Tolkien's legendarium is full of minor characters. The Silmarillion alone contains more than two hundred named characters with many more appearing (and disappearing) in the posthumously published drafts and texts.

Elemmakil is one such character. In this month's biography, Narya says of Elemmakil: "[H]e is one of many characters who lends verisimilitude to the legendarium by implying a life and depth beyond the deeds of the great heroes—an untold story, one of the many threads of possibility that draw fans back to these tales again and again." Indeed, the SWG archives a dozen fanworks tagged with Elemmakil as a character.

What is the appeal of this barely mentioned, obscure character? Narya makes the case that, as the guardian of the Gates of Gondolin, Elemmakil both functions as an archetype, calling to mind other myths and folklore from around the world, but also connects with various characters in the legendarium who play similar roles of surveillance and call to mind symbolism to do with stars and light.

You can read Elemmakil's biography here.

Today, the Silmarillion Writers' Guild is centered on its website and archive, but when the group started seventeen years ago, it began on social media: on Yahoo! Groups and LiveJournal. It took more than two years to open the website and archive, which arose only because of the thriving community that existed on Y!Groups and LJ.

The SWG continues to maintain accounts on Dreamwidth and Tumblr, mostly for posting announcements (though it's worth mentioning that fanworks are welcome in both places too!) However, by far our most active social account these days is our Discord. Initially used mostly by the gaming community, Discord allows text, voice, and video chatting. Our Discord server for the SWG ("servers" are simply what Discord calls the communities it hosts) is mostly text-based, though we do occasionally host live readings in the voice channel. Put plainly, on our Discord server, you can text chat with other Tolkien fans in real time.

We usually splash links to our site and socials everywhere, but we're a little more reserved with links to our Discord, which creates something of an aura of mystery like it's the SWG's secret clubhouse that requires a special handshake to get into. This couldn't be further from the truth. Because a troll can rampage much faster through a live chat server than through a blog, we don't tend to post public invites to our Discord unless we know we have the moderator presence to stop any shenanigans (yes, learned that one that hard way), but our Discord is open all Tolkien fans who are willing to follow the server's rules, and we welcome new members at any time with absolutely no special requirements to join.

What can you find there? We maintain multiple channels for discussing Tolkien and for different types of fanworks based on the legendarium. We have channels for asking questions, signal boosting events, and sharing links to your fanworks. There are channels always open for organizing "write ins" and "draw ins" with other writers and artists, and we regularly host events on our server too: live readings, instadrabbling, and fanfiction book clubs. In fact, we have a book club for explicit fanfiction next weekend happening on our Discord.

So how do you find this mysterious place? If you'd like to check it out now, here's an invite that's good for the next week. Feel free to share with others.

Logged-in members of the SWG archive can find a Discord invite link in the site footer. If you're not a member of our site, contact our moderators to receive an invite. Again, these links can be freely shared with other fans who might enjoy our server.

To those fans who remember the heady days of the early-mid aughts—of coming home to dozens of new emails from your Tolkien Yahoo! lists, daily updates on your favorite LJ comms, and meeting friends on AIM and YIM—our Discord server continues that legacy of gathering with other fans to discuss Tolkien and make fanworks together. Let's demystify the Discord! We welcome all to join us, no special handshakes required!

As far as fandoms go, the Tolkien fandom is like the Ents: It's been schlepping around for a very long time. In the course of those many decades of history, there have been many trends in fanworks too. Some of you may well remember lemons, Tenth Walkers, and every December's myriad versions of the filksong "Maedhros the Red-Haired Elfling."

This month's challenge celebrates vintage art, writing, and fanworks in all their many forms. We've put together four different bingo cards of vintage prompts for participants to choose from: literature, art, poetry, and of course, fanworks. You can do one or do them all. You can mix and match between cards, try for a bingo, or just pick at random which you'd like to choose.

This is always a good time, too, to offer a reminder about the spirit of our challenges. We don't run challenges to try to shoehorn participants' creativity into what the moderators want to see. We want to encourage the creation of Silmarillion-based fanworks, so if for you that means an offbeat or unexpected interpretation of one of our prompts, we're thrilled to see it!

You can find the Vintage bingo cards, along with text-only prompts, here.

