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: 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.
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.
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…
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…
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
Turgon's Rock Opera
On the anniversary of the publication of "The Silmarillion," we’re reflecting on the importance of music in Arda with prompts that come from rock songs. Read more ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
Thank you so much! I\'m so glad the style worked. The strange thing is that, like Tolkien\'s \"Leaf by Niggle,\" it came to me all at once and there was very little I changed.\r\n\r\nOh, good. I was a little worried about the Flame Imperishable sentence being a little cliched.\r\n\r\nI firmly believe that he deserves a happy ending. All of the Feanorians suffered too much, and he was the only one who wanted to renounce the Oath.
I had to sit down and read it again, drinking in the meaning of Eru's words and Maglor's reaction to it. What I so like about this piece is that in a way you leave Maglor's pride and intent of why he still lingers intact, it doesn't feel forced, he still feels very willful and proud. He just adapts to new worlds - Aramaic *squee*, however he still tries to seek out new boundaries. What if he comes across a well that is thusly poisoned that he might die? Just great food for thought and I love to see that in a story.
It feels right to me, personally, that Eru himselfs shows that he is forgiven, again not forced and too dramatic, just perfect. This story is a gem, gently written with a beautiful pacing and you take your time with revealing your intent in it. *thumbs up*
Thank you so much, especially for the reread!\r\n\r\nYes, Maglor would be forced to adapt to the changing world. He doesn\'t have a choice if he wants to survive (and I personally think he\'s too terrified of Mandos to deliberately choose to die).
In the interest of full disclosure, I am not one of the faithful. But that does not preclude my appreciation of a lovely story of redemption and forgiveness. This is poignant and clearly written with care. So much of The Silmarillion is unrelentingly sad and drenched with regret. In spite of my cynical nature, I still like to see those sparks of hope. Thank you for giving hope and then some to Maglor at the side of that well in the desert.
Thank you so much! I think that if we didn\'t have hope, we wouldn\'t get much done.\r\n\r\nAs for your not being Christian, that doesn\'t matter to me. I\'m not one myself, even though I was raised Catholic, though I do believe in a somewhat deistic God (whom I actually prefer to call Eru). The reason it\'s set in that particular circumstance is that Middle-earth was created as mythology set in our world, it\'s stated in Athrabeth that there are Edain who believe \"that the One will enter Arda,\" and that Tolkien\'s Christian beliefs underlie his work. This is probably the most explicitly religious fanfic I\'ll ever write, but the story popped into my head fully formed, and I couldn\'t ignore it.
Oh, this is beautiful! I love your idea of Maglor's redemption, and how you subtly tied up Tolkien's fictional universe with his personal beliefs. Very well done, very emotional. Thank you!
A lovely tale of redemption and forgiveness - and as others have remarked, you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy it. It fits Tolkien's world very well!
I cheered cheered for joy and shed a tear for Maglor in this. The idea of Eru pardoning Maglor personally is really nice. I'm glad Maglor recieved a happy ending in this story.
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.