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: Bollywood This month's challenge offers songs, films, and tropes from Bollywood, the world's largest film industry based out of India, as prompts for fanworks.
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A Sense of History: Passing Ships As Tolkien's characters in various texts gaze out to the sea, what do they see? What is brought by the ships coming out of the West?
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Nimruzimir, a natural philosopher recently out of his apprenticeship, hardly considers himself very important to anyone, least of all his colleagues. When his strange, prophetic fits bring him to the attention of the High Priest, however, he may find that his existence is less superfluous than…
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…
My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it.
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Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
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No matter if you're in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, it's a time of year to think about holidays. Whether you're bundling up in blankets or slipping a swimsuit into your suitcase, we invite you to an SWG holiday party! Read more ...
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that authors view comments as driving their motivation to create fanfiction. However, perception of comments by authors is part of a larger shift in fandom around how and how often fans interact with each other.
The arrival and departure of ships across the Great Sea carries mythic significance for the peoples of Middle-earth. The image of ships crossing out of and back into a mysterious West appears as well in Beowulf and is alluded to in Tolkien's tower analogy in his lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," where the tower allows those who climb it to observe the passage of the ships.
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that while most authors self-identify as taking their craft seriously, a growing subset of authors may be pushing that norm.
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.
So gathered they were to Bree, what lieutenants who could be spared, from their scattered watches west and east, for their chieftain had returned from his long sojourn in lands godless and mountains strange.
Aragorn returns from the South to tells his tales. Halbarad listens.
Elrond Week 2024
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July challenge at tolkienshortfanworks posted
The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for July has been posted to the Dreamwidth community. The thematic challenge is: original character or unnamed canon character; the formal challenge: fixed length of multiple of 50 words. New participants welcome.
Teitho June/July Challenge: Mentor
The June/July prompt for the Teitho challenge is "mentor" and invites fanworks about this relationship in Tolkien's works.
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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.
This is very dramatic, very eerie! There are so many things here worth looking at again, the moment when he passes Tirion, his memory of Irmo's involvement in the death of Miriel... But soppily sentimental as I am I can't get over that scene in front of the treasury in Formenos. Poor Tyelkormo! Poor Carnistir! Poor Nelyo! And poor deluded Feanor...
This is definitely one of those stories (coming from my Felakverse, as it does) where so many as-yet-unwritten (or, in the case of the barely-begun AMC prequel, as-yet-unpublished) stories play into it. As I gave it a hasty revision, I felt like there were so many places to expand it, yet this story didn't seem the appropriate moment for that.
The treasury scene was one of the strongest in my mind when I wrote the story. A question that fascinates me (and is only rarely dealt with in Silmfic, at least that I've seen) is how Feanor's sons would have felt about the Silmarils.
Thank you for reading, Himring, and for leaving a comment. :)
Thank you, GG! :) This was one of those stories that almost seemed to write itself; it had to be written. (I had plans for a very productive morning that never manifested thanks to this story! Well, I did get my assigned bingo cards stamped, at least ... ;) I was going for the impression that Carnistir let go deliberately; I'm glad you picked up on that! :D Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Bloody hell Dawn, now you have me all wondering about the bond between Celegorm and Nerdanel, the influence of the trees on the elves and what happens if they live under the stars. But Fëanor is just barely holding it together and I am holding my breath because we all know what will happen in Formenos next...
Yes, I was almost tempted to claim the "death of a loved one" prompt, since we know where this leads! :) But since I didn't even mention Finwe but dealt more in Feanor's relationship with his sons, then I didn't think I'd earned it. One of the questions that is endlessly fascinating to me (as evidenced by the number of times it weasels its way into my stories!) is the influence of light and Light-with-a-capital-L on the Elves. And, from a literary perspective, its function as a symbol. (I've started an essay on this. Maybe once I survive this first year of teacherhood ... :)
Thank you for reading, Rhapsy, and for so kindly making a page for me! :D *hugs*
Oh, ouch! This is beautiful, Dawn. I'll have to absorb it and come back and write more later. Poor Feanie! That entrance at the end is just perfect. Much more later.
Ack--I haven't called him Feanie in so long! :D *hugs him* I'm intrigued to hear what you think of it but, even if you don't get a chance to make it back, thanks for reading! :)
Iwould try to respond now. But I am really sick . Trust me this is one of the really awesome ones and I will write a tome telling you what I thought reading it when I am a little better.
Oh, wow! I'm pretty much speechless. This is astounding, a little bit painful (to contrast AMC Fëanor with him here), and so many hints of other things.
Indeed, I realized after I posted this that, to those familiar with AMC, it would be quite the drastic change. The time between AMC and the Darkening mostly exists in my head canon at this point. Probably the only story to really show the disintegration of the family after their exile is By the Light of Roses, which belongs to a totally different verse. The sequels to AMC will lead here, if Life[tm] ever settles down enough for me to write them!
Lovely, which is a strange but perfectly apt word to use to describe this gorgeous piece. Beautifully written, though it may seem rough to you, with a Feanor who has his clear sense of what is right and what is owed him and yet that clear and powerful sense nonetheless warps his view of almost everything else.
