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.
Largely focused on Númenor, its fall, and the aftermath, as seen from the perspective of two Mannish scientists, bit players in some ways, but who nonetheless cast their shadows across the history of Middle Earth.
A story of three friends in Númenor, one of whom attracts the attention of the High Priest. What does friendship mean in the shadow of the Black Temple?
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…
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.
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.
Scribbles & Drabbles 2024
A chill Tolkien event, where artists make art, and authors write little stories in response. Begins in June and ends in November.
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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.
Oh wow, you just made me cry. That was beautiful and so effective -- the language, the imagery, the repetition. Ohtar's loyalty and devotion was palpable. You are so good at packing an emotional punch in just a handful of paragraphs.
You know, I have been thinking about Ohtar a lot. He was the first OC I have written about, but I’m not sure if I have ever read anyone else’s fic about him. So this was a fascinating read already for this reason.
I really enjoyed the language and the general flow how the story was written. You have pictured so well that special relationship between Isildur and Ohtar. I like the idea that he was already serving Isildur in Númenor. And I’m sure that Ohtar was one of the first ones who noticed the change that the One Ring caused in Isildur. He must’ve been a trusted man for Isildur.
The ending of this fic really makes me think that a new life is waiting for the person who was Ohtar as he’s called by his name he had forgotten. Great ending.
Thank you! I wanted that new life to peek through at the end, so I'm very happy that you read it that way. I've taken some liberties with ages (Ohtar is probably more than a little too old to still be Isildur's esquire at the end if he was with him in Numenor) but I like the continuity of their long time together. And as a fellow Ohtar fan, I'm particularly glad you liked this. :)
Thank you! It was a fun prompt to think through. I've been looking for an opportunity to write Ohtar for a while and this ended up being a perfect fit. Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you! The "only 3 came back" always gets me and I wanted to play with how Ohtar ended up being one of the ones chosen to live. It took on a life of its own and I grew very attached to him!
I love this look at Ohtar and his devotion and fealty. I was surprised that his story started as early as Isildur's theft of the fruit of Nimloth, but it made perfect sense, and it was heartbreaking to follow his service to Isildur from idealistic young man to hard-hearted and Ring-poisoned king. All the more beautiful to have a happy ending for him, finding a kind new lord in Valandil. There are so many wonderful details here - the replaced name, the measure of trust and love between Ohtar and Isildur, the pain as silence falls between them. As others have already said, your use of language and imagery is really effective. You've managed to put a lot into a short piece!
Thanks very much! I rarely crack 1,000 words -- I enjoy the challenge of packing as much as possible into a small space. People who can map out and keep the momentum of long, multi-chapter works are amazing but I will stick to my shorties. I'm glad this one worked so well for you.
Oooh, I loved this! Ohtar's devotion for Isildur is so great, through all the challenges they went through together. I love that he played a part in the rescue of the seed of Nimloth.
Poor Ohtar, it's almost worse to think he was along for the whole arc from Numenor to the Gladden Fields than if he just happened to be the one there in the end. At least he recognized it was the Ring causing that change!
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.