Two months ago, we launched our fandom history and culture column, Cultus Dispatches. As online Tolkien fandom proceeds through its third decade (and Tolkien fandom in general approaches its diamond jubilee), it seems imperative to collect and archive those discussions, fanworks, and memories that have shaped the fandom before they are lost and forgotten.

A subproject of Cultus Dispatches, Fandom Voices aims to do just that. Periodically, we will open a new Fandom Voices question where fans can share their memories and recollections of an event or experience in Tolkien fandom. Back in March, we asked fans who were part of the fandom before either or both film trilogies to share their memories of how the fandom changed (or didn't) once the films debuted. About thirty people have responded so far, and we're pleased to share those responses in this month's Cultus column, Fandom Voices: Impact of the Films. Here, you can find a curated, organized collection of responses with minimal commentary, as well as the original response collections. Do you see a connection we missed or have an interpretation that differs from what we see in the responses? We'd love to hear from you! Comment on the article or hit reply to this message.

Respondents remembered Legomances, Tenth Walkers, vegetarian Elves, and Bagginshield as fandom phenomena arising from the films. They remembered new fan communities springing up overnight (or gaining hundreds of members in just a few days) post-LotR films, and they remember subtler but still impactful cultural shifts post-Hobbit trilogy that brought more diverse depictions of characters and a more permissive view of sexuality in fanworks. They remember mentoring new fans and fighting with them; feeling delighted and overwhelmed by all of the new and enthusiastic readers of Tolkien. They remember gatekeeping and arguments but also building connections with others that have endured, sometimes for years or even decades. More than one person described the films' impact on their fandom as life-changing.

Once a Fandom Voices survey question opens, it will remain open indefinitely, and we will periodically update the response collections with new responses. If you were a pre-film member of the Tolkien fandom, you can contribute a response here. We also have a new Fandom Voices survey up and running, collecting responses for a forthcoming article about fans who were brought to the fandom by the films. If you were a film-first fan, we'd love to hear your memories of that experience here.

In The Silmarillion, Tolkien describes the work of the Ainur as encompassing "the immeasurable vastness of the World" but also "the minute precision to which they shape all things therein." He could be describing his own legendarium, which includes events so large that the alter the shape of the world alongside the kinds of details that might be classified as obscure but on which consideration was clearly spent.

This month's character of the month, Telchar of Nogrod, illustrates where the essential and the obscure overlap. Telchar is the artificer of several objects without which the story of Middle-earth would be altered: the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, Angrist, Narsil. Yet Telchar himself is obscure. Tolkien wrote very little about him and never fully settled on the details of his character. 

Lindariel's biography of Telchar unearths what little we do know of him but delves also into the crafts for which he is renowned and about which we know much more. She also explores the textual history of Telchar's character and how he evolved across decades during which he was present in the legendarium, serving as a somewhat mysterious person to whom Dwarven masterpieces could be attributed. "Tolkien's pattern with all three known works of Telchar," she writes, "was first to imagine the work, and only later to attribute it to Telchar." In this way, Telchar becomes an essential figure within Tolkien's own creative process: a catchall craftsman whose masterpieces usher in some of Middle-earth's most pivotal moments.

Were you a film-first fan, meaning your introduction to Tolkien or your enthusiasm for the legendarium was inspired at least in part by the films? I (Dawn) am such a fan. The Hobbit and Fellowship were assigned reading when I was in school, and neither book ever recovered from that dishonor—until I saw the films. The films inspired me to try the books again with an open mind, which led me to The Silmarillion, which led me to fandom, which brings me here.

My story isn't unique. Lots of us came to Tolkien or to Tolkien fandom at least in part thanks to the films. As we continue to explore the impact of the films on fandom in the lead up to the Rings of Power series, we'd love to hear those of you who found Tolkien or the Tolkien fandom in due entirely or in part to the films. If you want to share your experiences as a film-first fan, you can do so here.

Note that we are defining "film-first fan" very loosely. If you wonder if you'd be sitting here reading this if you hadn't seen the films, we want to hear from you!

Our newly formatted newsletter is closing out its second month. We hope that our subscribers are enjoying the links and content we've been able to share these past eight weeks! However, we also hope that this is just the first phase of a growing endeavor.

At the SWG, we believe strongly in the power of fan perspectives in the field of Tolkien Studies. We believe that fans—you—have a lot to offer to the conversation. Our newsletter is one way that we hope to encourage and spotlight the contributions of fans.

