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.
The majority of the Silmarillion was penned by a single Elf--an Elf who was so thoroughly written out as to appear only through the ways in which their perspective shaped the stories we see. This is their story, the historian's history, the Pennas Pengolodh.
The Exiles of Gondolin come to Sirion. The residents of Sirion welcome them, and friendship blossoms between the last remaining loremaster of Gondolin and a young poet of Sirion.
Fingon returns to Barad Eithel after a late-autumn hunt, finding someone unexpected with his wife. The night takes an even more unexpected turn for all three of them.
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
B2MeM 2010
Back to Middle-earth Month 2010 was a collaborative game-style challenge where participants created fanworks in order to progress in their attempt to win the Last Battle. 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.
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.
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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.
Painful, how you've made the "unwomanly" thralls into actual people -- I love this peek into her mind, and how she's a survivor rather than not. Her strength really is in persisting and continuing, even if Tuor (JRRT) doesn't think so! I enjoyed this, many thanks.
Thank you very much, Quente! Good to hear that that came across like that. Of course, Tolkien did something similar with Aerin already (and I appreciate that he is capable of that empathy when he is paying attention), but I really wanted to extend that respect and sympathy also to women who are not close relatives of the protagonists!
Lots of interest in this short piece. I like the balance of humanizing Easterlings generally with the intriguing/creepy visits of Lorgan to Angband. Your OC is sympathetic but sensible. And Tuor does decide to be patient under the poor treatment and bide his time, so maybe that is a wisdom he picks up from people like your Pinfileg. Nice work!
Thank you very much, mouse! Glad that balance worked for you. I think Tuor understandably needs time to work out what is going on, because growing up with Annael could not really have prepared him for this situation. But my intention was that he does understand things better by the time he leaves.
What a terrible situation Pínfileg is in! I always enjoy reading your OCs. I appreciate that you looked and humanized one of the people who Tolkien dismisses. Lorgan's visits to Angband are intriguing and sinister . . . And his trying to hurt the thralls through any remaining loyalty to Húrin's family reminds me of the Ring's or Sauron's temptations, twisting the things people love and their best qualities to use against them.
Thank you very much, Zdenka! Good to hear that you liked reading about this OC!
Tolkien does not give us much about Lorgan, but to me as a reader he gives off a more sinister impression than Brodda, because what he does seems more deliberate and he seems to be acting purposefully for Morgoth's interests as much as his own. (Of course, that doesn't make the sufferings of Brodda's victims any less!)
Thank you, Grundy! I am glad you liked my Little Sparrow! I haven't managed to come up with a way of escape for her yet, in my mind. Possibly she may end up at one of those smaller settlements mentioned where living conditions are better. Canon seems pretty definite that nobody escaped with Tuor and I think I would need to find some other means for her to get away from Lorgan.
A very vivid view from the thralls' perspective. She has an amazing strength of will and resilience, and her communication attempt with Tuor, well, watching his actions must have been both frightening and frustrating. And the idea of Lorgan visiting Morgoth — I'd never really thought in detail about how Morgoth communicated his will in practical terms, and this adds an extra chilling dimension. Well done with this.
My ideas about Lorgan are influenced by that scene where he is trying to second-guess Morgoth's intentions with the release of Hurin. None of that directly follows, of course, but maybe...
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.