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.
<i>A great number of very tall golden-haired people--it was almost a little oppressive, all that tallness and golden hair, and Elros found his gaze seeking out the slighter, darker people among them that were presumably descendants of the house of Beor--mostly by intermarriage with the Hadorians, since so few pure-blooded descendants of that house had survived the wars and upheavals.</i>
I copied this sentence because I liked it and it resonnated with me that moment I read. I liked it even more when I got to the crucial part of story where he meets the women warrior and the remnants of the Haladin. I liked the way you moved this story away from any direction that I had expected it to go in.
Thank you very much, Oshun! Glad to hear that the story surprised you in a good way!
It's interesting, isn't it, that Numenoreans seem to start out being blonde, at least in the majority, and by the Third Age are typically dark? I suppose it's the association between the Faithful and the settlement areas favoured by the Beorians, at least in part, and there is certainly enough time in between for things to change!
I found this strangely moving, Himring. Not just the idea of the remnants of Haleth's people (and you wrote them so beautifully- thier hesitation- I could SEE them fidget and twtich, look nervously around themselves) but that moment of Maglor's disapproval is intensely visual- just this lone focuses entriely on a face that although you do not describe, is detailed and so clear because of that:
Maglor's lips had thinned in disapproval, more severe than Elros had expected.
I don't really know how you did that but you did!
Love the nervousness you give Elros- the sense of it being a little overwhelming and his making it up as he goes along (from the imagie of the chair you get that perfectly right from the start).
Thank you so much, Ziggy! Really glad this was able to move you. I was uncertain how this would come across, as so much of it is just going on in Elros's head. Your comments are very reassuring!
(Thank you also for commenting on AO3 as well! And I will post it on Faerie as soon as I can manage it, as you say you'd like to see it there!)
An interesting moment in Elros' life and not one I have thought about so thank you for highlighting it.
The comment about all the golden-haired people in attendance made me laugh.
I was not expectng Haleth's people to be there and I am so glad that is the direction you took with this.
The flashback to Maglor really struck me--I am a complete sucker for any memories Elrond and Elros have that involve Maglor and Maedhros--but I loved how Maglor's disappointment with Elros' words was so clear. The veiled reference to Caranthir was great also.
Really a lovely, revealing moment in Elros' life and a tribute to Haleth and her people.
It is actually canonical (sort of) that a few of the folk of Haleth and a few Druedain went along to Numenor--but it's only a footnote in the Unfinished Tales.
I find this moment of transition really interesting, both for Elros and for the Edain!
Keiliss's treatment in Quicker than Doubt set me thinking about it, originally, I think.
I love your Elros. He's often depicted as the more impetuous and sullen of the two, and it was nice to see his thoughtful side as he begins to understand his responsibility and actively decides to meet it head-on. Loved the human little details - the folding chair, Elros' slight unease about all those overpoweringly tall blond people, his initial impulse to smile condescendingly before he thinks better of it.
Thank you! Glad you like Elros here! I suppose I've depicted him as more rebellious and angry than Elrond, myself, during the Feanorian period, although in my 'verse that's because Elrond is picking up things willy-nilly by early onset of osanwe and so is more likely to detect what is going on underneath the surface while it is happening, whereas Elros reaches some of his conclusions only later, as he gains more perspective and more experience. Even my younger Elros has his thoughtful side and as he grows up, makes his choice and tackles his new responsibilities, it comes to the fore.
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.