I'd imagine the sons' views on the Silmarils are quite interesting to say the least.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Lilith! :) He is definitely crossing the line at this point between one who has a clear sense of his own potential (and has been mistreated/misunderstood as a result) and one who's well ... going a little over the top. :) Not without reason, perhaps, but still going there nonetheless! I'm glad this came through in the story. Thanks again! :)
This section is incandescently lovely and evocative. It made me catch my breath just now. Loving him, fearing for him, and my heartbreaking for him as well. It speaks of love and caring for others here and throughout as a memory that is no longer really touchable for him.
Once, he'd climbed a tree, too high even for his comfort, to get at the eggs in a nest of hawks. Nerdanel stood below, wide-eyed, watching, heavy with their first child, with Nelyo. Somewhere, he'd heard that eggs preserved the health of women with child, and that slip of information--the source of which he could not even recall--and his unspeakable love for the red-haired daughter of a blacksmith had provoked the daring act he contemplated. Then as now, deliberately, he unfolded each finger from where it clutched the branch. The bark left stinging imprints, reminders of a fear that he dared not feel. His feet draped the branches. Gently, his body arched straight, as though he grew as a limb from the tree itself. He was conscious of how he must look to Nerdanel below. He imagined her clutched hands relaxing. His heartbeat slowed.
Then, as now, he'd been returning from the North to Valinor.
The whole next part about his growing madness and his withdrawal from separated from the Silmarils reminds me of addiction; that along with the lessening of the effect of the Light of the Trees upon him, is reminscent of the malevolent quality of the One Ring upon people. The entire thrust of the story is intense and very dark. One feels like the Silmarils are the protagonist and Feanor is being acted upon. He really feels to me at this point like he is completely out-of-control. Mad as a hatter.
But he does not seem to be the only delusional one around. The Valar don't seem to be able to truly read him at all despite the interview and the some superfically insightful comments of Irmo, they do not appear to really comprehend his degree of his loss of competence.
Then there is this:
There was an audible intake of breath from the people waiting within, as though they expected some sharp pain to assail them from the shadows and wished to bear it in silence. Eyes straining in the candlelight sought the first relief of light from the Silmarils.
The effect of the Silmarils has made all of them a little mad.
This is strong stuff and the story is magnificient. I am not sure I am completely following you in every aspect of your reasoning. No wonder I could not write a decent review in the middle of March Madness last year. I will definitely come back to this and read it a few more times before I feel like I have completely understood everything you are asserting here. I cannot believe I let so many months pass without coming back to it.
An incredible piece of work (sorry- I find myself gushing every time I comment on your work) You get that complete sense of dichotomy, complexity of relationships and obsession so that even as he recognises the truth, Feanor cannot quite move away from what he has created solely and of light, to see what he has in his family which he loves more than his own life but less than his own creations. The way you have written this is utterly beleivable, compelling and has its own deep truth.
Thank you, Ziggy--you have made this writer's morning! :) (Unfortunately, this writer will be doing a lot of writing today but not of the ficcish variety, but it's a great way to start the day all the same!) I am rather fond of this story myself; it was about the best I could do this time last year (probably still is since the aforementioned schoolish writing means no time to practice anything else), so I'm glad you enjoyed it as well. My Feanor truly believes that he has tied up a piece of himself within the Silmarils ... and maybe he has. So I think he views the Silmarils as a closer extension of himself; his sons are, of course, also extensions of himself in a way but clearly no longer interdependent. Feanor is fascinating to explore for precisely these reasons: It is hard to reconcile a character so obsessed with objects who commands such love and loyalty from those closest to him. It's a delicate balance, and I'm glad it worked here. :)
Oh, my goodness. You write insane Feanor so well it's almost scary! I love love love the way you got into his mind, and that scene with his sons - I love the way you write them all.
Thank you so much! :D It is kind of scary, isn't it? I don't know why writing madness has such appeal to me (it does, obviously! :) except that it touches a line very dangerous to cross, a sort of safe way of playing with something fearful.
I'm glad you connected with this story. It was really fun to write and one that I'm still happy with, more than a year later.
This is a wonderfully crafted piece worthy of Feanor- I have not thought before about how he must have felt, but I have thought how his sons would have felt- I love your Carnistir, poor, weeping, tortured soul. And that imagery of the feathers is perfect.
Thank you, Ziggy! The reactions of the Feanarions to the Silmarils is something I've thought about a lot, although I think this is the first time I've written it. I'm glad you liked the story and appreciate that you took the time to leave a comment too! :)
(P.S.--For some reason, this comment posted three times, so I've removed the other two, just so you know. Thanks again!)
Brilliant and tragic - the hubris and the lure of the Silmarils already deep in his heart, as you say, even supplanting the sons for whom he would have given his life. Thsi is what I have been looking for- something to explain why he left htem on the shore and went straight for Morgoth only to be slain.
I've always taken Feanor at his word when he says that he has put himself into his Silmarils and will die if they are destroyed. Something I've always found interesting in the Silm fandom is how few people take him literally when he says this: They think it is figurative or that he is being melodramatic. But the Silmarils have become, in a lot of ways, almost like his sons: born of him but also more closely bound to him. With Finwe's murder, the Silmarils achieve an extra symbolic dimension for Feanor beyond what they already possessed. This interpretation underlies how I see Feanor's reactions to any threat to and the eventual theft of the Silmarils. To me, it explains a lot of what appears to be irrational, psychopathological behavior.
Thanks so much for reading and your thoughtful comments! :)
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.