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.
SWG News
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.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] An exercise in music... And patience by Aprilertuile
Makalaurë was sitting at the harp in his music room. He was holding a dark blindfold in his hands and was looking at it with much scepticism.
[Writing] No Time Have I by Flora-lass
A Silmarillion acrostic.
[Writing] I called it Fate that I should fail by AdmirableMonster
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…
[Writing] All of you by chrissystriped
Elrond and Celebrían celebrate their anniversary with their family.
[Writing] Lament for the Singer by daughterofshadows
A short thing about Maglor, death and grieving.
[Writing] Cosmological Poems of Arda by AaronAzrael
I would like to share my revelations of Tolkien's Universe in the form of narrative and emotional poems.
[Writing] Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael
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…
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
New Year's Resolution
Our annual amnesty challenge allows you to complete and receive stamps for challenges you missed in the past year. Read more ...
New in References
Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]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.
Passing Ships by Simon J. Cook
[]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.
Fanfiction and the Serious Business of Writer's Craft by Dawn Walls-Thumma
[]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.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Staging a Battle by StarSpray
[]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.
[Writing] From whose bourn no traveller returns by losselen
[]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.
[Writing] Sand Sorcery by StarSpray
[]It is well known that Psamathos does not leave his cove. He does not like to get his feet wet, and prefers to spend his days dozing under the sun.
Around the World and Web
Fellowship of the Fics: Summer Stories 2024
Fellowship of the Fics offers four weeks of summer-themed prompts during the month of July.
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.
July 2024 Call for Papers and Proposals
Conferences and publications that have open calls for papers and proposals in July 2024.
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.
The king perishes with his city by elennalore
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The king perishes with his city
Turgon looked down from his tower; he looked at his city but did not see it burn. No, he saw it like it had been before, when it had only been a vision in his head. He had loved the city already even though it had existed only in his mind.
He had wanted to give his people a little glimpse of Valinor. A city made of white stone, its terraces and squares filled with plants and trees and pleasant-sounding fountains, its magnificent arches and towers standing bold. A gem not like anything else, kept in a hidden valley, guarded by the Eagles.
He had been content with his life there, although real happiness had evaded him since Valinor. It should have been an impossible plan, to build a city in secret and move his folk there unseen. But nothing was impossible for those who had crossed the ice.
His hands rested on the cold marble. Now he saw the flames and destruction. Wormlike beasts breathing fire, shadowy figures amongst the fumes. He saw an arch collapse, and a black hollow emptiness lingered where a building had stood before. Nothing that was alive could survive the fire of the beasts. It killed even stone.
He did not cry or wail, for he was already dead, as much as the city was already dead. The fact that he was still breathing was just a little imperfection.
“Have you watched enough?” said a voice behind him. It sounded bored, like the owner of the voice would have liked to be anywhere else than in Turgon’s tower – perhaps in the main square with those fiery beings, demolishing the city and obliterating its beauty.
“No,” he answered, for it suddenly amused him to stall Morgoth’s lieutenant while he could continue to lament the fall of his city a little bit longer.
A clear ‘humph’ was expressed from behind him, but the evil spirit let him watch it for some time before speaking again.
“You know that there will be nothing left of this place when we are finished, only ash and broken stone.”
“I am aware that the memory of this city will survive in the hearts of every of its citizen,” Turgon replied, rather sharply.
“And your dead body will lie in the middle of this devastation until the flames will catch it and it will finally burn to ashes," the being continued.
“You are ordering me a funeral pyre, how very thoughtful of you.”
“I’m sure you have seen enough,” Morgoth’s lieutenant said, venom in his voice.
Slowly, Turgon turned to face him. He was ready to perish with his city. Unarmored. He had guessed that it would come to this.
“Do what you came here to do,” he commanded the enemy, and weariness filled him.
Morgoth’s lieutenant wore a full body armour and held a spear in his gloved hand. He raised his spear, ready to thrust it forward.
Turgon’s sword had been taken away by the Orcs who had broken into the tower. He gasped but did not move. He was, after all, as dead as his city already.
Chapter End Notes
It's not mentioned in canon that Sauron was in Gondolin, but I hope you allow me to play with the canon a little.
