New Challenge: Scavenger Hunt
In this Matryoshka-with-a-twist, you will solve clues that point you to the challenge prompts.
SWG News
Sign-Up to Hand Out Scavenger Hunt Prompts
Our May challenge will be a Matryoshka built around a scavenger hunt. If you'd like to hand out prompts (and receive comments on your work for doing so!), you can sign up to do so.
New Challenge: Everyman
Create a fanwork about an ordinary character in the legendarium using a quote about an unnamed character as inspiration.
Cultus Dispatches: Fanworks, AI, and Resistance by Dawn and Grundy
The fan studies column Cultus Dispatches returns with a history of how Tolkien fanworks fandom has reacted and resisted generative AI by drawing strong boundaries in a way that is not typical for the fandom.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Funeral Dirge by Artano
Two Dwarves mourn the loss of their lord after the Ninraeth Arnoediad.
[Writing] She who holds a Circa by vigil_ardensole
She is one and many, the heroine and the victim, the courageous and the victim, the dead and the living, her feelings and sufferings are felt and shared together, and no justice, divine or earthly could mend her pain in the aftermath.
[Writing] Systems in place by daughterofshadows
Tuor arrives in Gondolin and admires the gardens.
[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] Add Another Stone by StarSpray
The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
[Writing] How Tolkien Presents Ordinary People in "The Silmarillion" by Dawn Felagund
Inspired by collecting the prompts for the Everyman challenge, this essay considers how ordinary people are subsumed and silenced in The Silmarillion, which begins a three-book arc that ends with the rise of the humble and ordinary.
[Writing] A Very Fire by Deborah Judge
Feanor and Fingolfin, from their youth to their fall.
"I will do this gladly," Fingolfin said, whispering into Feanor's mouth, grasping for reasons and sense. "Gladly, if it will bring peace between us. If it will end the madness."
"The madness will not end," Feanor…
Current Challenge
Scavenger Hunt
Solves clues to find your prompts for this Matryoshka challenge. Read more ...
Random Challenge
New in References
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.
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.
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
Week of Kiliel
A Tumblr event dedicated to the relationship between Kili and Tauriel.
Aspec Arda Week 2026
This week-long event celebrates asexual and aromantic spectrum interpretations and headcanons of Tolkien’s Legendarium.
April/May Teitho Challenge
Teithio is running a prompt challenge around the theme of "heartbreak."
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2026
The Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang is back for another summer of collaboration between artists and writers!
Isilme_among_the_stars's Favorites
Favorite Fanworks
A Day in the Life of a Retired Kinslayer by Lipstick
Fanwork Information
This happened shortly after the move to the coast...
| Major Characters: Maedhros, Maglor |
| Major Relationships: No major characters listed |
| Genres: Alternate Universe | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Mature Themes, Sexual Content (Graphic) |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
Clear Pebbles of the Rain by StarSpray
Lovely representation of healing emotional trauma being surrounded by loving care to do so. The perfect balance of hurt and a great big warm hug.
Fanwork Information
But at the very end of the letter she spoke of one more prisoner that Elladan and Elrohir had discovered in one of the deepest dungeons of Dol Guldur, locked away behind a door unopened in so long that the hinges had rusted.
Maglor has been rescued from Dol Guldur, and now faces a long road of healing.
| Major Characters: Maglor, Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, Arwen, Galadriel |
| Major Relationships: Elrond & Maglor, Galadriel & Maglor, Elladan & Elrohir & Elrond |
| Genres: Family, General, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: Jubilee, Potluck Bingo |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Mature Themes, Torture, Violence (Moderate) |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
Flawless by Feta
Fanwork Information
AU. Thorondor never came to the Thangorodrim, and Fingon, in Mithrim, is stranded in the aftermath.
| Major Characters: Fingolfin, Fingon, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major characters listed |
| Genres: Alternate Universe, Drama, Experimental | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Character Death |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
High in the Clean Blue Air by StarSpray
Fanwork Information
They passed out of Lhûn and the wider coastline of Middle-earth opened up before his eyes. He had wandered those shores for centuries, and even now he felt the pull of that same wanderlust, and knew he would miss them for the rest of his life. Their wildness, the untamed waves, the rocky shores and the cliffs and the sandy beaches. The gulls, and the dunes, and the tide pools with their ever-changing denizens. Someone began to sing a song of farewell, and other voices took it up. He did not join them.
Maglor keeps a promise, and comes to Valinor, only to find the ghosts he thought he'd left behind are alive and waiting for him.
| Major Characters: Maglor, Maedhros, Elrond, Daeron, Celebrían, Elladan, Elrohir, Fëanor |
| Major Relationships: Elrond & Maglor, Maedhros & Maglor, Daeron/Maglor, Elladan & Elrohir & Maglor, Amras & Amrod & Caranthir & Celegorm & Curufin & Fëanor & Maedhros & Maglor |
| Genres: Drama, Family, Het, Hurt/Comfort, Slash | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Mature Themes, Violence (Moderate) |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
Mayday by Lipstick
Fanwork Information
A Fingolfian springtime celebration by the shores of lake Mithrim, complete with gatecrasher.
| Major Characters: Fingolfin, Fingon, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major characters listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
Smith of Nargathrond by Lipstick
Fanwork Information
Mandos fic madness for Halloween. In the halls of waiting, on the ward of the Ñ-specials, Tyelpe Curufinwion, Fëanorian brat extraordinaire, tells of his coming to Gondolin.
Written for alackofghosts on tumblr whose character design for Tyelpe I have shamelessly stolen. It was her art who made me wonder how this could happen.
http://alackofghosts.tumblr.com/post/100540684902/part-1-maybe
| Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Curufin, Finduilas, Gelmir (Nargothrond), Gwindor, Idril, Maedhros, Maeglin, Rog |
| Major Relationships: No major characters listed |
| Genres: | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Rape/Nonconsensual Sex, Torture |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
Talking Hurts by Lipstick
Fanwork Information
Maedhros is rescued from Thangorodrim, Maglor tries to talk him back to sanity
| Major Characters: Curufin, Fingon, Maedhros, Maglor, Original Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: No major characters listed |
| Genres: Drama | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Rape/Nonconsensual Sex, Torture, Mature Themes, Sexual Content (Graphic), Violence (Moderate) |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
Unhappy Into Woe by StarSpray
This one hurts so good. Beautiful and painful all at once.
Fanwork Information
Maglor's wanderings take him up the Anduin, where orcs find him and take him to Dol Guldur--where the Necromancer dwells.
| Major Characters: Maglor, Sauron |
| Major Relationships: No major characters listed |
| Genres: Drama, Horror, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: Jubilee, Orctober |
| Rating: Adult | Warnings: Mature Themes, Torture, Violence (Graphic) |
| Posted on | Updated on |
| This fanwork is complete. |
