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!
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.
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."
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…
In which Fëanor & Fingolfin are re-embodied in 4th age Aman, are nowhere near as healed as everyone believes them to be, and decide to pretend that sleeping together will fix their relationship instead of causing more problems.
Fëanor does not even get a chance to finish being annoying before Fingolfin’s eyes flash with something far too dark to be only fury and his hand snaps out to grab a handful of Fëanor’s hair. He wrenches Fëanor’s head back in a move that is so surprisingly painful it throws him off balance. In…
We get together from time to time on the SWG Discord and produce spontaneous fanworks based on randomly chosen prompts. This collection includes drabbles, ficlets, and other flash fanworks produced as part of our instadrabbling sessions.
A collection of drabbles about women in Tolkien's Legendarium.
Current Challenge
Birthday Bash
Daily word, image, and poetry prompts are loosely structured around events and milestones leading up to our 20th birthday. Read more ...
Random Challenge
And the Winner Is ...
Pit two characters against each other to see who wins. Characters can fight physically or match their wits or even magic. Read more ...
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.
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.
As one of the most beloved Silmarillion characters, Maglor is a bundle of contradictions undergirded by a complex textual history. Warrior, musician, wanderer, and survivor, Maglor brings to the fore key themes in Tolkien's early legendarium, such as the role of music, oaths, and exile.
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.
One wrong decision can make a world of difference. When one of the Fellowship makes the mistake, the consequences are so severe that only the Valar can repair it. But will they?
Glorfindel daughter's life is in Elrohir's hands and only she remembers th eir love for each other. The fate of…
The Gardens of the Entwives are fallen, but two Entwives remain.
Around the World and Web
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.
Celedriel Week 2025
Celedriel Week is a Tumblr events for fanworks about Galadriel and Celeborn.
Tolkien Ekphrasis Week 2025
This is a Tolkien-fandom-wide event dedicated to the art of ekphrasis in Tolkien's worlds. Its goal is to illuminate the artistic surroundings of the places, people, and stories we love, in as many media as possible.
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.
Indy, I fell in love with this plot bunny the moment you brought it up. What a wonderful way to reconcile such a sad situation. I love this, not just because of its creativity, and not to mention its heresy, but I love the very realistic way you have portrayed a polyamorous relationship. I love how you showed them in their everyday lives, and the friendship between all three of them, and that it's very much a part of the love too. I loved how the women really seemed to have the upper hand in this, and that it wasn't Finwe forcing them together. And the idea of Feanor having two mothers is spectacular. This rings very true, especially to someone who has been close friends with people who do live an alternate lifestyle like polyamorory. I love how much thought you put into this. The imagery is gorgeous, and the bits of humor make it even more poigniant and meaningful.
This has always, and always will be, a story I treasure and enjoy reading again and again. Lovely work, Indy!
Thank you so much, Roisin! I figured that if I'm making it AU by the triad, I may as well go all the way and give it a happy ending.
I'm glad you find the relationship realistic, because it can be difficult to portray. I couldn't have Finwë be the driving force, because it didn't ring true (and it gives off some dubious vibes). Plus, I wanted to focus on the Mírel/Indis relationship because I know you like femslash. I can't see either one of the women being shrinking violets-- they married the king of the Noldor! (And Indis loved him enough to cause him to take it to the Valar. Strong woman to go against society.)
What an awesome, creative, idea! This was a wonderful way to retell a sad story into one I feel is plausible and enjoyable. I like the idea of Indis and Miriel being lovers. I have never seen anyone approach those two characters that way but I really like it a lot. Great job!
I hadn't read this before reading about it in your comments to MEFA. I have to tell you that I loved this angle in this relationship. I've never seen this approach before and I can see how well the concept works through your words. I love the unexpected. Thanks for writing this.
Thank you! Threesome/moresome relationships in this fandom are unfortunately rare, so that was part of my motivation in writing it. Mostly, it was just a fun idea, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I have to tell you that I love this! Just...they're all so happy. I love Finwë/Miriel/Indis in a happy working relationship together, and this is so good.
And I'm so glad that Elleth pointed this out to me, and that you wrote it. I sound like an utterly idiotic fangirl, but this is one of my fav three pairings. It's so rare, and I adore this fic.
Thank you so much! Half the reason I wrote it was because I wanted a happy ending. (I actually have a sequel to this, written during B2MeM earlier this year, but haven't edited it yet. Next year, hopefully.) No such thing as an utterly idiotic fangirl here; squee makes fandom what it is. But I must ask-- in sheer amazement and desire-- where are the other fics with this triad?! Again, thank you! :D
This story is just so cute and sweet and perfect I can't handle it! I just loved the interactions between Miriel and Indis - and that last scene with Feanor was adorable :)
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it! (This story sometimes makes me feel like the red-headed stepchild of fandom, but it's one of my personal favorites of the ones I've written. So I'm always thrilled to see that other people like it.)
Not knowing this was an AU outside of the relationship--I came to it via a link of Elleth's list of femslash stories--my breath caught when I realized that this change in detail had given the House of Finwe a happy ending. What a beautiful moment and a lovely surprise!
And the heretic in me adores the fact that this came about through the loosening of the constraints of the Valar, that their too-strict rules would have been what created the discomfort with Finwe's "complicated" (not at all by real-world standards, of course, but I think we're seeing more than a little of JRRT's Catholicism at work here) family situation, that all of the parties involved could have been content with greater acceptance of how things are versus prescriptive notions of how things should be.
I loved the bit of verse for the love scene. This was just perfect to me, for reasons I can't quite articulate. :)
Thank you! The summary doesn't give that much away (maybe, at this point I don't know), and to hear that you hadn't even had *that* and it worked for you? I'm thrilled. And I couldn't resist giving them a happy ending; it was pretty much the point, actually. Change one detail and things spin out from it.
It's definitely part and parcel of Tolkien's Catholicism. But things aren't easy in the world-- real or imaginary-- and trying to put people in boxes and define their behavior by "what should be" rather than what is often leads to harm. And with the House of Finwë… Well, we get the Silm.
I'm glad to hear that. The scene was the bit I was most nervous about (I was nervous (and still am, in some ways) about the whole story), and it's also the most explicit I'm capable of writing.
Comments on A Kind of Poetry
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.