Founded in 2005, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild exists for discussions of and creative fanworks based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and related texts. We are a positive-focused and open-minded space that welcomes fans from all over the world and with all levels of experience with Tolkien's works. Whether you are picking up Tolkien's books for the first time or have been a fan for decades, we welcome you to join us!
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 Challenge: Orctober Orcs on a quest for freedom seek a place sheltered and safe from the Dark Lord. Fulfill prompts to gather the clues needed to bring them to freedom.
Fingon returns to Barad Eithel after a late-autumn hunt, finding someone unexpected with his wife. The night takes an even more unexpected turn for all three of them.
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.
Created for the 'Geography/Maps/Places' prompt on the "Tolkien meta" bingo board, this is a collection of maps marked with the various people groups showing how they arrived and moved about Beleriand. This collection focuses specifically on the time from the arrival of the Teleri, Vanyar, and…
Current Challenge
Potluck Bingo
Help yourself to a collection of prompts on bingo boards designed by members and friends of the SWG. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Gift of a Story
Create a fanwork as a gift to show thanks and appreciation for someone in the fandom. Read more ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kiliel Week 2024
Kiliel Week is a Tumblr event for fanworks about the Kili/Tauriel pairing.
November challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The challenge for November has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic prompt: refuge. Formal challenge: include imitation of a sound. As always, these can be filled independently and also freely combined with SWG and other challenges. New participants welcome!
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.
Great story, Himring! It is sad and yet undrestandable (of a proud Fëanorean ;) ) not to wish to speak to each other again. I really enjoyed reading this.
Glad you enjoyed it! At one point, I thought I might add a short scene in which Celebrimbor encounters one of the surviving brothers after Curufin's death and permit things to achieve a kind of closure that way, but I couldn't make that work. I guess proud Feanorians aren't all that good at closure! Thank you very much for reading and reviewing!
"He would measure the Doomsman of the Valar with one of his long, somewhat insolent stares and ask: Is that so?—and, without waiting for an answer, unhesitatingly follow Curufin to his doom."
That was my favourite part. The way the brothers sticked together is something I've always been fascinated about.
Thank you! They do stick together, whether it is good for them or not. Mind you, if Celegorm had gone and talked to Celebrimbor and Cirdan, even with the best intentions, he would almost certainly have ended up violently quarrelling with them, which would hardly have improved matters (and Curufin knows that, too).
I definitely love this! Curufin's character always intrigues me to no end, and your delineation here was very convincing. I could sense pride (though of a narrow-minded type) in his blame on Celebrimbor and his mention of their previous reign in Nargothrond. And to notice the empty saddle bags seemed to suggest his pragmatism and a fraction of concern for his son and the refugees. Celegorm here was more emotional, but possessed just as much the insufferable yet fascinating pride of the Feanorians :) You did a wonderful job!
I wonder if I could have your permission to translate it into Chinese? Because I love this fic so much and wish to share this with silmarillion-readers in my home country. Of course, I'll credit the original work to you on top of the translation.
Thank you very much! I am delighted that you should think this piece worth taking the trouble to translate and you certainly have my permission to do so!
I am glad you liked my portrayal of Curufin and Celegorm, thank you for telling me so!
This is the most grounded of your works that I have read so far and I think my favourite. The break-down layout made it much easier to read and understand. I found the progatonists highly relatable and their motives clear. The footnote in Mandos rounds off well, but for me the opening passage was best; I really got a sense of Beleriand in those times seen through Elvish eyes.
Thank you very much! The opening passage was important to me, so I'm glad it worked for you!
I had written about Curufin and Celegorm before, but I had not shown them interacting at any length (with each other, that is, rather than with Maedhros) or at this period, so in that sense it was new ground for me.
This really shows how stubborn the Feanorians can be! As weird as it is, I think the saddest line, for me, was:
"Celegorm shrugs regretfully and looks over his shoulder to whistle for Huan. He catches himself in time and curses under his breath."
I guess because I wasn't expecting it, lol.
Anyway, this was really well written and thought-provoking. You managed to make Celegorm and Curufin seem symapthetic while still hard-headed and harshly practical. Great story!
I somehow missed this story. You are so prolific I can never be sure that there are no things I have not read.
<i>It probably goes without saying that as far as I am concerned the statement that they were pleased is a case of faulty reporting!</i>
I totally agree with you on that. I loved the characterization in this story. Great insight into the differences between the two brothers and, ultimately, how Celegorm allows Curufin to make the final decision. It's heartbreaking for me, because this point, which begain with Nargothrond for those two his hurtling toward the fulfill of their sad fate with the force of rock slide down the side of a mountain. My response to Feanorians, even the worst of them! is always saddness at the loss of so much promise. Fate, doom, and all that tragic inevitability wears on me. Very beautifully handled here--such emotional subtlety and the understatement with which it is expressed makes it more not less moving.
Thank you very much, Oshun! I'm glad you like the characterization of Celegorm and Curufin here! It saddens me, too, that tragic inevitability and the loss of so much promise.
(I'm sorry--it's all those little bits and pieces I write, I know they must be very hard to keep track of! Thank your for reading!)
Never be sorry. It's always a pleasure to stumble across one I have not read. (I wish I could write more short pieces, but they always explode in head into something bigger and then I have a list of WIPs as long as my arm! Makes me look unstable!)
Comments
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.