Middle-earth Olympics

Quick Links: Team List | Medal Recipients

The Summer Olympics … a time when the world unites to cheer on their favorite teams in popular sports while pretending to understand the finer points of the more obscure events. Sports and games were likewise a part of the legendarium, whether the Galadriel's prowess as a swimmer, undertaken in Arda's salad days, or Maedhros's single-handed fencing skills and similar militaristic exercises from Middle-earth's darker eras.

This month, in honor of the 20201 Summer Olympics and sport in Middle-earth, we present our own Olympic games! This month will feature a series of prompts that can be done as an individual or a team. If you missed team sign-ups, do not despair! You can still complete team prompts by collaborating with others.

Important Dates

July 11: Last day to create a team
July 12: Open sign-ups for teams begin
July 15: Challenge prompts posted
July 16: Last day to join a team
July 17, 15:00 UTC: Opening Ceremony on Discord
August 10: Last day for challenge entries
August 22, 15:00 UTC: Medal and Closing Ceremonies on Discord

General Guidelines

1. Participants may "compete" either individually or on a national team.
2. ("Compete" is in quotes because there's actually nothing competitive about this challenge--in fact, we're far more interested in seeing participants collaborate with and support each other!)
3. Teams and individuals may complete as few or as many events as they would like.
4. If you are part of a team, the fanworks you make do not have to be about the group of characters who make up your team.
5. The actual Olympics do not allow participants to combine events. So it's a good thing we're not the actual Olympics because we allow you to cram as many prompts into a single fanwork as you care to try. So if you want to slalom in a kayak while playing beach volleyball astride a horse and wielding a fencing foil? You just go on ahead and go for it!
6. If you want to join a team, make sure you do so on or before July 16. Individual participants do not need to sign up--just create something for the prompt(s) that interest you.
7. There will be an (optional) opening ceremony (July 18, 15:00 UTC) and medal ceremony (August 22, 15:00 UTC) held on the SWG Discord. For the medal ceremony, challenge participants are encouraged to nominate other teams and individual participants for their positive contributions. Medals can be for absolutely anything so notice what other participants are doing that you love or that makes the event--or the SWG or fandom as a whole--a more friendly, supportive, and fun place to be.

Awarding a Medal

What is an Olympics without medals? While this is not a competitive event, we do want to honor our participants for all the ways that they make our group and fandom awesome. Now is your chance to honor your fellow SWG members who make the SWG or the Tolkienfic fandom a wonderful place to be! As part of the Middle-earth Olympics, all SWG members* can award medals to participants in the Middle-earth Olympics for any and all reasons.

* We are considering you a member of the SWG if you belong to our site or any of our social media.

1. The person or fanwork you give a medal to must be part of the Middle-earth Olympics. Remember, ALL participation counts, which includes comments and discussions, not just fanworks creators.
2. You can award a medal for ANYTHING. Get creative and have fun with it! (If the challenge prompts didn't give it away, this is not our most reverent challenge ...)
3. It goes without saying that medals should focus on the positive.
4. You can award as many medals as you'd like!

Ready to go? You can award a medal here! Medals will be presented on Sunday, 22 August 2021 at 15:00 UTC on the SWG's Discord server.

Setting Up a Team

Team registration is now closed.

1. Anyone with an account on the SWG site can register a national team. The person who registers the team will be the team captain and listed as the contact person for that team. A moderator can change the team captain at a later date, if needed, by request of the team captain.
2. You can only register one national team.
3. Anyone can join a national team. Teams must be open to all participants who want to join. The person who registers the team is the team captain and will be responsible for organizing/communicating among team members to make sure that everyone has a chance to be involved. If you have concerns about working with a particular teammate, contact the mods.
4. Participants can join only one team, although they can also complete challenge prompts as individual participants.
5. Teams should be named after a group in Middle-earth (e.g., Noldor, Numenoreans, Doriathrim).
6. Teams will have the option of creating a flag, motto, and/or national anthem. Teams also have the option of having a Discord channel set up on the SWG's Discord server for discussion, socialization, and planning among team members.
7. Team sign-ups are closed. However, participants are welcome to collaborate with others outside the team structure if they want to complete the collaborative prompts.

This challenge opened in July 2021 .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

General Prompts

General prompts can be completed by individuals or teams.

