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.
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 2010
Back to Middle-earth Month 2010 was a collaborative game-style challenge where participants created fanworks in order to progress in their attempt to win the Last Battle. Read more ...
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.
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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.
I really enjoyed this; I love the parallel structure of the two parts: Maglor & Elros and Maedhros & Elrond. When Elros says, "But it's so far away," that is heartbreaking.
I look forward to the longer version, even if it does take years. ;) Thanks for sharing this!
I'll be quite interested in your story when it's finished. There's so much to explore with Elrond and Elros. These two moments are poignant and enchanting. How do they know that the new star is Earendil? I guess I'll have to wait for the whole tale.
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I have done some more work on it, but the story is very...huge and daunting. The War of Wrath is such a bleak time, and only the naivete of childhood is preventing my story from being very dark indeed....
Ah yes this was a teaser!!! Now what can we do to get to read more of this? Again you do an admirable job to give all such unique voices. My heart went out to Elros the most when he whispered "But it's so far away." Poor Elros, he misses his parents so much. Elrond is pictured so differently, less whistful but so curious! The observations of Maedhros and Maglor reminded me immediately of the short scene in the Simarillion where both discover that a Silmaril is in the sky now, it feels to me that both now try - in their own way - to transfer that knowlegde. Yeps, where is the rest? ;)
A teaser you say...? Could you please hurry with the rest? ;)
I enjoyed this story very much. The beginning, with Maglor and Elros, was very touching, but the part with Maedhros and Elrond was the one that really moved me. Somehow, I recalled the scene of the council of Elrond from the movie and suddenly I saw Elrond, as he appeared in the film -- speaking about the Ring (regardless of the fact whether Hugo Weaving was a convincing Elrond or not) -- but in a different perspective. And I thought, gods, this man had once had a chance to talk with the sons of Feanor. He was a living and walking legend. This thought alone made me envious. Why, one can ask? Because we, modern people, can't be faced with legends such as Elrond. We can only admire what is left from the past: ruins, debris, scattered pieces of art, but no living evidence. We cannot ask them to tell us what was like to live 3 thousand years ago. Thanks for invoking such thoutghs and for sharing the story with us.
I really enjoyed this; I love the parallel structure of the two parts: Maglor & Elros and Maedhros & Elrond. When Elros says, "But it's so far away," that is heartbreaking.
I look forward to the longer version, even if it does take years. ;) Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you for the kind words! Hopefully, it won't take me years to finish Part 1 (which this is the end of). But...it will be awhile, certainly. Elros and Elrond must be very different people (if they choose separate fates), but at the same time, they must be incredibly close as twins raised apart from their people. I wanted to split them up for this scene so I could get parallel but unique reactions.
I'll be quite interested in your story when it's finished. There's so much to explore with Elrond and Elros. These two moments are poignant and enchanting. How do they know that the new star is Earendil? I guess I'll have to wait for the whole tale.
Hehe, they don't. This conversation takes place a few days after the conversation Tolkien recorded between Maglor and Maedhros - so they know it is the Silmaril that went into the Sea with Elwing. When Maglor says, "You are not an orphan," he merely means that, somehow, Elwing must have lived. Earendil's fate will not be learned until later. Since my tale will span several years, I have to work out who knows what when and at what age.
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I have done some more work on it, but the story is very...huge and daunting. The War of Wrath is such a bleak time, and only the naivete of childhood is preventing my story from being very dark indeed....
Ah yes this was a teaser!!! Now what can we do to get to read more of this? Again you do an admirable job to give all such unique voices. My heart went out to Elros the most when he whispered "But it's so far away." Poor Elros, he misses his parents so much. Elrond is pictured so differently, less whistful but so curious! The observations of Maedhros and Maglor reminded me immediately of the short scene in the Simarillion where both discover that a Silmaril is in the sky now, it feels to me that both now try - in their own way - to transfer that knowlegde. Yeps, where is the rest? ;)
I do not have time at the moment - and won't til Thanksgiving, AHHHH! But when I *do* (you know, sometime in 2008..9..10), would you be interested in being tapped? You'd get first peak then :)
A teaser you say...? Could you please hurry with the rest? ;)
I enjoyed this story very much. The beginning, with Maglor and Elros, was very touching, but the part with Maedhros and Elrond was the one that really moved me. Somehow, I recalled the scene of the council of Elrond from the movie and suddenly I saw Elrond, as he appeared in the film -- speaking about the Ring (regardless of the fact whether Hugo Weaving was a convincing Elrond or not) -- but in a different perspective. And I thought, gods, this man had once had a chance to talk with the sons of Feanor. He was a living and walking legend. This thought alone made me envious. Why, one can ask? Because we, modern people, can't be faced with legends such as Elrond. We can only admire what is left from the past: ruins, debris, scattered pieces of art, but no living evidence. We cannot ask them to tell us what was like to live 3 thousand years ago. Thanks for invoking such thoutghs and for sharing the story with us.
I'm sorry! Of my two longish Silmarillion WIPs, I think this one is on the back burner at the moment. I'll see what I can do about finishing the other one up and getting it posted, and then get back to this one. Though I did think of a name for this one just yesterday - "On the Edge of Ruin." We'll see if it sticks.
I love the scene in the movie where Elrond says, "I was there, Gandalf." It just drives home how *ancient* he is. And of course calls to mind the passage in the book where Frodo is hit by the same realization when he blurts out, "You remember?" As you say, he's a legend!
I'll try to share more of this with you later, but I must ask for your continued patience. Thanks so much for the review!
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.