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
Epic 80s
Create a fanwork using on of our righteous prompts based on popular culture from the 1980s. 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 Het
What Is and What Should Never Be by Kenaz
When he returned victorious from Middle-earth with Sauron as his trophy, Ar-Pharazôn kept this hostage naked, in chains, and under guard in the most remote of his cells. She had been enjoined from looking upon him then because Ar-Pharazôn mistrusted him, feared him as an asp not yet defanged. Later, still guarded but no longer in bonds, Ar-Pharazôn moved Sauron from the dungeon to a suite of unembellished rooms where he might interrogate him more conveniently, and he barred her from looking upon him then because he believed her weak and easily guiled by Sauron’s lies. Now the prisoner had been exalted, called Mairon rather than Sauron, given a seat of honor in the king’s house, and she was the one kept under guard, forbidden to look upon him because she might offend him as one of the Elendili. Ar-Pharazôn had been right the first count: whether in shackles or in silks, Mairon was not to be trusted. He had been very wrong on the second: it was not she who had been easily guiled. On the third...well, she would soon know for herself.
Almarë Eruo by The Wavesinger
Elros and his wife, and the making of a queen. A legend of Meneltarma.
Feasting with the Lions of Valmar by heget
On the eve of the War of Wrath, Ingwion asks his father to be the one to lead the Vanyar in battle. Afterwards his family dinner highlights a hidden motive in his eagerness to journey to Beleriand.
Dust Clouds by The Wavesinger
Luthien rides in search of Beren.
I am finally cross-posting my B2MeM stories
The Smell of Raindrops and Lightning by heget
A quiet moment between the King and Queen of Beleriand long before the rise of the Sun and Moon, the building of Menegroth, or the birth of Lúthien Tinúviel. Plus Science!
Save The World by Elwin Fortuna
Nimloth is on her way to visit Luthien. She's caught in a summer mist and hears a beautiful voice singing. Who will she meet?
the wise & the lovely by Agelast
Galadriel takes care of an unwanted suitor in her own inimitable way.
In His Absence by Elleth
After the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and its losses, two desperately lonely people find comfort with each other.
Morning Mist and Silver Sun by StarSpray
A place to store drabbles and ficlets, mostly written for various prompts.
Finding Home by Independence1776
A loosely related collection of stories about Elrond and Celebrían in Aman.
Final two chapters: Elladan and Elrohir bring gifts and memorializing Arwen.
Face The Wind Alone by Elwin Fortuna
Finrod, Reborn, goes to visit Amarie, but isn't expecting the reaction he receives.
Bloody silmarils, book I by Dilly
In Gondolin, Turgon is depressed... A comedy and parody of the Silmarillion with a lot of characters and chapters. Chapter 20: Fear.
Colors of the Sky by Astris
Eilinel knows how to spin color into cloth, and she knows who she loves. (It might take her some time to admit it, though.) Written at the I Need My Fics 2014 exchange for Elleth.
Searching and Searching by Elleth
Both Nimrodel and Mithrellas are said in myth to have vanished without a trace, but that is not all there is to their story. Written for Astris at I Need My Fics 2014.
Last night by Dilly
Drabble, Hurin/Morwen. (drabble, english and french versions)
Un très gros chagrin by Dilly
Maedhros pleure une fois tous les 400 ans, et sa mère tente de le consoler... Maedhros/Fingon, Fingon/OC.
La ressemblance by Dilly
C'est jour de fête à Himring... (Ficlet, Beren/Luthien, Maedhros/Fingon) Version française + traduction en anglais.
The Mingling Hour by Urloth
The Royal Couple of Tirion Spent the Mingling Hour of the Trees Together
Maudits silmarils, livre 1 by Dilly
A Gondolin, Turgon déprime... Une parodie crack du Silmarillion façon Kaamelott et Sacré Graal. Livre terminé !
Summer's End by oshun
New Chapter: The Wild Hunt (Chapter 9)
For the Noldor, the personal is always political. This story has humor, conflict, scandal, and a crazy mixture of discord and affection, which characterize the Finweans as I write them. This story is set shortly before the founding of Nevrast, before the Mereth Aderthad.
Flawed, yet Precious by Khaosity
The life story of a certain fallen Maia, told from his perspective. Dark, or rather will be.
