or more cultures. Read more ...
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 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.
Tolkien Society Seminar: Tolkien's Romantic Resonances
This free hybrid event explores the influence of Romanticism on Tolkien's works.
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 Nerdanel
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.
Full of Gorgeous Life by StarSpray
Three of Nerdanel's sons come home: a trio of double-drabbles.
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.
Exactly Alike by polutropos
Amrod makes a gift for Amras. The story of how it is passed down through the ages, in snippets.
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.
Of Nerdanel by Rocky41_7
The House of Finwe grieves its losses, and Nerdanel struggles to find purchase in a stormy sea.
First Ruins of the Noldor by Rocky41_7
The sundering of the Noldor was bound to leave scars.
Shadow's Instadrabbles by daughterofshadows
The home of my insta-drabbling pieces!
(and the odd drabble of undetermined origin)
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
Messing with the wrong minstrel by Aprilertuile
Someone tried to get Makalaurë to play for free for them, in order to give them "the right contact". Makalaurë, and his friends, are not happy.
Short stories of Valinor by Aprilertuile
My answers to some recent instadrabbles, featuring wild noldor in their natural habitat and disaster siblings.
The Teleri Times. by hennethgalad
Controversy rages at the Games as the House of Fëanor is accused of using performance enhancing drugs.
Just bruises by daughterofshadows
In which Nerdanel tries to sneak some cookies and takes a small tumble. Luckily, Papa is there to help!
The Sandglass Runs by Dawn Felagund, NelyafinweFeanorion
In Fifth Age Tirion, Caranthir has been reembodied into a changed world: his uncle has unkinged himself and turned Tirion into a republic, Elves live in suburbs and seek psychotherapy, and the Noldor born after his exile have invented all kinds of wondrous things. One day, Caranthir receives a letter that he is being entrusted to mentor his newly reembodied cousin Orodreth. They must not only resolve their old enmity but achieve a tenuous friendship--maybe even more?--as both seek the peace and acceptance they never found in their prior lives. Written for TRSB 2019, based on the artwork by NelyafinweFeanorion.
[podfic] Sad in the fruit, bright in the flower by Chestnut_pod
Galadriel and Nerdanel talk wanderlust. Incompetently.
What Brings Us Together by Aipilosse
crossposted on AO3
Life in Fourth Age Valinor is good for Celebrimbor. He has his students, he has his projects, and if life is a little less exciting than it was in Middle-earth, that’s probably for the best, right? So when a series of events conspires to bring Sauron the Dark Lord back into all of their lives, he must decide if he will help him regain his memories or if some things are better left in the past.
Lighthouse - Váya Calacar by Lferion
Those left behind do not sit idle. Five drabbles.
Musings in the Sky by Rhapsody
This is my collection of Silmarillion drabbles. Either drabbled as a present or written for a challenge. Ratings vary from General to Adult.
Maitimo and Findekáno by oshun
Stories written within the same universe and story arc. The featured characters are Fingon and Maedhros but also includes at various points most of the Finweans and their descendants. (Many, but far from all, of these stories include mature themes. Please see individual stories for ratings.)
To Give in Return by Dawn Felagund
Many times a day I realize how much my own life is built on the labors of my fellowmen, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.
Albert Einstein
This series will serve as a home for the stories that I have written for friends and peers between American Thanksgiving and the end of the year 2007.
Every year, I like to write something for the friends and people who have helped me as an author that year. I love writing these stories. As a writer, I look forward to December more than any other time of the year. It is otherwise impossible for me to put into words the joy and gratitude that these people bring into my life every day. The only way I have found is to wile away an afternoon with no thought but crafting a story where they will love each and every word ...
And this series is the fruits of that.
That said, I\'ve asked for requests on LJ, and am always happy to take more. Check out this entry here for more information. Also, all of my stories--including non-Silmarillion pieces--can be read here.
Many, many thanks for another fantastic year.
