New Challenge: Musicals
Prompts this month come from musicals.
SWG News
So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation
The video and materials from our latest session of "So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference?" are now available. This session covers crafting a paper intended for presentation and designing helpful, accessible visuals to accompany your talk.
Archive Software Upgrade and Downtime on April 19, 2025
Expect site outages on Saturday, April 19, 2025 as we perform a major software update on the archive.
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.
New & Updated Fanworks
[Writing] Shadows of Us by Artano
Finrod is truamatized from the sudden responsibility thrust upon him and from crossing the Helcaraxë. When he receives a message stating the Petty-dwarves of Nargothrond plan to murder his people, he exiles them. Mîm decides to assassinate Finrod to stop him. What could go wrong?
[Writing] Sorrow Beyond Song by AndrethS@elind3791
The fall of Fingolfin from Fingon's perspective
[Writing] On the Nature of Time by Elrond's Library
A series of half-drabbles using the one word prompts for the March/April 2025 Birthday Bash Challenge, looking at the perception of time through the eyes of Maiar (in general) and Maedhros (specifically).
[Writing] High in the Clean Blue Air by StarSpray
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…
[Writing] Guard You in Sleep by Zdenka
Níniel comforts Finduilas after a nightmare.
[Reference] So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff
Video and materials from our session on how to put together a paper and presentation for a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to structure a paper for a presentation, assembling a presentation to support your paper, and accessibility and other tools for ensuring everyone can access your…
[Series] Instadrabbling by SWG Moderators
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.
Current Challenge
Musicals
Craft a fanwork inspired by songs from musicals. Read more ...
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
Caprice and Chance
Prompts for this Matryoshka challenge are loosely based on the plot arcs and tropes of romance novels. Read more ...
New in References
So You Want to Present at a Tolkien Conference? Putting Together the Presentation by SWG Newsletter Staff
Video and materials from our session on how to put together a paper and presentation for a Tolkien conference. The session covers how to structure a paper for a presentation, assembling a presentation to support your paper, and accessibility and other tools for ensuring everyone can access your work.
Interview with cloudyhymns by Shadow by cloudyhymns, daughterofshadows
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.
Interview with polutropos by Dawn by polutropos, Dawn Felagund
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.
Featured Themed Collection
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.
Alliterative Verse for Arda by Rhunedhel
Part of our Themed Collection series for our newsletter, this collection features alliterative poems about Middle-earth.
Beyond the Silmarillion
[Writing] Paradox of the Fourth Age by Alassante
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…
[Writing] By Mirrormere by bunn
A new Age dawns, and Moria is retaken at last.
[Writing] Beneath the Bitter Rain by bunn
The Gardens of the Entwives are fallen, but two Entwives remain.
Around the World and Web
Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang (TRSB) Sign-Ups Open!
The Tolkien Reserve Summer Bang is a collaborative fan event celebrating the works and adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien. Writers and artists will team up to bring new stories to life—from the Shire to the far reaches of Valinor (and everything in between).
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.
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.
Teitho March/April Challenge: Mothers
The Teitho Contest theme for the months of March and April is mothers.
Jubilee 2025 Instadrabbling by elennalore
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Our love broke this land
The prompt was a snippet of song from the song "Hunger" by Robinson and Rohe, here covered by Vienna Teng. https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxdmKnTgORu9DccoJeItBrYrMR1P5sMylB
Character: Mairon (Mairon/Melkor), after the War of Wrath.
Our love was too powerful for this land. It broke the earth and dried the rivers; it hid the stars from view. It was the death of the land, but we realised it too late. Perhaps you didn’t realise it at all.
I wonder if our love will endure now that you are gone. It is in my blood, it is in my song, but your fall has made me bloodless and mute. I don’t know what to do, and it scares me. If I cry to the stars, will they even hear me? Dry earth crumbles under my feet.
