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.
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.
Created for the 'Geography/Maps/Places' prompt on the "Tolkien meta" bingo board, this is a collection of maps marked with the various people groups showing how they arrived and moved about Beleriand. This collection focuses specifically on the time from the arrival of the Teleri, Vanyar, and…
This is an analysis on whether the Sindar ate the Petty-dwarves during the years they hunted them, completed for the 'Literary Analysis' prompt on the "Tolkien Meta" bingo card.
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
Inspiration
Your characters inspire you--but what inspires them? Consider what inspires your characters to act and create. 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.
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.
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.
November challenge at tolkienshortfanworks
The challenge for November has been posted to the tolkienshortfanworks community on Dreamwidth. Thematic prompt: refuge. Formal challenge: include imitation of a sound. As always, these can be filled independently and also freely combined with SWG and other challenges. New participants welcome!
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 must confess, I've been writing this piece on the assumption that it would probably only amuse me, so I will be immensely pleased if it entertains you! Celeborn's pompousness was borrowed from the style of the preface to Mrs Jeffrey's journal, which I used as a model for this piece, but I think it's safe to say that he's not particularly pleased about being turned into a Telerin prince -- and I won't tell you why Galadriel couldn't comment, because that would be a bit too much of a spoiler, but maybe it will become clear over the course of the story. If not, I have another short story in mind to go with it that should explain everything.
You're absolutely right, in any case: there's a great deal carefully not being said at this point, and I'm very glad you picked up on it. And I do hope the rest of the story doesn't disappoint! :D
This is hilarious! I'm so excited to see where this goes. I love the idea of presenting Tolkien's alternate histories as fictional accounts created within the world. What a creative way to reconcile the different versions! The style is perfect; it fits so well in 19th century prose. And Celeborn's reaction to being called "Teleporno" is brilliant :-). I can't wait to see the editorial comments on this record. Thank you for making me smile!
And thank YOU for making me smile! I must confess, I've been writing this piece on the assumption that it would probably only amuse me, so I will be immensely pleased if it entertains you! I'm an ancient historian by day, so I'm very much used to dealing with wildly varying accounts of events -- when the issue of Galadriel's various histories came up in conversation with friends, this struck me almost immediately as the best way to write a story about the most extreme UT version of Galadriel, while still maintaining the Silmarillion version as canon. I do hope the rest of the piece doesn't disappoint!
(P.S. Who can blame Celeborn for being a little annoyed? Teleporno is a truly *awful* name. :'D)
Oh, the commentaries live up to what I'd hoped! I love their attitude: "an obvious exaggeration," "wholly unnecessary." Perfect! And I'm very glad they didn't let this unknown author get away with slandering the Silvan elves like that. "Fearful hesitance," indeed! Thank you for pointing out their perfectly valid reasons for making their choices.
You reassure me tremendously! This is barely a beginning, though, I know; I hope you enjoy the rest of it as well. Again, thank you so much for reading and commenting!
Your review makes me so happy! I'm very glad you liked this 'taster' (I promise that the next chapters will be more substantial) -- exaggerations, inaccuracies, hidden agendas: all exactly what I wanted to be read there. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
After much research, I found out who the anonymous author of this journal actually is.
I know you'd be surprised to learn that such an extensive research resulted in such simple outcome, but here it is:
The author of this journal is Mary Sue.
And to justify this claim, look closely at how the skills learned by Galadriel are described. Those same questionable in notes #3, 4, and the preceding lines. I think you'll come to agree with this hard worked conclusion. (wink).
As before, I love this story.
I must admit to being quite annoyed with the journal part, but I read it carefully for the "editorial comments" later.
Just great. Thank you.
Oh, a small thing:
"King Olwë, my mother’s brother"
In the Silmarillion it is stated:
"Finarfin was the fairest, ..., and had to wife Eärwen, ..., Olwë's daughter."
Ahaha, I can see how you could come to that conclusion! Did you notice Galadriel's Really Shiny Hair (TM)? All in the UT, I assure you. :D Which is one reason why this story exists at all: I was talking to a couple of friends, quite a long time ago now, about how the UT versions bleed all the interesting shadows out of Galadriel and replace them with generic Shinyness and Wonder, which annoyed me, and so Alatariel the Missionary came to be... and yes, she is rather irritating, isn't she? Which is quite deliberate, and amuses me, but I can see how it would be a little aggravating to read. I'm glad the critical notes make up for it!
Also, thank you so much for picking up Olwe -- THAT inaccuracy was totally unintentional and rather embarrassing, and I've scampered round correcting it. I'll have to blame it on a momentary lapse of attention. Many thanks!
This is so much fun! I love the anachronisms - yes, why would the author assume that there would be any songs/stories/poems about war in Valinor at the time? The editors have pretty good explanation :-). I have to laugh at Alatariel's unwavering perfection and superiority, and then at the editors' responses. It's great.
It's great to hear you're enjoying the story and I'm so glad you're laughing! (So much fun to build in anachronisms. Seriously, it is *great* to be writing this sort of material for a change, instead of reading and analysing it. :D) Thanks for reading, as ever, and for such a lovely comment!
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.