New Challenge: Allusive
Literature and art constantly refer back to each other using allusions, and this month's prompts are inspired by allusions to literature, myth, art, and history.
SWG News
Cultus Dispatches: "The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far)
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data for 2025 shows that "The Rings of Power" TV series has not had the same impact on the fandom as the film trilogies did ... so far.
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.
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 & Updated Fanworks
[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] Explain This by Elrond's Library
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
[Writing] Message in a Bottle by StarSpray
Over the course of his very long life he had found a handful of messages in bottles, but it had been a very long time. So when he found the glass bottle on his little stretch of pebbly beach, he picked it up with the intention of tossing it into his recycling. But it wasn’t, he found, just…
[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.
[Artwork] Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard by Independence1776
A Nerdanel/Nienna moodboard.
[Writing] The Stars of Home by Idrils Scribe
Elrohir has been found after his long abduction by the Black Númenóreans of Umbar. He comes home to Rivendell, but all is not well: the Elf-child that was taken is now a Man grown. War and darkness have left Elrohir deeply scarred, and even at home there is danger...
An alternate universe…
Current Challenge
Random Challenge
Teen Spirit
In honor of the SWG becoming a teenager, create a fanwork about an adolescent character or adolescence using our prompt generator. Read more ...
New in References
"The Rings of Power" Is a Ripple (So Far) by Dawn Walls-Thumma
The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies mark perhaps the most influential events in the history of the Tolkien fanfiction fandom. As the Rings of Power show approaches its third season, data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows that it is not even close to matching the impact of the films ... yet.
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.
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.
Around the World and Web
Finwean Sibblings Prompt Fest 2026
A prompt-based fandom event aiming to focus on celebrating Finwë's children: Fëanor, Findis, Fingolfin, Lalwen, & Finarfin - ships, gen relationships, or character-centric
Tolkien Sapphic September
Tolkien Sapphic September is a month long event focusing on Sapphic relationships and characters in Tolkien and adjacent materials.
Gigolas Week 2026
Gigolas Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Legolas and Gimli
Innumerable Stars 2026
A character-based Tolkien fandom gift exchange is returning for another year of gifting.
Fanworks Tagged with Alternate Universe
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind by between_thepages
Aredhel has returned to Gondolin, but she desires more than to be bound to a place and a person again.
A Happier Ending by ohboromir
A drabble for @dorcuarthol week.
A reunion between Beleg and Túrin.
Shadow's Scribbles 2022 by daughterofshadows
Artwork for Scribbles & Drabbles 2022
Risk of the Day by Independence1776
My second moodboard for TRSB 2023: a rule 63 Maglor in space AU.
Chaperone by grey_gazania
Fingon and Maedhros go camping, taking Fingon's young daughter along with them. Once she falls asleep, they discuss their complicated feelings.
a place where both our hearts may rest by ohboromir
He remembered how they had once desired glory. How they had once wanted to take part in great deeds. And how that battle had ended in nothing but betrayal and bloodshed. No, Mablung did not wish to be a warrior any longer – he longed for his books and journals, for the comfort of song and the company of friends.
Beleg exhaled deeply. “We will not be soldiers again; not captains, not lords, only Beleg and Mablung.”
-
Beleg and Mablung survived the First Age. In search of a better future, they set off on an exploration of Eriador, but peace is not always easy to find.
Inspired by wonderful art from @lycheesodas
the light that you keep burning there by EchoBleu
The Havens of Sirion burn, and it is not the Sons of Fëanor’s doing.
Maedhros, Maglor and Fingon, in the years between the fall of the Havens and the arrival of the Host of the Valar.
White Stars on a Deep Blue Field by grey_gazania
Gil-galad's best friend weaves a banner for her. Part of my Woman King AU.
When the Phoenix Cries by kimikocha
“It's not your fault,” whispers a voice very like Tyelpë’s — but Tyelpë isn’t here. There is no succor left for Mairon; no refuge in this land of Men permitted only to stand at the gates of the world and gaze in longing toward its glory.
In Númenor, Mairon longs for what he has lost. Tyelpë comes to find him.
A Return Is Not a Homecoming by grey_gazania
Gil-galad is released from the Halls of Mandos in the Fourth Age, but settling into Tirion is not as easy as she would hope.
Written for Tolkien Gen Week on Tumblr.
Home Is Behind by grey_gazania
In the aftermath of the Dagor Bragollach, newly-crowned High King Fingon sends his wife and child to Eglarest for safety. The parting is bitter, as his wife has discovered a betrayal that Fingon has long concealed from her.
The Light of the Sun by grey_gazania
In the aftermath of the Sack of the Falas, Fingon's daughter learns how to use the Elessar.
Written for Tolkien Gen Week on Tumblr (prompt: objects).
Skin and Other Stories by grey_gazania
Gil-galad confronts her growing feelings for Elrond. Part of my Woman King AU.
Rematch by I_did_not_mean_to
A short crime-story that is a direct continuation of a Drabble written for B2MEM (Match).
Detective Aredhel and her second-in-command Haleth find the burned corpse of a boy. They now have to investigate men they had thought firmly and safely relegated to the past.
Can they be guilty of a crime so heinous? Why won't anybody in that dark, foreboding house cooperate when the women clearly toil to save their reputations and lives?
A language he speaks by yletylyf
Celebrían takes a no-nonsense approach when she learns of the danger Celebrimbor is in. Under her leadership - and brooking no opposition, especially not from Celebrimbor himself - she forms an alliance of elves, dwarves, and men to confront Sauron before he reaches Ost-in-Edhil.
Hanno by dalliansss
Ficlets exploring the brotherly bond and dynamics of Finrod and Aegnor, and the beginnings of the lifelong friendship of Aegnor and Fingon.
Tensor by Adoraincerta
A relationship in betweeness.
Back to the Surface by chrissystriped
Two dwarves have a special catch in their nets. Old oaths and curses need a solution before the last witnesses of the First Age sail to the West.
For the Love of Beleriand by Varda delle Stelle
The men were found by the avarin elf Nuin and after this the avari decided to adopt pretty much the atani and this change a lot of things in the history of Beleriand, all thanks to a curious elf
Guileless Son by Kaylee Arafinwiel
Carphadril, Queen of the Evair, moves against the King and Queen of Doriath, a threat to her rule. She raises a son who - she hopes - will wed Luthien and claim the throne of the other great forest realm for her.
symphony by hanneswrites
Fingon accidentally ends up taking Maedhros's hoodie home with him & finds his iPod Nano in his pocket. Modern AU
To Dream by Day and Roam by Night by chrissystriped
Celebrimbor, summoned to Nan Elmoth by a dream, finds an elf who sleeps through the days and turns into a wolf by night.
Possession by elennalore
In captivity, Celebrimbor draws the diagram of the tower where he’s held.
We'll dance among the stars by daughterofshadows
We spend some time with our friends from Gondolin, learn about Nellas and Galdor's relationship in this universe and do a lot of worldbuilding.
A Cup Always Half Empty by Rocky41_7
Maglor wishes he could want less.
