Welcome to the Silmarillion Writers' Guild

Musicals! A Silmarillion Writers' Guild Challenge, Coming April 15-May 15, 2025. Banner depicts a dark-hair Elf tipping his hat and three Silmarils.
New Challenge: Musicals. Prompts this month come from musicals.
So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Session 2: Putting Together the Presentation, April 12, 1:00 PM ET, silmarillionwritersguild.org
So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation. The video and materials from our latest session of "So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference?" are now available. This session covers crafting a paper intended for presentation and designing helpful, accessible visuals to accompany your talk.
Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow, The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves - Silmarillion Writers' Guild - Mereth Aderthad 2025 - July 19, 2025 - Burlington, VT, and online - a celebration of creativity and scholarship inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien
Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow. Dragons are one of the most familiar creatures in Tolkien's world and one of the least understood. In this interview, Shadow spoke with cloudyhymns about his Mereth Aderthad presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," the nature of dragons and their connections with Dwarves, and the musicality of Tolkien's works.
Instadrabbling, Saturday, April 5, 18:00/6PM UTC
Instadrabbling Sessions for April, May, and June. The first Saturday of each month, we will be hosting instadrabbling on our Discord server.
Interview with polutropos by Dawn - 'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium - Silmarillion Writers' Guild - Mereth Aderthad 2025 - July 19, 2025 - Burlington, VT, and online - a celebration of creativity and scholarship inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien
Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with polutropos by Dawn. "And love grew after between them"—those words have fascinated a fandom intent on revealing the how and why of the "kidnap fam" plot point in "The Silmarillion." In this interview, polutropos discusses her upcoming Mereth Aderthad paper on the topic, “'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium."
The Silmarillion Writers' Guild Presents Mereth Aderthad 2025 - July 19, 2025, Burlington, VT and online - A celebration of creativity and scholarship inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Sign-ups for fanworks creators are open! Registration is open!
Mereth Aderthad Registration Is Open!. Registration for attending Mereth Aderthad is open for both in-person and virtual attendees and will remain open through the day of the event.
SWG Challenge - Birthday Bash - 14 March through 16 April 2025
New Challenge: Birthday Bash. In honor of our twentieth birthday, we look back at twenty years of SWG history with a new poetry, image, and word prompt each day.
Character of the Month: Vidumavi of the Northmen by Secondborn
Character of the Month: Vidumavi of the Northmen. A seemingly minor character, Vidumavi's story illustrates the themes of fellowship, the fading of faerie, and the dangers of racial hierarchy.
Tolkien Fanartics - Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age
Tolkien Fanartics: Mapping Arda - The Second Age. In the third part of the Mapping Arda series, Anérea and Varda delle Stelle present a selection of fan-created maps of the lands of the Second Age.

Latest News

New Challenge: Musicals
Prompts this month come from musicals.

So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation
The video and materials from our latest session of "So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference?" are now available. This session covers crafting a paper intended for presentation and designing helpful, accessible visuals to accompany your talk.

Archive Software Upgrade and Downtime Postponed
The major software update on the archive has been postponed; we will announce when a new date has been set.

View all SWG news.

Newest Fanworks

High in the Clean Blue Air by StarSpray

They passed out of Lhûn and the wider coastline of Middle-earth opened up before his eyes. He had wandered those shores for centuries, and even now he felt the pull of that same wanderlust, and knew he would miss them for the rest of his life. Their wildness, the untamed waves, the rocky shores and the cliffs and the sandy beaches.

The Writhen Pool by pandemonium_213

When the Istyari of Second Age Ost-in-Edhil deny her a place in an important new initiative to be taken up by the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, a young master smith struggles to make her mark in the man's realm of the forges.   An opportunity arrives when the smith is offered a commission that will present challenges of both mind and heart.


Pandë!verse-centric.

An Essay on the Sons of Fëanor by clotho123

An overview of the Sons of Fëanor and their role in Tolkien's Silmarillion writings

Sketch of Maglor by the sea by randomhamster

A simple sketch of Maglor playing his harp by the sea, uploaded to use as my new profile picture

The Last Maker by Ecthelion

In the end, the master of lies made the mistake of underestimating him. 
A story of Celebrimbor, the last of the House of Fëanor in Middle-erath.

New in References

So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff

Video and materials from our session on how to put together a paper and presentation for a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to structure a paper for a presentation, assembling a presentation to support your paper, and accessibility and other tools for ensuring everyone can access your work.

Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow by cloudyhymns, daughterofshadows

Shadow spoke with cloudyhymns about his upcoming presentation for Mereth Aderthad 2025, "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of the Dwarves," where he shares his theory about how Dwarves and dragons are connected in the legendarium, a topic full of implications for fanworks.

Interview with polutropos by Dawn by polutropos, Dawn Felagund

Dawn spoke with polutropos about her upcoming presentation for Mereth Aderthad, “'Kidnap Fam' and the Living Legendarium," including the appeal of kidnap fam, the appeal of Maglor's character, and how The Silmarillion as an incomplete, complex word makes it ripe for both fanworks and scholarship.

Newest Artwork

Sketch of Maglor by the sea by randomhamster
Sketch of Maglor playing the harp by the sea, monochrome

A simple sketch of Maglor playing his harp by the sea, uploaded to use as my new profile picture

Rating: General
Warnings: No warnings listed

Scion of Kings by silmalope
Thumbnail image. Fingon’s face in profile.

Drawing my favorite Gil-galad origin headcanon, wherein Fingon stumbles across a stray war orphan in the battlefield.

Rating: General
Warnings: No warnings listed

2025 Birthday Bash Prompt Fills by silmalope
Digital pencil sketch. Melian mourns her dying husband, cradling his head in her lap.

Sketches inspired by the 2025 Birthday Bash challenge prompts!

Rating: Creator Chooses Not to Rate
Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings, Creator Chooses Not to Warn

Around the World and Web

Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) Sign-Ups Open!
The Tolkien Reserve Summer Bang is a collaborative fan event celebrating the works and adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien. Writers and artists will team up to bring new stories to life—from the Shire to the far reaches of Valinor (and everything in between).

Silmarillion Epistolary Week 2025
Silmarillion Epistolary is a challenge dedicated to creating fanworks to tell the story of the Silmarillion in the style of an epistolary novel.

April Challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The tolkienshortfanworks challenge for April has been posted to the Dreamwidth community. The thematic prompt is: wood. The formal challenge is: linnod (Gilraen's canonical verse form). These can be filled separately and freely combined with other challenges and prompts that allow this.