New Challenge: Potluck Bingo
Sit down to a delicious selection of prompts served on bingo boards, created by the SWG community.
SWG News
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.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Artwork] 2024 Potluck Doodles by silmalope
Assorted prompt fills for the 2024 Potluck bingo boards, to varying degrees of completion! :)
[Writing] Ransom of the Fairy Twins by Rocky41_7
Maglor and Maedhros trade Elrond and Elros to King Gil-galad in exchange for a Silmaril, but they have miscalculated.
[Series] Pennas Pengolodh by AdmirableMonster
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.
[Writing] Havens by AdmirableMonster
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.
[Writing] Collection of Potluck Drabbles by Artano
This is a collection of true drabbles completed for the 'Four Words' drabble bingo card.
[Writing] Hurting Tyelpë by elennalore
Sauron has taken Celebrimbor as a prisoner in Ost-in-Edhil. Whump happens.
[Writing] On a Night of Snow by Elleth
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.
Current Challenge
Potluck Bingo
Help yourself to a collection of prompts on bingo boards designed by members and friends of the SWG. Read more ...
Random Challenge
B2MeM 2009
Back to Middle-earth Month in 2009 offered a daily prompt connecting our personal experiences to our creative work. Read more ...
New in References
Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age by Varda delle Stelle, Anérea
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.
Doom and Ascent: The Argument of ‘Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics’ by Simon J. Cook
Simon reads 'Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics' to conclude his account of the Anglo-Saxon tower of its allegory.
Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Fandom by Dawn Walls-Thumma
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.
Featured Themed Collection
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.
Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features alliterative poems about Middle-earth.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Homage to the Song of Durin by Flora-lass
Legolas is inspired by Gimli's song - and by Gimli himself.
[Artwork] Long-tressed Wingildi by Anérea
"... the long-tressed Wingildi ... spirits of the foam and the surf of ocean."
~ a painted sketch for Scribbles and Drabbles 2024.
[Writing] Partners in Craft by elennalore
Annatar realises that he might like Celebrimbor too much.
Around the World and Web
Fluffcember 2024
Fluffcember is a Tumblr event with daily fluffy prompts during the month of December.
Hidden Paths 2025
Hidden Paths, an event dedicated to the celebration of smaller Tolkien canons, has released their early prompts for the 2025 event.
Teitho November/December Contest: Healing
The theme for Teitho's November/December contest is healing.
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.
Fragments by SkyEventide
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Naugrim, Casari, Khazâd
Written for the prompt: new-spilled, stumpy, downward, discarded. Featuring Caranthir and dwarves.
« What is the matter, elf lord? »
Carnistir looks downwards at the stout things and their beards, perplexed. « Is it normal for your people to send a group of elders for treating? »
The dwarf stares. « I am barely middle aged. »
Carnistir blinks at the beard. « So you are like the aftercomers. »
« Most certainly not. »
« Short aftercomers. »
The second dwarf to the left takes a breath, turning to his companion, and Carnistir can distinctly hear a whisper, « Why are they all like that? » Carnistir also has the strong feeling that he was meant to hear it, the sentimenti behind it spilling forth.
My lord, his seneschal’s thought tickles his mind, the Doriathrim call them Naugrim.
The Doriathrim call them stunted?
Carnistir lifts an eyebrow – real slow.
« Nevermind, Casari », he says then, with sudden annoyed inspiration, pointedly. « The beards look luscious. My grandfather had a beard, we have it in the family. »
The first dwarf tilts his head. « Now, what fresh word is that, elf lord? »
« Casari? » Carnistir smiles with a touch of smugness. « ‘Tis Quenya. Khazâd is your name, yes? Casari. Let us discard the other one. »
A moment of silence. The dwarves look at each other, then the middle one turns to him again. « Is your grandfather Círdan from the coast? »
« …No. »
