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.
SWG News
Our Annual Amnesty Challenge: New Year's Resolution
Start 2026 off with creativity! If you missed a challenge or didn't get to finish or post a challenge fanwork, complete any 2025 challenge before 15 February to receive the stamp.
"The Fëanorian Zine" Available to Read and Download
We are pleased to be able to offer "The Fëanorian Zine" to read and download on the SWG for free.
Call for Artists for the 2026 Challenge Stamps
We are soliciting help from artists who want to help create the stamps we award to challenge participants.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] In Early Spring by Serinquanion
In what Maedhros was re-embodied early and was sent back to Middle Earth on his volition with Glorfindel.
This isn't about what happened right then but years after Fall of Sauron when he still refused to return to Valinor.
He found a strange sapling at the shore of what remains of…
[Writing] Umnenyalië by Serinquanion
He was going to die. The molten rocks would burn him just like the cursed gem in his palm did. Maybe less painfully but still being burnt hurt and Maedhros knew it. He intimately knew it from his time in Angband where Þauron burnt him often in frustration and to toy with him and his master…
[Writing] Winter Warmth by Serinquanion
A winter night in Himring. But inside the quarters where fire blazed in hearth was warmer, and not only from the fire or quilt.
[Writing] A Hundred Miles Through the Desert by StarSpray
“Come on.” Maedhros grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the path, both of them quickening their pace now, until the trees opened up into a wide meadow filled with flowers, bright yellow celandine and dandelions and sweet-scented pale chamomile mingling with cornflowers and irises. On…
[Writing] Who Will Hear Me? by XirinOfArvada
A lonely elf finds a flute half buried beneath the sand and wonders if its owner will hear him when he calls.
[Writing] Loyal, Faithful by Himring
Late in the Second Age, one of the Faithful reflects critically on past developments. (Free verse.)
[Writing] East Away! by Flora-lass
Aldarion storms off towards Middle-earth. For the Title Track challenge.
Current Challenge
Title Track
Create a fanwork using our collection of 125 titles from Tolkien's books, chapters, essays, poems, and fragments as inspiration. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Jumble Sale
Member-created prompts upcycle old challenges and prompts with additional new twists. Read more ...
New in References
Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation by Cynthia (Cindy) Gates
This presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025 discusses the parallels between the concept of abnegation in the scientific work surrounding the atomic bomb and in The Silmarillion. The relinquishment of self-interest in favor of the interests of others, abnegation was identified by Tolkien as a powerful act of spirit and reason. The legendarium has many examples of the complexities of abnegation, which parallel similar discussions held by physicists during and after World War II.
Twilight, Child Of: Comparisons Between Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel by JazTheBard
This presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025 discusses the many similarities between Tolkien's three "twilight children," Tinúviel, Lómion, and Undómiel (Luthien, Maeglin, and Arwen) in terms of appearance, plot, and cultural background. Yet these three characters play very different roles in the text.
The Aromantic in Tolkien by daughterofshadows
Presented at Mereth Aderthad 2025, this paper makes the case thata, although the term "aromantic" had not yet been coined in Tolkien's day, many of his characters can be read as aromantic. The paper takes a closer look at Aredhel, Bilbo, and Boromir as three examples of characters who can be read as aromantic.
Featured Themed Collection
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] here you will dwell, bound to your grief by Elrond's Library
Arwen grieves, and loves.
[Writing] Faramir's Verse by losselen
“Come, Faramir. Let us not stand in ceremony. I think words are due between you and I, and not only those between a King and his Steward.”
Faramir has speech with Gandalf and his King.
[Writing] In a Hole in the Ground... by StarSpray
“There’s a goblin hiding in the taters, Dad!” Pippin hefted the pan, which was much too big for him to carry, let alone wield.
Around the World and Web
March Challenge - Tolkien Short Fanworks
Tolkien Short Fanworks is running a challenge for the month of March to create a Back to Middle-earth Month themed challenge.
Tolkien Fashion Week 2026
This two-week-long Tumblr event is dedicated to honoring the world of fashion and textiles Tolkien wrote about in his books.
Celegorm and Curufin Week 2026
Celegorm and Curufin Week is a Tumblr week celebrating the relationship between Celegorm and Curufin Feanorion
Back to Middle-earth Month 2026
Back to Middle-earth Month is returning for it's 20th year with many prompts and archival efforts.
Fanworks Tagged with Character
Lúthien Tinúviel by oshun
Lúthien Tinúviel stands at the center of the legendarium, a character whose influence reaches past the Third Age and introduces, perhaps more than any other tale, the element of fairy-story into Tolkien's work. Yet Lúthien, who is "nobody's victim or reward," defies fairy-tale tropes in notable ways.
Gorlim the Unhappy by Robinka
Before he was the Unhappy, he was one of the nine faithful servants of Barahir and deeply in love: an oft-overlooked but tragic figure from The Silmarillion.
Elladan and Elrohir by oshun
Although not typically thought of as Silmarillion characters, Elladan and Elrohir's family tree is a veritable thicket of who's-who in the First Age. Part One of this two-part biography explores their family ties and the events in their lives up to the Ring War, while Part Two considers their role in the Ring War and the broader thematic importance of their storyline to the legendarium.
Tar-Vanimeldë by oshun
Tar-Vanimeldë is a character whose story "raises as many questions as it answers." In the few details he offers, Tolkien hints that her throne was usurped by her power-hungry husband.
Celeborn by oshun
Following the two-part biography of Galadriel, this essay considers her husband, who was notable as a warrior and a leader in his own right. A character dogged by movie fanon that would dismiss him as inconsequential and confused by contradictory texts, Celeborn emerges in this analysis as sympathetic, powerful, and wise: a fitting companion for Galadriel.
Quennar i Onótimo by Himring
One among Tolkien's several fictional loremasters, Quennar was briefly an intermediary between Rúmil and Pengolodh and later attested as the loremaster who wrote on the reckoning of time by the Elves, a role that overlaps with the medieval historiography familiar to Tolkien.
Nerdanel by Dawn Felagund
Nerdanel is a rare character among Tolkien's woman characters, possessing skill and fortitude rather than beauty, yet due to editorial intervention, has been removed almost entirely from the published text. Fans--mostly women--have effected her rescue through transformative works.
Gwindor of Nargothrond by Lotrfan
Given a richer and more nuanced characterization in The Children of Húrin, Gwindor is a tenacious character who gives us insight into the lives of captives of Morgoth. The effects of his captivity haunt him as he becomes a pawn in the tragic tale of Túrin.
Galadriel by oshun
Galadriel is a rare example of a character added to The Silmarillion after and because of The Lord of the Rings. The complexity of her character development post-LotR largely comes from trying to fit her character into the existing myth. Part 1 explores her life in the Years of the Trees and the First Age; Part 2 continues with the significant influence she wields over the legendarium in the Second and Third Ages.
Ancalagon the Black by oshun
Ancalagon is the "darkest and most powerful weapon of Morgoth" and this biography explores what we know of this greatest of dragons, Tolkien's fascination with dragons, and the story's role in providing rare eucatastrophe in The Silmarillion.
Anárion Son of Elendil by oshun
Anárion is one of the characters that acts as a direct link between the histories of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. This biography considers his role in Tolkien's larger themes, his place in the legendarium, and thorny fannish questions about his status related to Isildur.
