"They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin. They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago. This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade. This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. Keep them well!"

"Whence did the trolls get them, I wonder?" said Thorin looking at his sword with new interest.

"I could not say," said Elrond, "but one may guess that your trolls had plundered other plunderers, or come on the remnants of old robberies in some hold in the mountains of the North. I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures of old to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war."

Thorin pondered these words. "I will keep this sword in honour," he said. "May it soon cleave goblins once again!"

From "A Short Rest," The Hobbit

At first glance Sauron does not appear to have much depth as a character. He works rather well as a villain, but we are rarely given a reason to think of him as more than that. As with many of Tolkien's characters, however, they really come into their own in Tolkien's so-called minor works.

Isildur is one of those characters from The Silmarillion whose name is just as recognizable to those only familiar with later ages as it is to Silmarillion aficionados.

"”Now it is told that in the bearing of her son Míriel was consumed in spirit and body; and that after his birth she yearned for rest from the labour of living. And she said to Finwë ‘Never again shall I bear a child; for strength that would have nourished the life of many have gone forth into Fëanáro.’ Then Manwë granted the prayer of Míriel. And she went to Lorien, and laid her down to sleep upon a bed of flowers [>beneath a silver tree]; and there her fair body remained unwithered in the keeping of the maidens of Estë."

In which Indis comes to terms with the legacy of Miriel's choices, and makes a new friend in the process.

Olwe and Fingolfin had more cause than most to resent the Valar's tendency to leave dark lords unchallenged. A meditation on courgae, tragedy, and divine inaction.

"Nine ships there were: four for Elendil, and for Isildur three, and for Anarion two; and they fled before the gale out of the twilight of doom into the darkness of the world. [...] And all the coasts and seaward regions of the western world suffered great change and ruin in that time; for the seas invaded the lands, and shores foundered."

"And it came to pass that Tar-Palantir grew weary of grief and died. He had no son, but a daughter only, whom he named Míriel in the Elven-tongue; and to her now by right and the laws of the Númenóreans came the sceptre. But Pharazôn took her to wife against her will..." (The Akallabeth)

A series of stories written for Back to Middle-earth Month 2011.

• New! "Jus Ad Bellum" ft. Elrond, Isiildur, and Maglor; 1,472 words
• NEW! "Things Unseen" ft. Elendil + Pharazon, 1,136 words
• NEW! "Three for the Elven-Lords II" ft. Cirdan, 200 words

"Thereafter the fire and smoke went up without ceasing; for the power of Sauron daily increased, and in that temple, with spilling of blood and torment and great wickedness, men made sacrifice to Melkor." (Akallabeth)

Durin's thoughts, on history and his people's place in it. A ficlet of exactly 250 words.

Aragorn, as the first Gondorian king in nearly a thousand years, chose as his wife an unknown lady from an Elven kingdom. Certainly this would create some friction between Arwen and certain elements of Gondor's stratified society. Imrahil has an idea for how to help her, but to put it in motion, he needs help from an unlikely ally - the new queen's father.

After the fall of Numenor, Nienna ponders the nature of loss. (Also featuring Pengolodh.)

Of all the Valar, Ulmo arguably knew the Numenoreans best and it was his waves that were used in their destruction. What must he have thought about the Akallabeth?

In the Fourth Age, Gondor grapples with the legacy of Numenor that was. (Updated February 2013)

"The cruel servants of Celegorm seized his young sons and left them to starve in the forest. Of this Maedhros indeed repented, and sought for them long in the woods of Doriath."

A professor, a typewriter, a rainstorm... and a beginning. (Triple-drabble.)

What if Tolkien's writings really were translations rather than original creations? Late one night, a certain professor wanders around Oxford, searching for answers.

"For Maglor took pity upon Elros and Elrond, and he cherished them, and love grew after between them, as little might be thought; but Maglor's heart was sick and weary with the burden of the dreadful oath."

Isildur's theft of the fruit of the White Tree, from a different perspective. (Beta: annmarwalk)

The story of the last sacrifice offered to Morgoth by Numenor, told in four true drabbles from the perspectives of four OCs.