Bestiary of Arda

Bestiary of Arda challenge banner - Illuminated manuscript page, with the text "Silmarillion Writers' Guild Challenge, May 15 - June 15 2023" in an illuminated Tolkienesque font, text "Bestiary of Arda" with the B decorated with a gold dragon, and an illustartion of a gold and copper dragon below the text

Beasts and animals are a central part of the legendarium. They are faithful companions, frightening foes, or the alter-egos of shape-shifters. They are heroes, villains, and literally overhead and underfoot, contributing to the sights, sounds, and smells of Arda.

For this challenge, we consider the many animals that appear in Tolkien's works (or would have likely existed in Arda). We've put together a "bestiary" full of image and music prompts related to animals. You can select whichever prompt(s) you want for this month's challenge, and as always, any part of the prompt is fair game. (The song's title? That weird-looking thing in the background? The artist's intriguing signature??) Your fanwork does not need to include the animal featured in your prompt or any animal at all.

This month's banner and stamps were made by Anérea.

This challenge opened in May 2023 .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

Image Prompts

fruit bat with skeleton visible

bear

one-eyed black cat sitting on a woman's head

flock of many-colored birds over a green plain with a mountain in the background

a man wearing pink pokes a snake in a ring of fire while a camel rests beside him

corals and starfish

dragon with small wings

brown spotted wingless dragon with golden tufts of fur

gray hawk looks down over a white landscape, at night, with a mountain in the background

mermaid with a lobster with veeeery long horns

red octopus viewed from above

elephant with skeleton visible

sea turtle with black shell lined in gold and very large eyes on a sandy beach with a blue sea in the background reflecting the moon

man riding an unusual seabird at the edge of the ocean; bird has a large crest and spikes on its back and is pecking at a shell in the sand

various colorful microscopic corals and diatoms

sea serpent rises from the sea and fountains water over its back

unusual creature with four legs, a red head, bared teeth, and colored spots on its body

label identifies it as a Scythian wolf; it has a lion-like head and claws on a wolf's body

statue of a dog-like animal sitting with upright ears and an open mouth

Click for full size.

three horned goats, two laying down and one standing

blackbird on a branch

two Towhee buntings, one brown and one black

skunk looking over a log

lynx crouched on a branch

round mosaic of a white dog with brown and black patches

mosaic of black guard dog tethered to a wall

happy-looking colorful spider, mostly green, with a large body and slender legs in a web with a palm tree in the background

woodcut of galloping horse carrying a distressed rider

two horses, one facing front and one from the back, with guidelines drawn that make them appear that they are standing inside boxes; the text of the reverse page is faintly visible through the page