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.
The majority of the Silmarillion was penned by a single Elf--an Elf who was so thoroughly written out as to appear only through the ways in which their perspective shaped the stories we see. This is their story, the historian's history, the Pennas Pengolodh.
The Exiles of Gondolin come to Sirion. The residents of Sirion welcome them, and friendship blossoms between the last remaining loremaster of Gondolin and a young poet of Sirion.
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.
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.
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.
Oh, these are all lovely! I especially liked The Sound of Our Voices. The prose flows so well and is evocative. A real passion within the words. Nicely done!
Oh, thank you! I'm happy to hear you like The Sound of Our Voices. A lot of my short pieces are fairly spontaneous, but this one was more so than most. So it almost feels as if I didn't work hard enough on it, but when I look at it, there's nothing I'm ready to change right now.
Ah- you are right. I suppose I mean, more self contained - certainly not lacking passion and fire, but more thoughtful and refelctive. Your Maedhros is clearly affected deeply by Angband, as he would be. Its making me think quite a lot more about all this and you probably are the World MAedhros expert!! :)
Boethius was an important influence on a couple of medieval English authors that I was studying (quite a long time ago now). So I did a bit of research on him, too, and some of it stuck.
I think I commented on this already somewhere (unless I dreamed that), but you managed to get me solidly into Maedhros' head here - not easy in such a short space, and I think I did let out a sigh of relief at the final sentence. Tiny eucatastrophes like this may be a favourite trope of mine.
(I don't think you had commented on this before--unless a notification went missing somehow--but I'm gratefully accepting it as a double review anyway!)
I was thinking, horribly, that somehow Maedhros was mad, in the Void, and (in some way) dreaming. I am so glad for the end sentence which proved he was not.
Yes, that is more or less what Maedhros is afraid of at that moment, although he is not in a state in which he would be able to put that clearly to himself or think it through. But, as you say, he is not!
Thank you very much for your comment and I'm very glad this piece worked for you!
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.