Welcome to the Silmarillion Writers' Guild

Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow. Dragons are one of the most familiar creatures in Tolkien's world and one of the least understood. In this interview, Shadow spoke with cloudyhymns about his Mereth Aderthad presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," the nature of dragons and their connections with Dwarves, and the musicality of Tolkien's works.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June. The first Saturday of each month, we will be hosting instadrabbling on our Discord server.
Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with polutropos by Dawn. "And love grew after between them"—those words have fascinated a fandom intent on revealing the how and why of the "kidnap fam" plot point in "The Silmarillion." In this interview, polutropos discusses her upcoming Mereth Aderthad paper on the topic, “'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium."
Mereth Aderthad Registration Is Open!. Registration for attending Mereth Aderthad is open for both in-person and virtual attendees and will remain open through the day of the event.
New Challenge: Birthday Bash. In honor of our twentieth birthday, we look back at twenty years of SWG history with a new poetry, image, and word prompt each day.
So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation. Part of our ongoing series to support fans who want to present at Mereth Aderthad and other Tolkien conferences, this session will share strategies for putting together a paper and presentation.
Character of the Month: Vidumavi of the Northmen. A seemingly minor character, Vidumavi's story illustrates the themes of fellowship, the fading of faerie, and the dangers of racial hierarchy.
Tolkien Fanartics: Mapping Arda - The Second Age. In the third part of the Mapping Arda series, Anérea and Varda delle Stelle present a selection of fan-created maps of the lands of the Second Age.

Latest News

Archive Software Upgrade and Downtime on April 19, 2025
Expect site outages on Saturday, April 19, 2025 as we perform a major software update on the archive.

Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow
Dragons are one of the most familiar creatures in Tolkien's world and one of the least understood. In this interview, Shadow spoke with cloudyhymns about his Mereth Aderthad presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," the nature of dragons and their connections with Dwarves, and the musicality of Tolkien's works.

Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June
The first Saturday of each month, we will be hosting instadrabbling on our Discord server.

Newest Fanworks

High in the Clean Blue Air by StarSpray

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.

I made loving you a blood sport by atlantablack

In which Fëanor & Fingolfin are re-embodied in 4th age Aman, are nowhere near as healed as everyone believes them to be, and decide to pretend that sleeping together will fix their relationship instead of causing more problems.

evidence of a love that transcends hunger by atlantablack

Fëanor does not even get a chance to finish being annoying before Fingolfin’s eyes flash with something far too dark to be only fury and his hand snaps out to grab a handful of Fëanor’s hair. He wrenches Fëanor’s head back in a move that is so surprisingly painful it throws him off balance. In the same moment he kicks Fëanor’s feet out from under him and slams him to his knees.

Not Going Without You by StarSpray

Daeron is caught by orcs in the shadow of the Ephel Dúath, but is rescued by someone entirely unexpected.

Instadrabbling by SWG Moderators

We get together from time to time on the SWG Discord and produce spontaneous fanworks based on randomly chosen prompts. This collection includes drabbles, ficlets, and other flash fanworks produced as part of our instadrabbling sessions.

New in References

Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow by cloudyhymns, daughterofshadows

Shadow spoke with cloudyhymns about his upcoming presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025, "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," where he shares his theory about how Dwarves and dragons are connected in the legendarium, a topic full of implications for fanworks.

Interview with polutropos by Dawn by polutropos, Dawn Felagund

Dawn spoke with polutropos about her upcoming presentation for Mereth Aderthad, “'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium," including the appeal of kidnap fam, the appeal of Maglor's character, and how The Silmarillion as an incomplete, complex word makes it ripe for both fanworks and scholarship.

Maglor by polutropos

As one of the most beloved Silmarillion characters, Maglor is a bundle of contradictions undergirded by a complex textual history. Warrior, musician, wanderer, and survivor, Maglor brings to the fore key themes in Tolkien's early legendarium, such as the role of music, oaths, and exile.

Newest Artwork

2025 Birthday Bash Prompt Fills by silmalope

Sketches inspired by the 2025 Birthday Bash challenge prompts!

Rating: Creator Chooses Not to Rate
Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Creator Chooses Not to Warn

Dusk by Anérea

Young Andreth in a moth cloak

Rating: General
Warnings: No warnings listed

The Fishes Advise Cirdan in the Matter of the Elven Rings by Himring

Adaptation of a concrete poem by Christian Morgenstern for the Dark Matter Challenge.

Rating: General
Warnings: No warnings listed

Around the World and Web

April Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for April has been posted to the Dreamwidth community. The thematic prompt is: wood. The formal challenge is: linnod (Gilraen's canonical verse form). These can be filled separately and freely combined with other challenges and prompts that allow this.

Celedriel Week 2025
Celedriel Week is a Tumblr events for fanworks about Galadriel and Celeborn.

Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2025
This is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event dedicated to the art of ekphrasis in Tolkien's worlds. Its goal is to illuminate the artistic surroundings of the places, people, and stories we love, in as many media as possible.