	Athletics: Possibly the blandest-named event in the 20201 Olympics, the challenge here is likewise simple: Create a fanwork about a character doing an athletic pursuit that is part of the Summer Olympics. Go as canonical as you want--Indis was renowned as a runner and Fingon a famed archer, for example--or as wacky as you want. (Túrin on a trampoline, anyone??)
	Artistic Swimming: Individual athletes in perfectly synchronized motion… this event invites you to look at parallels, whether of characters or storylines, either within the Legendarium or outside of it. Are they part of the same dance? Are they moving in perfect harmony? Or are there goofs and flaws in the choreography?
	Badminton: In honour of the battered birdie, this event is all about Tolkien’s feathered friends. From the greatest Eagle of Manwë to the humble thrush that knocks on Dúrin’s door, birds feature frequently. Take them into the middle of the action for this event--in whichever way you see fit.
	Boxing: One word for this prompt: bruises. Maybe literal bruises, or bruised hearts, or bruised spirits, or bruised egos, or bruised fruit … the only requirement is to bang up your characters a little bit for this one. (Okay, maybe "bruised fruit" won't work after all but extra kudos if you make it happen anyway.)
	Canoe/Kayak Flatwater: When a canoe and a kayak, set adrift on a star-sheened sea, meet, touch oars, and fall in love … okay so, we were thrown off by the slash in the event title, and our imaginations ran wild. For this event, set off your own wild canoe/kayak romance by creating a fanwork about a relationship not yet in our relationship tag list.
	Canoe/Kayak Slalom: Star-sheened sea ... the gentle touch of oar on oar … all of the above apply for the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater event but add this challenge on top (ahem) of one of our other events this month for some extra spiffy maneuvers upon extra turbulent waters.
	Diving: How did you dive into fandom or fanfiction? Off the high-dive? Headfirst or bellyflop? This is a meta challenge that invites you to explore your fandom origin story or fandom's impact on your life. Responses to this challenge can be posted on our archive, Dreamwidth, Discord, or on Tumblr (please tag @silmarillionwritersguild).
	Handball: whoso in hand taketh, finding keepeth or afar casteth a Silmaril… This event awakens the dread Oath of Fëanor. Just how--and how strongly--it features in your fanwork is up to you.
	Marathon: As pandemic restrictions loosen and summer arrives in much of the world, invitations to barbecues and beach outings are doubtlessly on the rise … and this challenge lets you say to hell with them all! Why socialize when you can make fanworks all by your own sweet self or hang out online with your Tolkien friends? Pick a project and, for every day during the challenge, commit to working on it for at least a half-hour per day. (No worries if you got a late start!)
	Marathon Swimming: So this event's icon totally looks like someone who is swimming a 10K while drinking a brewski. And a very large one at that. In honor of Tokyo 2020 icon mishaps, this event in our Olympics requires you to create a fanwork where a character similarly does two things simultaneously that are unwise to do at the same time.
	Modern Pentathlon: Murder, mayhem, mishaps--much like The Silmarillion, the modern pentathlon has it all. Use this hot mess of an icon to prompt your fanwork.
	Rhythmic Gymnastics: Move to the music in a display of elegance, skill and perfect control. Or just move to the music, really! To compete in this event, choose one of our Olympic song prompts and create a fanwork inspired by some aspect of it. "One Moment in Time" by Whitney Houston: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Heroes Live Forever" by Vanessa Amorosi: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Light the Fire Within" by LeAnn Rimes: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Oceania" by Björk: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Hand in Hand" by Koreana: YouTube | Lyrics "Yes, I can (We’re the Superhumans)" by Alvin Law and Band: YouTube | Audio-described version | Signed & subtitled version "Shine" by Paul deRosa/ C’est toi: Spotify | YouTube "Harder than you think" by Public Enemy: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Amigos para siempre" by Sarah Brightman and José Carreras: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Because We Believe (Ama Credi E Vai)" by Andrea Bocelli: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Reach Out" by Giorgio Moroder: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "The Power of the Dream" by Celine Dion: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Survival" by Muse: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Under the Southern Skies" by Nikki Webster: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "You and Me" by Liu Huan and Sarah Brightman: YouTube | Lyrics "The Flame" by Tina Arena: YouTube | Lyrics "Rise" by Katy Perry: Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics "Se ilden lyse (Fire in your Heart)" by Sissel Kyrkjebø:Spotify | YouTube (Nynorsk) | Lyrics (Nynorsk) | Spotify (English) | YouTube (English (duet with Plácido Domingo)) | Lyrics (English)
	Road Cycling: Take your character or characters on that quintessential Bildungsroman subgenre: the road trip narrative.
	Rugby: Sometimes you've just got to hold on to the precious and make a run for it. Who would know better than the characters of Tolkien's works? Create a fanwork where a character refuses to give something up and will go to any lengths to protect it.
	Sailing: Skilled sailors abound in the legendarium--and a few somewhat less skilled (or less lucky). Create a fanwork about one or more of these sailors.
	Skateboarding: Skater!Legolas. That is all. That is your prompt. The Legolas you choose is up to you.
	Sport Climbing: You know the "plot mountain" (or "Freytag's pyramid" if your teacher was fancy) you learned about in grade-school English class? Show your mountaineering finesse in this event by changing the position of or eliminating entirely at least one of the five plot mountain stages.
	Surfing: A great dark wave climbing over the green lands and above the hills, and coming on, darkness unescapable… in other words, perfect conditions for stepping on a surfboard! Will your character(s) manage to keep their balance and ride the wave, or will they founder like Númenor of old? As usual, you can take this prompt as literally or broadly as you wish.
	Triathlon: Rings, Silmarils, kindreds--many things in the legendarium come in threes. Create a fanwork involving something that comes in threes. (Running on water and giant balls optional.)
	Wheelchair Fencing: Show a character with a disability working to overcome a conflict. The twist: the conflict cannot be related to challenges related to their disability. Instead, we want to see characters with disabilities facing the same conflicts and challenges as able-bodied characters do. In other words, we hope this prompt will produce fanworks where characters in the story happen to have disabilities, not where those disabilities become the center of their existence.
	Wrestling: Show your character(s) wrestling with someone or something. It could be a literal wrestling match in the great tradition of Tulkas, or a figurative struggle against the odds, time, inner demons, or any other challenge. Whether or not your character(s) manage to overcome their opponent is entirely up to you ...

