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] 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…
[Artwork] Map of Valinor by Aprilertuile
My newly drawn map of Aman, as complete as I could make it.
Current Challenge
Bollywood
Prompts this month are films, songs, and tropes from India's dazzling film industry, Bollywood. Read more ...
Random Challenge
Season's Greetings
Create a fanwork in which one (or several) of the holidays of Middle-earth plays a role. 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.
Another Lesson by Rocky41_7
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Another Lesson
“Arwen.”
The young Noldo stood at the threshold of the queen’s room, but did not enter. Her hands were clenched at her sides.
“Come.” Melian spoke, as she always did, serenely. She did not raise her voice. She did not harden her eyes. She did not repeat herself.
And Artanis, despite her best intentions, passed over the threshold and came to the queen’s side.
“Sit.”
Artanis knelt at Melian’s slippered feet.
“Remember you what I told you this morning?”
Artanis grit her teeth against the answer that pulsed against the back of her teeth. The desire to respond writhed in her chest until, fearing she would give herself away, she gave an answer:
“Yes, my queen.”
Melian was not mollified. She reached out and stroked Artanis’ cheek, drawing a shudder through her, and some twisting feeling in her gut. Melian’s magic prowled around the edges of Artanis’ fëa; she did not probe, but Artanis knew she was capable of it. She resisted the urge to lean into Melian’s touch.
“I told you I wished you to stay silent at today’s meeting, did I not?”
“Yes, my queen.”
“Why did you heed me not?”
“I…” I wanted to make you angry. “I thought I had insight to offer. Please, forgive me if I was not helpful to my queen.” Swallowing the bile in her throat, Artanis leaned forward to genuflect, but although her hands hit the floor, she could not make her elbows bend, could not make herself kowtow. “It is always my desire to serve the most noble queen of Doriath.”
“Tsk. Pride compounded by lies,” said Melian. “You’ve been a bad girl, Arwen. I would not be fair to you to let this pass.”
Artanis shuddered again and she did not know if the heat that rose in her breast was hers alone, or some magic of Melian’s. She wanted to strike the queen. She wanted to fling herself into Melian’s arms.
“Of course not, my queen.”
“Look at me, Arwen.” Teeth grinding, Artanis raised her head, knowing she was about to make things worse for herself. She could never keep the anger from her eyes; Melian’s remonstrations echoed those of her mother and father, who warned her how much of her mind she wrote across her face. How Finrod managed to smile and speak lightly even when she knew him to be wroth always escaped her. Perhaps that was why he was king and she a handmaiden of Doriath. “Tsk. And unrepentant, too. Have I not treated you well?”
Melian rose to her feet and tugged Artanis up with her. She traced her fingers again down the side of Artanis’ alabaster face, studying her Tree-lit eyes with thoughts unknowable. Melian wore the form of Elvenkind, but she rarely allowed those around to forget what she truly was—there was an air of otherness, of inhumanity that she could not erase no matter how well she wore her costume. It was in her eyes.
“Have I been an unkind mistress to you, Arwen?”
“No, my queen.”
“Have I not welcomed you into my home, allowed you my daughter as a playmate, even taken you as one of my own handmaids?” Melian’s long, tapering fingers swept down Artanis’ throat, momentarily fingering the necklace just below the hollow of her throat. “Are you not honored?”
“Yes, my queen. I am honored.”
“And yet you disobey. You rebel. Your pride compels you, even where there is nothing to gain. Why is that?” Melian’s hand stopped at Artanis’ breast, and she wondered how little force it would take for Melian to push straight through to her heart.
“I don’t know, my queen.” Daring, she added: “Perhaps it is simply a flaw of mine.”
“Mm, that, certainly. You will go nowhere and accomplish nothing if you cannot learn to master yourself, chicklet.” Melian drew her close with a hand at her hip. Artanis laid her head on Melian’s shoulder, enveloped in the sharp, earthy smell of her, and the Maia queen stroked the golden waterfall of her hair. The tension strung through her like a clothesline since she entered the room eased. “This is a punishment, dear girl,” Melian said. “But it is more than that. It is a lesson.”
Artanis felt Melian’s desire for her to kneel again before any words left her plump lips. This time, she face away from the vanity bench, and Melian wove into her hair a set of Melian’s own ribbons. It would have been a flattering gesture, a sign of the queen’s favor, if it were not coupled with something else—a woven necklace of reed, imbued with Melian’s own magic. She bound it around Artanis’ neck like the collar of a thrall, and when Melian pressed with her magic, Artanis could feel that hot pressure around her throat; she gasped and fell forward in spite of herself, instinctively clawing at the foreign object.
“Don’t touch,” said Melian, her gentle words a whip crack that instantly pulled Artanis’ hand away from her neck. “When you have proven to be a good girl, I will remove it.”
***
Thingol was not pleased with such displays of Melian’s in Menegroth’s throne room, but in the relative privacy of their dining hall, she took her freedoms. Food was not necessary for a Maia, but she dined with her family all the same—she knew that the partaking of meals was an important bonding ritual for the Children, and Luthien often took this time to share such news as she had with her parents.
At Melian’s feet was Finarfin’s daughter, with her head resting placidly against Melian’s thigh. Melian fed her bits of fruit and meat off the table, smiling each time Artanis obediently took the food from her fingers.
“That’s my sweet girl,” she cooed, running sticky fingers through Artanis’ hair. “Does it not ease you to be good?”
Dazed, Artanis nodded. Melian tried to offer her another bite of food, but Artanis turned her face away against Melian’s leg.
“What’s that? All done? You haven’t eaten very much.”
“Tired,” Artanis murmured.
“Ah, it must be the new spell.” Melian reached down and stroked the collar. Getting it on her would have been a harder task if she had not been whittling at Artanis’ resistance since her arrival in Doriath. “I’m afraid it is rather a stronger one than usual. So let us hope you need not wear it long, yes?”
Artanis murmured unhappily and Melian gave her a sympathetic look.
“Husband, I believe I will take my leave for now,” she said to Thingol. “Poor Arwen is not feeling well.” Refraining from any comment on Melian’s choice of bonding with the Children, Thingol made no remark on her departure, though Melian nudged Artanis to say goodnight to Luthien on their way out.
As a reward for her docility, Melian allowed Artanis to lie in her bed for a time before being sent away to her own. Sleep was another thing a Maia did not need, but Thingol had seen fit to outfit Melian’s chambers with all the comforts one of the Elves would have desired. She made use of them as she saw fit.
“See you how easy things can be when you behave?” Melian murmured against Artanis’ hair. “You see how nice?”
“I see, my queen,” came the drowsy reply. “I will…be good for you.”
“Good.” Melian kissed her temple and she was sure that Artanis thought she didn’t see the clenched fist at Artanis’ side. “If you are not, I shall be sorely disappointed.”
Chapter End Notes
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