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
Season's Greetings
Create a fanwork in which one (or several) of the holidays of Middle-earth plays a role. 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.
Of Masters Fëanor and Galadriel and the Flight of the Ñoldor by The Wavesinger
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The Documents
We are Jedi. We do not need corrupt Senators to dictate morals to us, to tell us what to do. What do they know of the Force? How do they judge what is right and what is wrong? The Force speaks to us with truth than they can.
And why do we help only those who they deem worthy? Can the Jedi not decide for themselves? We are not children, not illiterates. We are Jedi. We could do so much more than we are allowed to. We can bring peace and prosperity to the galaxy!
—Master Fëanor’s speech before leaving the Jedi Order
The only known instance of two Masters leaving the Order concurrently was the exodus of 3350 ATC, popularly know as ‘The Flight of the Ñoldor’ (referring to the species of the two leaders). Master Fëanor and Galadriel did not, however, leave the Order together, despite the fact that they held similar views.
A fifth of the Padawans and approximately three twentieths of the Knights of the Order of that time followed the two Masters, resulting in significantly lower numbers of Jedi remaining at the Temple and causing several crises in the Republic*.
*for further reading, please consult Master Ki-lin’s ‘The Year the Republic Ground to a Halt: The Effect of the Events of ATC 3350 on Galactic Politics, Security, and Economy’
—Master Sohan, The Junior Padawan’s History of the Jedi Order
Some say that Fëanor was touched by the Force, that he was stronger in the Force than even Master Yoda. This is mere speculation; what we know to be true is that Fëanor was the most talented of his generation of Padawans, an exceptional Knight, and a brilliant Master.
There are rumors that he had a gift of prophecy beyond what most Jedi are capable of, that he was strong enough in the Unifying Force to predict what may come to pass hundreds of years later, but these rumors are unsubstantial and not backed up by evidence (as stated previously, Master Yoda has refused to comment on any topic regarding Fëanor).
—Knight Fah, Biographies of Enigmas: The Jedi We Do Not Know
YODA: Worrying, it is, that we had thought to appoint both Masters to the Council before they left.
FINGOL: With all due respect, Master Yoda, some Masters of the Council agree with them. Although I have long disagreed with Master Fëanor’s methods, the views he espouses are not untrue. There are worlds that could benefit from the aid of the Jedi, but because they are not part of the Republic; what harm is there in helping them?
YODA: Master Fingol, know better than this, you do. More help we can be within the Republic.
FINGOL: I don’t see why we need to attach ourselves only to the Republic.
YODA: Know why, you do. Too much power, the Senate would think we have, otherwise. Convince them to allow us to help the worlds outside the Republic we must, not isolate ourselves.
FINGOL: [sighs] I agree with you, and yet…
ARFIN: Please, Master Fingol, we can discuss this later. The problem we face now is how to keep the Order functioning.
YODA: Truth you speak, Master Arfin. What thoughts have you?
ARFIN: To be honest, Master Yoda, I’m still in shock. Galadriel was one of my brightest Padawans, and now…
FINGOL: We’ve lost too many Jedi.
—Council Chamber tape #9273 in the year 3350 ATC
The Ñoldor are a subspecies of human who are extremely long-lived. Their lifespan can range between two hundred and seven hundred Coruscanti Standard Years (the oldest known Ñoldor was Jedi Master Finwë, who was 752 when he died in the year 3225 ATC). The Ñoldor are extremely powerful in the Force; many of their children are given to the Jedi, but even those who are not have high levels of Force sensitivity.(1)
The Ñoldor mostly live in Coruscant, but it is thought that their origin was a Mid-Rim system…
(1)Affleck, A Comparative Study of Force-sensitivity Among Different Sub-Species of Humans
—Ainka Bane, The Peoples of the Republic
Masters Fëanor and Galadriel believed (although they express these views in radically different manners) that the Jedi could be colonizers, could be rulers, that we had a duty to share our knowledge and power with others, that limiting ourselves to the boundaries of the Republic was immoral and wrong.
Many Jedi disagree. They argue that the Force has given us a power that should be treated with utmost caution, and that any desire for power, any position of authority, will corrupt us, will lead to the Dark Side.
There is truth in both these statements. Limiting ourselves to the boundaries of the Republic is, in truth, immoral. And yet, by going outside the boundaries of the law of the Republic, not only do the Jedi acknowledge the power we hold, we also wield that power for our own means, however noble they may be, something that has long been anathema in the Order, and for good reason…
—holocron of Master Ekkel (filed under ‘Theories of the Force’)
Masters Fëanor and Galadriel left the Jedi Order in the year 3350 ATC, along with many Jedi Knights and Padawans (the estimates of the number range from 500 to 5000; the Jedi Order considers most documentations related to the incident classified, and refuses to release statistics to the general public, most of whom are completely unaware of the schism). There is not much information on the period when they wandered the galaxy (systems both inside and outside the purview of the Republic), but most scholars agree that they moved from planet to planet and performed tasks that the Jedi were unable, or unwilling, to.
—Kan Ta Wyan, The History of Ennor, Part 5: Lor (Chapter 24: The Lady of Lor)
[Masters Fëanor and Galadriel] are perfect examples of why there should be stricter regulation on the Jedi. They have power the rest of us can only dream of, and that power was contained only through accountability to the Republic. Such power should not run unchecked…
—Senator Jann M’wan, debate on Jedi Ordinance No. 2933, 3372 ATC
It is dangerous for a Jedi to leave the Order, even with the best intentions. Look at Master Fëanor! His views, though misguided, were not Dark. And yet he ended up waging a war on a planet and a people, a war which caused numerous deaths, his own included. Is that not the very opposite of what the Jedi stand for, what we believe in?
—Master Windu, Jedi High Council debate, session #193, ATC 3611
And [Fëanor] turned his face away from [his last Padawan] and spoke: “I have seen Darkness coming to the Republic. The Sith have not left. Tell Galadriel.” And then he died.
—The Legend of Fëanor (author unknown; folktale of the planet of Guilnath, where Master Fëanor is thought to have died)
Of the systems in the Ennor sector, only Hithglir is not under Republic aegis. Indeed, Hithglir is only classified as being in the Ennor sector due to spatial proximity. It is almost impossible to reach the system even via hyperspace; obstructions result in a journey from the nearby system of Rivend to Hithglir taking anywhere between 40 to 200 standard Coruscanti days.
The only habitable planet in the Hithglir system is Lor, and its people are a mix of the original Silvan population and colonizers of the Sindar subspecies of humans, who…
—The Galactic Handbook
PLANET: Lor
SECTOR: Ennor
SYSTEM: Hithglir
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: executive monarchy with legislative council of elected representatives
CURRENT RULER: Lady Galadriel
—Planets Outside Senate Purview: A Brief Introduction (Edition CCLVI)
In the year ATC 3478, former Jedi Master Galadriel took up the leadership of the planet of Lor after King Amroth stepped down.
Galadriel took the crown, but not the title ‘Queen’, citing that she was not a Lorian by birth.
—Kan Ta Wyan, The History of Ennor, Part 5: Lor (Chapter 23: The Last King)