Team Prompts

National teams, here's your chance to shine. Individual participants can collaborate to complete these events as well.

	Artistic Gymnastics: Music often adds an extra depth or edge to a beautiful experience. In this event, you will need at least two players. One will write a fanwork and the other will make a soundtrack to accompany the fanwork.
	3x3 Basketball: Three creators. Three fanwork types. For this event, collaborate with two other creators to make a fanwork that includes three different fanwork types. For example, one participant might write a story, the second illustrates it, and the third makes a playlist for the soundtrack. Or one creator makes a craft, another writes a poem about its origin in the legendarium, and a third creates a work of meta about the creative process. Or whatever combination of three fanworks you envision!
	Boccia: According to the paralympics website, "Boccia is a game of high strategy, where a single shot can reverse fortunes." You will need at least two players for this event. One player records a prompt--a word, a quote, a song, a work of art--anything goes!--but does not tell the second player. The second player begins a fanwork. About halfway through, the first player gives the prompt to the second player, who must then incorporate it into the fanwork. If you want to make this even more challenging, you can work in more than one surprise prompt at various points in the creative process.
	Distance Relay: At least two creators are needed for this event. Here's how it works: Choose any of the Middle-earth Olympics prompts and start a fanwork. If it is a written fanwork, the next creator uses the last sentence as the prompt for the next installment. If it is a non-written fanwork, the creator chooses an element of their fanwork as the prompt (e.g., the color scheme on an artwork, the final song on a playlist). While there must be at least two rounds, you can keep going for as many rounds as you would like.
	Football 5-a-side: A fast and intense paralympic sport, football 5-a-side depends on the sound made by the ball and the commentary provided by a guide for scoring goals. For our football 5-a-side, your team will receive a bingo card (5-a-side, get it?) with sound prompts. Agree on a character, setting or scenario and split the prompts between players to create a single fanwork and achieve bingo. At least two creators are needed for this event. Text-only prompts: Breaking Glass Birdsong Crackling Fire A Snapping Branch Whistle Crickets Bells A Splash Creaky Hinge Distant Music Ocean Waves Hammerfalls Free Space An Echo Wolf Howl Footsteps A Slap Murmuring Voices An Owl Rainfall Thunder Water over Stones Drums Wind Silence
	Tennis: Tennis is ultimately a game of back-and-forth (grunting optional). This prompt is an epistolary challenge: Grab a friend or few and write some letters back and forth. Maybe you each choose a character and have them correspond, but you can also write about meta, discuss a fanwork, or any other arrangement you can envision.
	Trampoline: In this event we bounce … ideas! Talk through a fanwork idea with one or more other people and then make it happen, on your own or collaboratively.

Comment Prompts

	Golf: Eighteen holes. One tiny, dimpled ball--you! Over the course of this challenge, leave comments on eighteen fanworks on the SWG site.
	Powerlifting: Are you someone who loves to read and means to come back to leave comments but never does? Now is your chance to fix this! Leave at least three comments on fanworks on the SWG site that you've enjoyed but never commented on.
	Sitting Volleyball: Start a conversation! It doesn't matter where but choose an SWG space--a comment on a fanwork, a reply to a comment on one of your fanworks, a question or topic posed on our Discord server--and engage another SWG member. While a couple "volleys" back and forth is grand, the big idea here is to talk to and get to know your fellow fans.

Live Events

National teams and individual participants are welcome to join us on our Discord as we create and celebrate fanworks together. Not a member of our Discord yet? Contact our mods for an invite link.

Sprint Relay: Join us on Sunday, July 25 for a session of relay writing! You can join with your national team or as an individual participant for an on-the-spot relay match-up. Here's how it works: There are four 15-minute rounds and four relay writers. Don't have four people? You can switch off as needed to fill the four rounds. (For example, two writers write twice each.) The same writer cannot write for consecutive rounds. We begin with a prompt, and we're off! The first writer has 15 minutes to start a story, which is then handed off to the next writer, who has 15 minutes, and so on until the hour is up and (hopefully!) there is a finished story. Have an artist on your team? They can spend the 15-minute round sketching a scene from the story. (Other fanworks are welcome too--get creative about what can be accomplished in a 15-minute round!) You can plan ahead of time or wing it. That part is totally up to you and your teammates.

Table Tennis: Is that person in the event icon juggling or playing ping-pong? We're not quite sure, but in honor of tiny tennis played with tiny paddles and tiny balls, we will gather on Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1 (1:00 and 15:00 UTC) to indulge in the creation of tiny fanworks volleyed onto our Discord server at rapid speed: instadrabbling! Not sure how instadrabbling works? Check out our instadrabbling FAQ to learn more.

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Icons are taken from the Olympic website kind of like how Dior took the Silmaril.