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.
SWG News
New Challenge: Potluck Bingo
Sit down to a delicious selection of prompts served on bingo boards, created by the SWG community.
Bingo Cards Wanted for Potluck Bingo
Our November-December challenge will be Potluck Bingo, featuring cards created by you! If you'd like to create cards or prompts for cards, we are taking submissions.
Tolkien Meta Week, December 8-14
We will be hosting a Tolkien Meta Week in December, here on the archive and on our Tumblr, for nonfiction fanworks about Tolkien.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously…
[Writing] Collection of Potluck Drabbles by Artano
This is a collection of true drabbles completed for the 'Four Words' drabble bingo card.
[Writing] An End to All Things by Thorveig
Mairon stood in utter stillness for it seemed to him that the voice of his master mocked him from afar...
At the end of the First Age, Sauron makes a choice.
[Reference] Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age by Anérea, Varda delle Stelle
A series of articles featuring fan-made maps of all the lands of Arda. Part III explores the island of Númenor and mainland Middle-earth during the Second Age.
[Writing] The Reckless Hearts of Mortal Men by mouse
Two years before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Húrin and Huor journey from Dor-lómin to Eithel Sirion for a war council with their new allies from the East. A story about the stirring of hope and foreshadowing of woe. Well-peppered with humour.
[Artwork] Valier & colours by daughterofshadows
Semi-abstract arts representing the queens of the Valar.
[Artwork] 2024 Potluck Doodles by silmalope
Assorted prompt fills for the 2024 Potluck bingo boards, to varying degrees of completion! :)
Current 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 ...
Potluck Bingo
Help yourself to a collection of prompts on bingo boards designed by members and friends of the SWG. Read more ...
Random Challenge
End Is the Beginning
Take the ending of a story from "The Silmarillion" and use it as the beginning of a fanwork. Read more ...
New in References
Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age by Anérea, Varda delle Stelle
A series of articles featuring fan-made maps of all the lands of Arda. Part III explores the island of Númenor and mainland Middle-earth during the Second Age.
Doom and Ascent: The Argument of ‘Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics’ by Simon J. Cook
Simon reads 'Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics' to conclude his account of the Anglo-Saxon tower of its allegory.
Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Fandom by Dawn Walls-Thumma
A reworking of the 2018 article for Long Live Feedback that includes data from the 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey, pointing to a lack of comments as related to skill, confidence, and community connection.
Featured Themed Collection
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features fiction, artwork, and essays that transcend the idea of Orcs as the enemy, instead considering their humanity.
Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features alliterative poems about Middle-earth.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Homage to the Song of Durin by Flora-lass
Legolas is inspired by Gimli's song - and by Gimli himself.
[Writing] Partners in Craft by elennalore
Annatar realises that he might like Celebrimbor too much.
[Writing] Staging a Battle by StarSpray
He and Diamond were visiting, though Pippin had been disappearing every afternoon, and taking Frodo and Elanor and most other lads and lasses in the neighborhood with him—though why they couldn’t use Pippin’s own pony, Sam couldn’t imagine.
Around the World and Web
Festival of Lights Fest 2024
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.
Fluffcember 2024
Fluffcember is a Tumblr event with daily fluffy prompts during the month of December.
Hidden Paths 2025
Hidden Paths, an event dedicated to the celebration of smaller Tolkien canons, has released their early prompts for the 2025 event.
Teitho November/December Contest: Healing
The theme for Teitho's November/December contest is healing.
Lord of the Rings Secret Santa 2024
LotR SESA has been ongoing for twenty-one years and is running again this year as a prompt meme hosted on AO3 for all genres of Tolkien-based fanfiction.
New and Updated Fanworks
Include Beyond the Silmarillion Fanworks
A Thousand Miles by Talullah
Vardilmë speaks of her life.
| Major Characters: Vardilmë |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 3, 062 |
| Posted on 16 May 2020 | Updated on 16 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Fingolfin to Anaire by Himring
At the Feast of Reuniting, Fingolfin finds himself missing Anaire.
| Major Characters: Fingolfin |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Poetry | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 156 |
| Posted on 14 May 2020 | Updated on 14 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
MINE IS BETTER by bluehair
After a few busy days, I read a discord discussion and had to write this utter crack.
