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
Great Journeys
Join a character on the road to explore the actual and symbolic importance of journeys. 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.
Do I need to say how much I like this? :^) As in very, very much like it?
Annatar and Celebrimbor's individual voices and dialog are great. Love the remarks about the lanterns in Nargothrond. The interaction of these two craftsmen rings true to the common ground that scientists and engineers, who may be strangers to one another, can so quickly find.
...designing everything from better forges to better mousetraps.
Yes, the practical things first and then...lower the boom.
A good glimpse at the beginning of the professional relationship between Annatar and Celebrimbor! Too bad at how it will turn out in the end.
I liked these parts a lot: "It was much more useful than hiding away in Valinor...Celebrimbor never had seen why they should all have to live in poverty because they had the misfortune to live in the wrong place..."
...Annatar smiled. "Oh yes, it is important to show solidarity. On the other hand, I can quite appreciate your desire to automate that function as much as possible!"
"...No matter how many I made, they always wanted more. I got so sick of making them in the end that I broke Feanorian secrecy and taught other people how to make them." My father did not speak to me for nearly two months after that. (LOL!)
I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. I have started work on another longer story about Celebrimbor that will go up here in awhile. It is about what happened immediately after he realized that Annatar had betrayed them.
I like your character of Celebrimbor, so very Feanorian yet tempered, just like the Celebrimbor in the Silm who "repudiates his father," recognizing that the people of Nargothrond have a right to his family's secret knowledge for aiding them as refugees. This is a really nice detail and shows so much of what I think makes Celebrimbor a fascinating (and tragic) character.
I'm glad you like the ending. Like so many of the silmarillion characters, Celebrimbor is quite complicated when you start to look at the implications of everything he did. I feel rather sorry for him - would you want to grow up in the house of Feanor? I certainly wouldn't. I think he could've done a lot worse with what he was given. Thank you for the feedback, I'm glad it was enjoyed.
Here on the recomendation of Pandemonium - I like this. I like that Sauron gains Celembimbor's trust by offering to help him make things better. I like that Celebrimbor isn't depicted as being rebellious against the Valar for rebellion's sake, but because darn it, everyone deserves the advantages of certain technology - and I like that your Annatar doesn't come across as entirely evil, but with a bit of moral ambiguity. I enjoyed this!
I am glad that you enjoyed this. Celebrimbor is one of my favorite characters. I find his insatiable curiosity very understandable but it did make him terribly vulnerable to Annatar. However, it he hadn't been there I think Annatar would've gone after somebody else with a strategy targeted to their weaknesses. Look at Ar-Pharazon. I am working on some more things about Celebrimbor that should be up in a while.
I can see that first meeting occuring like this. Celebrimbor is so eager to work with someone who can teach him; he's used to being the authority and he wants to know more, it's sad. And perhaps Annatar is regretting the waste even as he contemplates using Celebrimbor and then destroying him. Nicely done.
I'm glad you liked it. Annatar is thinking of the waste involved. I also think he may also be remembering Aule, who I picture as being a little like Celebrimbor in personality. I'm hoping to one day write another fic where Celebrimbor and Aule meet and have a discussion about what happened. But then there are far too many things I would like to write. Thank you for the review.
Poor Celebrimbor. So well-meaning, so fair-minded, so curious and forward-looking - and so doomed. You do a nice job here of showing how Sauron uses all the man's best qualities to lure him into his trap.
In many ways I find Celebrimbor among the most tragic characters in Middle Earth - possibly the most tragic. I wish more was written about him. Thanks for the feedback.
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.