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.
Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data provides insight into how comments benefit authors and which authors are most impacted by a lack of comments, with a digression on authors' perspectives one-click feedback like kudos.
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…
My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it.
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Holiday Party
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
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.
This is lovely, Himring, I like the travel toward Himring very much. Seems an arduous and difficult way to travel now, but must have given people time to think, which sometimes one can feel is lacking the way we live now.
"‘It would be a worse fate not to be allowed to love him’, answered Fingon silently."
Such a simple line and so beautiful. Beautifully satisfying story, my dear!
I'm so glad you found it satisfying! I was afraid it might be a little too fragmentary.
And I'm happy you like that line!
We have lost our feeling for distances, rather--until the inevitable moments when technology fails or breaks down. Yes, it would have given people a lot of time to think.
There are occasions when clearly Fingon and Maedhros would have been very happy to be able to move more quickly or at least communicate by telephone--although Morgoth no doubt would have had the lines cut or blocked or at least hacked!
Ah, indeed these can be read as "a story on their own"... and the thing that makes them bearable for the reader is knowing that someday there will be Tirion again for Fingon and Maedhros,. But of course they can't know that, can they?
At this time they are not even sure that they will be with each other in Middle-earth again, depending on whether Morgoth is already planning another attack--not even Fingon dreams of Tirion, let alone Maedhros. But nevertheless, they will be there together, one day...
This was so lovely! Everything with Fingon is, because he is a darling. I can see why Maedhros fell in ove with him.
But as usual, you never lets us forget about the danger they face: from Morgoth, form the Oath, from being found out. That always makes little happy snippets like this one stand out.
Oh, these two. *sniffle* This really makes me ache for them, all those miles and centuries of separation. So glad you did give them this one week at least!
There is a lot of separation, yes--and I guess this story makes it sound particularly bad.
That one week seems a bit cruel, in retrospect, although it's been a feature of the series from the start. The underlying idea is that, while Maedhros can leave Himring in Maglor's care at a pinch, Fingon doesn't seem to have anyone he can safely delegate Hithlum to in the insecure situation after the Bragollach. That is, assuming that Hurin doesn't usually command Noldor--which for some reason I have the impression he didn't. So Fingon can't afford a long absence at this stage and for the political purposes a week is just about enough.
This being a short time after the Bragollach, a traumatic time for both of them, they're not relying on anything at this point, but in fact, Maedhros is going to manage to make the trip to Hithlum a couple more times before the Nirnaeth.
Before the Bragollach, during the Siege, it had always Maedhros who went west to take part in his uncle's councils--and he had been oddly shy about inviting Fingon east--which explains Fingon's reaction at finally being invited.
Of course, all that still adds up to a great deal of separation...
I so love the little detail of the head resting on the shoulder, especially when it comes back at the end. So many times, a seemingly insignificant gesture can be the most important part of a relationship.
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.