But yes, whose is better, between Fëanor and Fingolfin?
| Major Characters: Anairë, Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finwë |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Crackfic | Challenges: Crackuary, Sibling Rivalry |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 153 |
| Posted on 13 May 2020 | Updated on 13 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
The Fortune Teller by Talullah
Tindómiel searches for a teacher.
| Major Characters: Tindómiel |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 117 |
| Posted on 12 May 2020 | Updated on 12 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
When Wind is on the Brow by Himring
Perhaps, when there were still Entings, not all of them conformed to the expectations laid down for their gender?
| Major Characters: Ents |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 98 |
| Posted on 10 May 2020 | Updated on 10 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Lockdown Image Instadrabbling by Lindariel
From the Discord server session on 10 May 2020.
| Major Characters: Celeborn, Curufin, Eärendil, Finrod Felagund, Galadriel, Idril, Lúthien Tinúviel, Varda, Yavanna |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 7 | Word Count: 700 |
| Posted on 10 May 2020 | Updated on 10 May 2020 |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
In Sunlight by Lferion
Maitimo had last seen Findekano in torchlight, in the lingering Unlight of the Darkening, before the starlight had returned.
| Major Characters: Fingon, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama, Fixed-Length Ficlet | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 401 |
| Posted on 8 May 2020 | Updated on 8 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (4) |
Royalties by heget
A glimpse into a new life in Valinor of the Second Age for one of Finrod's companions. The pin-maker's son does not expect the new windfall before him.
The happy sequel to "Pins".
| Major Characters: Original Male Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fluff, Romance, Slash/Femslash | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 2 | Word Count: 1, 067 |
| Posted on 5 May 2020 | Updated on 5 May 2020 |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Warpath Home by heget
After Finrod's companions are reborn at the start of the Second Age, what do they do in the new eternity of peaceful paradise that awaits them?
How does a culture readjust?
What is Bân going to do with his second life?
| Major Characters: Original Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fluff, General, Romance | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 082 |
| Posted on 5 May 2020 | Updated on 5 May 2020 |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Thoughts on Dragon Souls by AndyC
Melkor cannot create a new race. We know the discussions on Orcs - but what about Dragons?
| Major Characters: No major characters listed |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Nonfiction/Meta | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 719 |
| Posted on 5 May 2020 | Updated on 5 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
With Revelry of Children by Lindariel
A celebration of Nost-na-Lothion in Gondolin, seen mostly through the eyes of young Eärendil.
| Major Characters: Eärendil, Idril, Meleth (Elf), Tuor, Turgon |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 4, 127 |
| Posted on 3 May 2020 | Updated on 3 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Passion to Make by StarSpray
The world is dark. Nerdanel creates.
| Major Characters: Nerdanel, Nienna |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 707 |
| Posted on 2 May 2020 | Updated on 2 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (3) |
Until The King Should Come Again by Grundy
Mardil watches King Eärnur depart Minas Tirith with no expectation he will return.
| Major Characters: Eradan, Mardil |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 162 |
| Posted on 2 May 2020 | Updated on 2 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
The Silmarillion TV Series by AndyC
"Try your hand at a form of fanwork you have not done before"
It has been said that the Silmarillion is unfilmable. That's probably true - but could it be made into a TV series as per Game of Thrones? (With, hopefully, a better ending).
