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.
SWG News
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.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] No Time Have I by Flora-lass
A Silmarillion acrostic.
[Writing] I called it Fate that I should fail by AdmirableMonster
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…
[Writing] All of you by chrissystriped
Elrond and Celebrían celebrate their anniversary with their family.
[Writing] Lament for the Singer by daughterofshadows
A short thing about Maglor, death and grieving.
[Writing] Cosmological Poems of Arda by AaronAzrael
I would like to share my revelations of Tolkien's Universe in the form of narrative and emotional poems.
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
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…
[Artwork] Map of Valinor by Aprilertuile
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
Trinkets and Treasures
Create a fanwork about an object that is magical or otherwise valuable in some way, either canonical or of your own invention. Read more ...
New in References
Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]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.
Passing Ships by Simon J. Cook
[]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.
Fanfiction and the Serious Business of Writer's Craft by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]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.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Staging a Battle by StarSpray
[]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.
[Writing] From whose bourn no traveller returns by losselen
[]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.
[Writing] Sand Sorcery by StarSpray
[]It is well known that Psamathos does not leave his cove. He does not like to get his feet wet, and prefers to spend his days dozing under the sun.
Around the World and Web
Fellowship of the Fics: Summer Stories 2024
Fellowship of the Fics offers four weeks of summer-themed prompts during the month of July.
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.
July 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Conferences and publications that have open calls for papers and proposals in July 2024.
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.
The Condensed Silmarillion by Cheeky
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Moody Maeglin
Moody Maeglin
Does everyone remember Moody Maeglin? The sulky goth teenager whose Mum died and whose Dad was thrown off a cliff?
Well he has grown up a bit. Now he is a sulky goth young adult.
Things have been going pretty well for Maeglin in Gondolin. Turgon lets him sit on his right and he even has his own group of equally moody young men who follow him. Who knows, if Turgon really has a secret wish to hightail it back to Finrod via Mandos's halls then Maeglin might even have a shot at being High King.
His one problem was having a rather bad crush on Turgon's daughter Idril. Uptight Turgon was never going to go for that. They were first cousins after all.
Hang on Turgon... Aren't you and Finrod first cousins too?
I guess it's a case of do as I say, not as I do, Well maybe I will give him a pass for that. Which of us who are parents haven't done this at least once?
Things all started to go wrong for Maeglin when Tuor showed up. Boy did he dislike Tuor. To be honest I don't really blame him. He swans into the city, name drops the Valar all over the place, expects everyone to love him, tries to tell the King what to do and worst of all steals Idril right from under Maeglin's nose.
Now it is usual to lay the blame of the Fall of Gondolin squarely at Maeglin's feet but to be honest I think it was all down to Ulmo. So far Ulmo, apart from a weakness for voyerism has been pretty helpful to the elves. I really don't know why he decided to mess up Gondolin so badly. Boredom perhaps?
You see if Ulmo hadn't decided to interfere and send Tuor to meddle in their business then Maeglin wouldn't have got all upset and gone wandering in the wilds.
If Maeglin hadn't gone wandering in the wilds he wouldn't have been captured.
If he hadn't been captured Morgoth would have been none the wiser as to where Gondolin might be.
And there it is............."The Man Effect"
If they hadn't let Tuor in all would still be rosy in Gondolin.
Sadly it was not to be. Maeglin spilled the beans and became a thrall, Morgoth invaded and it all went downhill from there.
But before we leave Maeglin lying dead at the bottom of the cliff where Tuor pushed him I have to point out two things.
1. Turgon, Your nephew goes missing presumed captured. Did you look for him? Because according to the book you didn't do a thing. I get you might be seriously depressed about Lack of Finrod but honestly there is no excuse for that. I am not impressed Turgon, not impressed at all. When he came back did you even ask him what had happened?? Counselling? Check him out for whip marks? Anything??
2. Poor old Maeglin gets a really bad rap because of this. He is the most hated elf there is poor guy. But it is important you know Tolkien says he was no weakling nor craven but instead tormented until his spirit was cowed. Guys, the poor elf was tortured beyond belief. Seriously can you blame him???
I mean it's not like he was Maedhros or anything.
Maedhros set the bar for Elven ability to withstand torture way too high.
