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
Festival of Lights Fest
This is a fun and low-key event meant to encourage works about or inspired by Hanukkah, running this year in conjunction with the Potluck Bingo challenge. 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 Fanfiction
A Tribute to the Library of Moria by Dawn Felagund
As the Library of Moria prepares to close its doors, we look back at twenty years of the archive's history and consider the ways that the Library contributed to making slash and femslash a part of mainstream Tolkien fanworks fandom.
Cauldron of Fanfic: The Use of Jackson's Films in Constructing Tolkien-Based Fanfiction by Dawn Felagund
Peter Jackson's film trilogies become one of several text that writers of Tolkien-based fanfiction use in constructing their stories. This article considers how they select and use details from the films as inspiration, the reconcile the films and books, and to critique the films.
Becoming Bookverse: Jackson's Films as an Initiation Point for Tolkien's Book Fandom by Dawn Felagund
As the debut of Amazon's Rings of Power series approaches, fans wonder how their Tolkien fandom communities will be changed by the new show. Using Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data, this article makes the case that, while Tolkien-based media franchises bring new fans to the fanfiction fandom, the stories those fans write become almost wholly book-based.
A Sudden Outcry: The Tolkien Estate and Fanworks by SWG Newsletter Staff
In March 2022, the Tolkien Estate opened a newly designed website, including an FAQ that left fans asking: Did the Tolkien Estate just ban fanworks? We use the Estate's history, along with copyright law, to make the case that fans have nothing to fear.
Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community by Dawn Felagund
Originally presented at the 2021 Tolkien Society Seminar "Tolkien and Diversity," this paper considers the historical and current use of fanfiction to address issues of representation in Tolkien’s canon.
The Pillar and the Vastness: A Longitudinal View of the Tolkien Fanfiction Fandom by Dawn Felagund
Using the 2015 and 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data, this presentation reviews fandom demographics, use of sources, influence of the films, and use of sites and archives to post fanfiction, reviewing changes across the two data sets.
As I Say and As I Do: Negotiating Transformational Impulses in Tolkien-Based Fanfiction by Dawn Felagund
Data from the 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey shows that, while authors and readers of Tolkien-based fanfiction are growing more comfortable with perceiving their work as having a critical purpose, they are still more likely to describe fanfiction as literary criticism when the process is not depicted as a challenge to Tolkien's authority as the author.
Women Find a Room of Their Own in Tolkien Fanfiction by oshun
As a genre belonging almost exclusively to women, fanfiction creates a "room of their own," apart from mainstream publishing that is often hostile to women, for women authors to critically and creatively explore ideas in popular texts and, in the style of Tolkien, create new mythologies that appeal to them.
Transformative Works as a Means to Develop Critical Perspectives in the Tolkien Fan Community by Dawn Felagund
This paper, presented at the Mythmoot III conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on 10 January 2015, considers the history of Tolkien fan fiction, the development of online Tolkien fan fiction communities, and how writers of Tolkien fan fiction use their stories to learn more about the texts and develop analytical and critical approaches toward those texts.
Fact, Interpretation and the Hard Business of Proof by darthfingon
Deciding what constitutes canon for the purpose of making fanworks relies partly on the words of the texts but also on the geographical and temporal vastness and diversity of Tolkien's world.
A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in Canon and Fandom by Dawn Felagund
A review of the canon facts available on Nerdanel and discussion of why she remains so popular with fans despite her scarce appearances in the texts.