This will (I hope) contain the suggested scripts for episodes of various seasons of a Silmarillion TV series.
| Major Characters: Elmo, Elu Thingol, Finwë, Ingwë, Morwë, Nurwë, Olwë, Valar |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Script/Play/Screenplay | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Violence (Mild) |
| Chapters: 7 | Word Count: 13, 992 |
| Posted on 27 April 2020 | Updated on 2 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (11) |
A love letter by firstamazon
A smitten young elf declares his love with a poem.
| Major Characters: Fingon, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Fluff, General, Poetry, Romance | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 185 |
| Posted on 1 May 2020 | Updated on 1 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (6) |
Swans and Seagulls by LadyBrooke
Celebrían and Eärwen speak of husbands, children, and forgiveness.
| Major Characters: Celebrían, Eärwen |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 400 |
| Posted on 1 May 2020 | Updated on 1 May 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
All it takes by Lyra
Uínen has saved Tar-Míriel from drowning, but that does not mean that all is well.
Discussion of death and cataclysm.
| Major Characters: Tar-Míriel, Uinen |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: Teens | Warnings: Mature Themes |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 1, 287 |
| Posted on 30 April 2020 | Updated on 30 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (10) |
And in spring be reborn by Calendille
Beleriand had sang. Her waterfalls had been choruses of crystal upon rocks, her forests brimming with songs of nightingales. Valinor was only It; where I wandered I found no echoes of my sunken home, until I sought one of the primal woods of Oromë. I had been warned not to go there: shadows of broken things made home in the green shadows; feral things that could not be healed.
I hovered at the edge of the wood and in my hesitations pondered: was I broken enough to wander there?
| Major Characters: Celegorm, Dior |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General, Hurt/Comfort | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 062 |
| Posted on 30 April 2020 | Updated on 30 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
The beginning by firstamazon
Young Fëanáro doesn't like his baby half-brother. Until one particular day.
| Major Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finwë, Indis |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Alternate Universe, Family, Fluff, General | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 4, 432 |
| Posted on 30 April 2020 | Updated on 30 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Arriving Headlong by Lferion
Findekano arrives in the world: a drabble set.
| Major Characters: Anairë, Fingolfin, Fingon, Nerdanel |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family, Fixed-Length Ficlet, Fluff | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 503 |
| Posted on 28 April 2020 | Updated on 28 April 2020 |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (3) |
His firstborn, to Finwë by SkyEventide
Fëanor talks about his father, his love for him, his remarriage, his unresolved bitterness. Character study, first person.
| Major Characters: Fëanor, Finwë |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Family, General | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 438 |
| Posted on 28 April 2020 | Updated on 28 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
Unfurling by firstamazon
He approached the prey licking his nose, knowing he walked like a king who deserved reverence. The man just watched but didn’t back away. This was one stubborn human! Perhaps he, too, was famished?
AU in which Númenor fell long before Ost-in-Edhil.
| Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Sauron |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General, Romance, Suspense | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Violence (Moderate) |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 3, 415 |
| Posted on 28 April 2020 | Updated on 28 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (2) |
Comfort Food by Himring
Breakfast with the Feanorians, late in the First Age.
For Oshun's request: I can never find too many stories of the family of Elrond, Elros, Maglor and Maedhros. Write me another one!
| Major Characters: Elrond, Elros, Maedhros, Maglor, Original Female Character(s) |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: General | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 465 |
| Posted on 27 April 2020 | Updated on 27 April 2020 |
This fanwork belongs to the series
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (8) |
Use Well The Days by Grundy
Princes of the Noldor need to learn a great many things. But that doesn't mean they have to be thrilled about it...
| Major Characters: Elrond, Maedhros |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: | Challenges: Block Party |
| Rating: General | Warnings: No warnings apply |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 2, 788 |
| Posted on 26 April 2020 | Updated on 26 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is a work in progress. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (9) |
The encounter by firstamazon
He made his way unthinkingly deep into the forest, following his ears and his eyes, toward that which lured him madly. The nightingale sang more limpidly as he approached the focus of light.
| Major Characters: Beren, Lúthien Tinúviel |
| Major Relationships: No major relationships listed |
| Genres: Drama, General, Het, Mystery, Romance | Challenges: No challenge listed |
| Rating: General | Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn |
| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 3, 666 |
| Posted on 26 April 2020 | Updated on 26 April 2020 |
| This fanwork is complete. |
| Table of Contents and Single Chapters | Show All Chapters | Comments (0) |
