Newest References

Libraries at the Edge of Middle-earth: Fanworks, Archives, and Communities as Heritage by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Tolkien fanfiction archives both preserve the "libraries of Middle-earth" in the form of keeping Tolkien's original words alive and promote conversations around heritage as community and fan identity that keeps those central texts relevant to diverse fans in a rapidly changing world.

Published on 8 December 2024.

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Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age by Anérea, Varda delle Stelle

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.

Published on 20 November 2024.

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Mapping Arda, Part II: Travels through Beleriand by Anérea, Dawn Felagund

A series of articles featuring fan-made maps of all the lands of Arda. Part II explores various aspects of Beleriand.

Published on 1 December 2023.

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Mapping Arda, Part I: Terraforming by Anérea

A series of articles featuring fan-made maps of all the lands of Arda. Part I looks at diagrams of the shape of Arda as well as maps of the earliest years and the lands of Aman.

Published on 20 June 2023.

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Doom and Ascent: The Argument of ‘Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics’ by Simon J. Cook

Simon reads 'Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics' to conclude his account of the Anglo-Saxon tower of its allegory.

Published on 12 October 2024.

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The Curious Case of Peregrin Boffin by simon

This story was penned some years back as a way of marking the Peregrin Boffin of the 1939 drafts of The Lord of the Rings. Boffin was a Hobbit who walked to Moria but vanished from the story in summer 1940, when his character, Trotter, the Ranger met in Bree, became Aragorn, heir of Elendil.

Published on 8 December 2023.

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Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Fandom by Dawn Walls-Thumma

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.

Published on 21 September 2024.

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Death, Grief, and the Other in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma

The narrator of the Quenta Silmarillion uses death, grief, and mourning rituals to generate sympathy for or dehumanize groups of characters considered the Other.

Published on 14 September 2024.

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Spiral Staircase by Simon J. Cook

The Anglo-Saxon poet looks on the sea from the highest point of the tower and then, without saying all that was seen, begins a descent. The way of the poem traces a spiral staircase. Ultimately, the plan of this staircase follows an Elvish design. The staircase is a picture of the descent of mortal generations in history, drawn from the perspective of those who do not die.

Published on 5 September 2024.

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Straight Road by Simon J. Cook

The Fall of Númenor offers the evidence used to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to Beowulf.

Published on 10 August 2024.

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Fandom Voices: Comments and Feedback by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Over thirty people contributed their thoughts on the experience of leaving and receiving feedback on fanworks. Emotions run high on all sides, but community and connections emerge as factors that promote feedback while easing its difficulties for readers and viewers.

Published on 3 August 2024.

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Fandom Voices: Using Fanon in Fanworks by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Sixteen Tolkien fans contributed their definitions of and experiences with fanon or fan-generated theories about the legendarium.

Published on 17 November 2023.

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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.

Published on 6 July 2024.

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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.

Published on 20 June 2024.

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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.

Published on 25 May 2024.

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Thálatta! Thálatta! by Simon J. Cook

While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.

Published on 7 May 2024.

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Crossroads by Simon J. Cook

With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.

Published on 11 April 2024.

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Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma

In a book as full of death as the Quenta Silmarillion, grief and mourning are surprisingly absent. The characters who receive grief and mourning—and those who don't—appear to do so due to narrative bias. Grief and mourning (or a lack of them) serve to draw attention toward and away from objectionable actions committed by characters.

Published on 15 April 2024.

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In the House of the Fairbairns by Simon J. Cook

The first of some posts on the Elf-tower on the western margin of The Lord of the Rings attempts to frame the relationship between the narrative and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings and an analysis of Frodo's dream-visions. 

Published on 10 February 2024.

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Beyond Borders: Canon Deviations, Multifandoms, and Original Content by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Data from the 2015 and 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Surveys shows to what extent Tolkien fanfiction writers push beyond the canon and toward or into the realm of originality, as well as whether trends exist in among the various ways authors venture beyond the borders of Middle-earth.

Published on 30 March 2024.

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Seeing Stones in Dark Towers by Simon J. Cook

As inscribed above the western doors of the Mines of Moria, that magical illustration of Elf-Dwarf collaboration, the name of the game is treachery. From Frodo’s far-seeing dream of Orthanc in his first night in the house of Tom Bombadil, the post draws in the person of Frodo Baggins the image of the Stone by which the will of the Necromancer enters a Tower.

Published on 7 March 2024.

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The Peaks of Taniquetil by Simon J. Cook

In 1946, two towers appeared in Tolkien's writings. The tower found in The Fall of Númenor may shed light on the meaning of the tower analogy of "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."

Published on 16 January 2024.

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Beleriand in Beowulf by Simon J. Cook

Beowulf offers an Anglo-Saxon view upon the world of the old homeland, before migration to the British Isles and conversion to Christianity. The poet takes history as a process of forgetting. In the world of the poem, knowledge of heaven above was forgotten a long age before, while what is beyond the western ocean is in the process of being forgotten.

Published on 12 July 2023.

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10 Important Moments in Tolkien Fanfiction History by Dawn Walls-Thumma

From the appearance of the first Tolkien fanfics in 1960 to the latest appreciation months, Tolkien fanfiction has weathered changes great and small—and has persisted, changed, and grown.

Published on 22 February 2024.

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Things Tolkien Fanfiction Readers and Writers Like to Do (Other Than Fanfiction) by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Tolkien fanfiction writers and readers are involved in fandom in ways other than fanfiction. What else do they do and what patterns can we find in their preferences, using Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data?

Published on 27 January 2024.

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