To this end, we are hoping to expand our newsletter to add a third column. A Sense of History was started by Angelica many years ago as a short column for discussing historical connections to Tolkien. We are hoping to relaunch this column and are looking for a lead writer to lead this endeavor! A lead writer would not just create content for the column but would support other writers working on the project. We have many more details about the lead writer role here.

As always, we're open to contributions on our two existing columns, Character of the Month and Cultus Dispatches. We're also open to feature articles or proposals for new columns. See our newsletter contribution page for more.

And if you're reading this, thank you for taking this next step of the SWG's journey with us!

Although Tolkien is best known for his works set in Middle-earth, he wrote a lot more than those. We kicked off a new challenge yesterday that aims to bring some of the more tantalizing lines from those other works to the forefront of our creators' imaginations. For the On a Different Page challenge, you will be assigned a prompt from one of Tolkien's non-Middle-earth works. Sound intriguing? Reply to this email to request a prompt!

Please keep in mind that we are still a Silmarillion-focused archive, and while prompts come from non-Ardaverse texts, to be eligible for the challenge, responses should have a connection to The Silmarillion. To be eligible for a stamp, responses should be posted to the archive on or before May 15th.

In other challenge updates, check out last month's Arda on Ice responses! And if you missed February's challenge and want to give it a go, the unassigned "Opposites Attract" prompts can be found here.

Fifteen years ago this July, the SWG ran an event called Seven in '07 in honor of the House of Fëanor. As part of it, each member of the House was given a short biography "illustrated" with fanworks. This project was a precursor to our Character of the Month, which would begin just a few months later.

However, since the Fëanorians were done, we didn't include them in the Character of the Month column. As Oshun pushed the Character of the Month into more and more detailed territory, however, those original Seven in '07 biographies began to seem inadequate, especially for characters as influential in the texts—and the fandom—as the Fëanorians. We've been working to replace them, and this month, after almost fifteen years, Maedhros finally gets his moment in the spotlight.

Maedhros is one of the fandom's favorite—and most controversial—characters. Fan interpretations run the gamut from seeing him as an innocent victim of his circumstances to an evil architect of the horrors of the First Age. This month's biography is the first of two parts and looks at his early life, up to the turning point marked by his captivity by Melkor. During this time, he was pulled between two brilliant parents: the impetuous and rebellious Fëanor and the patient and thoughtful Nerdanel. As the eldest son, he was a leader in his house, and his choices in these early years show the influence of Fëanor and Nerdanel, the first driving him to the disastrous oath but the latter shaping how he would respond to political and familial conflicts across the centuries as the head of his house.

Oshun's biography of Maedhros covers his early life, until his captivity by Melkor: the influence of the oath, his parents, and the ultimate development of his leadership role among the Noldorin princes. Maedhros is the most popular character on the SWG archive. Check out the variety of fan interpretations of Maedhros from among the 774 fanworks about Maedhros (and growing!) on our archive.

"The world has changed." With these words, the Fellowship of the Ring film opens. Yes, of course, it is describing a world darkened by the presence of the One Ring. But for Tolkien fans, this line could have just as easily described their fandom communities, which were undergoing massive transformations due to the rise of home Internet use, changes in the Internet landscape, and of course, the films.

This month, in our Cultus Dispatches column, we offer the first in what will be a series of articles about the impact of the two Jackson film trilogies on the Tolkien fandom. This month's column focuses on the fanfiction fandom and uses data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey to consider the question of initiation: How the films brought fans to the fic fandom and the kinds of stories those fans wrote once they arrived.

Of course, it's impossible to discuss this topic right now without considering the upcoming Rings of Power television series—and in fact, this series is deliberately timed as discussions about how the show will impact the fandom become increasingly common. As the title of this inaugural article suggests, the main impact of the films on the fic fandom has been to drive fans toward the books, helping to create the very book-centric Tolkien fic fandom we all enjoy today—part of the reason, in fact, that you are reading this now!

Remember, too, that we want to hear from you on this subject. Was this your experience or did you perceive the impact of the films on your communities differently? If you were in the Tolkien fandom before either (or both) of the film trilogies, we are seeking fan recollections of how the fandom did and did not change after the films for use in an upcoming column.