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?
Beta-Reader List Now Available The beta-reader list and profiles have been moved into our new system and are available again.
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…
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Arda Underground
Take the dark back streets of one of Arda's cities, explore an unsigned tavern or hovel, and meet the people too insignificant or unsavory to make it into the history books. 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
Elrond Week is a fandom event dedicated to Elrond Peredhel that will run from July 10th to July 16th on Tumblr.
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.
Hi Himring. The title was quite evocative and caused me to want to read on. I never thought much about the moment that all Feanor's sons scattered to the wind and why, so that is an interesting point to explore. The piece really took off for me with this part: He finds Maglor mistreating his harp. He is crouching beside it and keeps striking a single dissonant chord at regular intervals. It is a deep, ugly, violent sound. That in a single beautiful auditory soundbite (so to speak) tells the whole situation about how Maglor feels and how conflicted he is -- better than a lot of dialogue would. And he finds Maglor mistreating his harp is a great line. The line about the second oath:‘He didn’t trust us all that much, did he?’ was an aha revelation to me. I like the last lines in italics too. Feanor is dead and the triple-locked oath. You bring huge insight into the whole mess, making it feel realistic, convincing, and the tragedy to come inevitable -- even though we want to close our eyes and hope it will somehow turn out all right. Great start.
I could not resist the "heavy metal Maglor"! He doesn't play it in mine either and I am afraid I was pulling your leg a little there! Lovely evocative story beginning to end. I am so jealous that you can write so many stories!
You've got this knack of making me fidget, and prickle uncomfortably - Maedhros seems truly, as you say, locked into it, but almost unwilling to look for escape. His logic is supreme. He does not seem to grieve, as if it is beyond him and that image of Maglor plucking a dissonat, screeching note symbolises how the whole thing is just wrong - Feanor is dead and it is wrong, they feel the dissonance but Maedhros brings them back. Steel yes, but you make him so much more. Terrifically good writing.
Oh, this was a great story. First of all, the exchange between Maedhros and Celebrimbor was really well written. And Maglor playing his harp and being all angsty. The whole thing was thoughtful and interesting.
Thank you! I'm very glad to hear that the different parts of this story (I suppose in some ways they are quite different from each other) all work for you!
This whole situation after Feanors death describes their realtionship to their father in a perfect way.
if you are made to swear an oath a second time that was meant to be unbreakable in the first place, does it make the oath more unbreakable or less so?’
Celebrimbor seems to have cut in the sorest wound with his questions, and Maedhros answers to him are as well a try to confirm himself, I feel.
The final statement of Maedhros condemns Feanor really to hell....
He didn’t trust us all that much, did he?’
And Maglor, stopping to play, agreed by this.
Another fault Feanor could be blamed of, that he always played off all of his sons against each other They always had to EARN his love, and nobody fought more than Celegorm and Curufin, but now, he is dead this puts them close together.
Unexpectedly, Curufin and Celegorm return together, as if the affections that used to divide them have polarized and work to unite them, now that their father is dead.
Even Maglor, the most gentle, * mistreats* his beloved harp and utters his protest in playing *violent* tunes.
The Ambarussa, seen by their mother as one, and had left gone not to be divided, were at last so ( even if you don't take the plot of one of them burnt with he ships), for the reason for them to part, Feanor, is gone.
Even Amras and Amrod, the twins, are seen leaving separately, going their own way.
Sorry , my tablet decided to stop my review, before I was finished ;//
Somehow the whole campaign has lost its real sense, to follow their father, and maybe gain his affection.
It is the lack of light after being used to it that the mind finds difficult to deal with
As long, as their father was alive, there was no room for own mind and thought, but now is, but now they are determed to follow this way, the way planned by the oath...
Maedhros realises this very clearly, but, in opposite to his father, he won' t abuse his leader ( father) role.
‘No more mistakes now,’ thinks Maedhros, looking at his brothers, his responsibility now, ‘we cannot afford another mistake.’
Maybe they would have been able to break the oath, if their father would have given in in some way, but now, that he is dead, this possibilty is gone forever, so
Triple-locked, the Oath snicks shut...
Oh, god, I really hate Feanor, for what he did to bis sons, even if you find some excuse for him.
But Feanor, however perceptive he could be with regard to others, often seemed to have a blind spot with regard to his own actions and motivations. And gradually that blind spot grew, until more and more it skewed his judgement of others…
But to have his sons receite this oath again, not in hot temper, but full aware of the consequences for his own children , that is for me more cruel, than everything his sons did after!!!
I can forgive the kinslaying, maybe, to a certain degree, but this? Never!
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.