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.
Looks good to me! And I'm omniscient--what were you thinking?(Dear lord, I hope I didn't miss any typos.) Seriously, I love Maglor. And this is so poetic and atmospheric. So glad you did it.
Of course you're omniscient, you see right through me. ;-) The icon you made for today's stories inspired me. It reminded me of Maglor for some reason.
This vignette has a very special vibe to it, to me it feels as if Maglor either is not ready to let go and that in a way he has not dealt with his past actions fully. There is that Feanorian pride as well, for example his demand that Manwë's wind should caress his face ere he feels that Manwë has forgiven him. Then there is the loss of his singing voice: is that his own self-inflicted punishment or not. Don't worry about if I think it isn't clear, I love stories which leaves things unsaid or for the reader themselves to figure out (although I might squee if I get your intent right). This is a great story!
Thanks, Rhapsody. You're right on all counts. Maglor can't forgive himself and, until he does, he can't be forgiven by the Valar. I tend to leave little ficlets like this vague so the reader can interpret the motivations and emotions as they see fit. Kind of mini Rorschach tests. I'm glad you enjoyed this and got so much out of it.
This is very haunting, IgB. I can hear the waves and smell the sea, and Maglor's regret is a thing embodied. I love the idea -- and the imagery you use to convey it -- of the wind summoning Maglor. And then the end is suitably ambiguous: it would seem that breeze summons Maglor but he chooses to ignore it, turning his face from the wind and contemplating another path.
Thanks Pandemonium! Maglor does choose to ignore the breeze. He's so wrapped up in his grief that he's unable to see or seek outward. I'm glad you like the atmosphere and imagery here. It's difficult to set the right tone in a short piece sometimes.
I appreciate your comments, Moreth. Thanks so much. The sea has always been romantic to me, but there is nothing quite as melancholy as the sea in the rain. It's a powerful image for regret.
What a beautifully sad and evocative story. I do like how certain things are left open to the readers' own interpretations. This took me back to a burial I attended about ten years ago. It was not at all depressing despite how it sounds. Those of us who were there read poetry, reflected on the person's life and it was all quite beautiful. Maglor is perhaps my favourite of the Fëanorians and I did empathize with him here.
I wrote this one in response to an icon Oshun posted for one of the Back to Middle-earth challenges. It reminded me of Maglor and I was inspired to write this. I think it's wonderful when a burial celebrates a person's life in that way, with storys and poetry. Maglor is one of my favorite Feanorians too. I like his interactions with Maedhros in some of the stories I've read but he's a great character by himself too. Thank you for your comments.
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.