New Challenge: Title Track
Tolkien's titles range from epic to lyrical to metaphorical. This month's challenge selected 125 of them as prompts for fanworks.

The elves of Beleriand lose the first battle against Morgoth. The Noldor find the free lands they'd been looking for. Lúthien is on the warpath.
And the First Age still is as bloody as it is in canon.
(Please read the author's notes, there will reading-instructions, as this is my first attempt at a deconstructed fic)

After his release from the Halls of Mandos, Melkor seduces many of the Noldor with honeyed words and accusations against the Valar. The Two Trees are ruined and the Sun and Moon arise. One of these elves, Ardana the Astrologer, leads her people to return the skies to their original form, nothing but stars. But she must destroy the Sun and Moon to accomplish that from her holds in the south of Middle Earth.
This is a non-canon story that is inspired by an MERP RPG series that was a gift from my aunt. Most of the characters and settings were from the series and some quotes and songs are taken from Tolkien's writing. It also ties in with the Wars in Beleriand and two my other two stories, The Dark Mage of Rhudaur and The Thieves of Tharbad. The story is designed to span three ages.


“Melian had but a moment’s warning ere her entire world was violently turned upside down. Maintaining the Girdle came naturally to her these days, without needing her conscious thought or effort. She kept away whoever had no business being in Doriath, shut out the voices and mental attacks that Mairon would hurl at her, hardly noticing that she was doing it at all.
This, however, was different. Very, very different.”
Or: how things might have gone had Morgoth run out of patience waiting for Doriath’s fall.

The king's natural philosophers are an elite group of men of science in Armenelos. When one of them is discovered to be (apparently) a woman in disguise, he is expelled from their ranks. Unfortunately, his youth and beauty draw the interest of the king, and there is no one with the power to protect him, not even the High Priest himself, although to the philosopher's surprise, Tar-Mairon tries...
A possible origin story for the Mouth of Sauron.

Orcs: a treatise on dissection.

Indis knows that Miriel is the only one who understands their connection. This is why it should be Indis who looks after Miriel's body.

After the War of Wrath they were taken again.

“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.

Mairon is seduced during the Years of the Lamps.

Chroniclers will claim--above all else--that Maeglin left Nan Elmoth for desire of lordship alone. While we all know how the story ends, before that there was more: a mother and her son and a dark dark wood; three lives and three deaths, and the dazzling sunlight in between. This story is a portrait of the why behind the flight: family violence and a woman under siege, a child grown to adulthood in lonely darkness, learning to fight with only the tools provided him. It is a tale of childhood nightmares maturing into something more--manipulated by heart-darkened fathers and gently used by desperate mothers--until living becomes surviving and reality is a dream...

Ecthelion wasn't killed at the Fall of Gondolin but taken prisoner. When one of his fellow slaves gets sick, he decides to pay the price their overseer names for medicine.

A batch of new slaves is brought to the mines, one of them is going to make an impression on both Mormirion and Sharû.

Gwindor's captivity in Angband involves the torture he might have expected... until Gorthaur hatches a new plan to fulfil an old desire.

Reviahûn is guarding the Trees when Melkor comes to kill them but what can a Maia do against the mightiest of the Valar?

Melkor is very pleased to have Maedhros as his prisoner.

Sharû comes home from a raid to find his mother gave birth to twins - and one of them doesn't look like an orc should.

Celegorm decides to take a break from the Siege of Angband to spend time with his youngest brothers in the one hobby they all enjoy. Things go awry, and that's the fun part.

When Fëanor realize the truth about his son's realtionship with his cousin he tries to break the two apart by forcing Maedhros into a marriage. What he fails to realize is that he by doing this is introducing an innocent third person into the family, a young nis who does firmly believe that this will be the end of everything. How can she survive when hearts turn dark and cold and the light itself is stolen from them. Can she ever find true love? And will the truth about her unusual life ever be revealed?

There are various recurring convictions concerning the matter of love, sex and marriage among the Eldar. We've probably all encountered them at some point. But a closer look at Tolkien's writings shows that matters aren't as simple as fanon tends to believe.

The scene that couldn't get out of my head after reading the amazing "fire to sate the appetite".
Inspired by the above; Fëanor is captured, Melkor is happy, Sauron is so very jealous.

Years after the escape from Angband, Maedhros is plagued by insomnia, nightmares, and endless pain. With the specter of his suffering hanging over him, he discovers a way to overcome his numbness, at least for a few hours.

Mithrandir protects Thranduil from a new weapon of Sauron.
(reading 'Dol Guldur' first will add to this)

Celebrimbor laments, in confession style, the part he played in creating the Rings of Power.