Welcome to the Silmarillion Writers' Guild

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.
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June. Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.

Latest 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.

Newest Fanworks

Blessed are the Leave-takers by Isilme_among_the_stars

As prince Curufinwë Fëanáro makes an historical speech from the high court of the King upon Túna, those at the back of the crowd strain to hear. 

A silly little scene inspired by Monty Python's "Blessed are the Cheesemakers" scene from The Life of Brian, written for SWG's Everyman Challenge April 2026, using the prompt:

After the Kinslaying by Deborah Judge

A Teleri fishing boat captain turns to farming on abandoned Noldor lands after her ship is stolen. A Noldor farmer returns with Finarfin to find that his land belongs to the Teleri now.

I Sit and Think of Times There Were Before by Erdariel

In his old age, Isildur's former esquire Ruinamacil, known to later histories only as Ohtar, writes his own account of his escape from the ambush at Gladden Fields and journey to Imladris, and the history of his friend whom Isildur ordered to flee with him.

Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna

Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring. 

a riot of shadow and shine by Elrond's Library

These were simply flashes, a hint of a wider, greater world. A tantalizing glimpse of more, always at the edge of awareness, never within reach. Míriel would grasp it, if something as intangible as the concept of color could overflow in bounteous wonder over her hands.

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…

Newest Artwork

More than Memory by StarSpray

"In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory." - The Return of the King

 

Stitched for the Famous Last Words challenge for the prompt: "And with that, they stepped into the gateway, together." - Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi

Rating: General
Warnings: Character Death

He chanted a song of wizardry by elennalore

Sauron defeats Finrod in their song battle.

Rating: General
Warnings: No warnings listed

Ancient friendship by wisteria53

Maedhros and Fingon from the Years of the Trees to re-embodiment, across five pieces of Maedhros' calligraphy (hand-lettered, with decorative elements) [artworks for the Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) 2025]

Rating: General
Warnings: No warnings listed

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.

Angbang Week 2026
Angbang Week is a tumblr event focusing on the relationship between Morgoth and Sauron, running from May 5-11, 2026