silwritersguild | Newsletter--September 2007 (Reply)

September's Challenges

Forbidden Lore

She knows that the information she seeks is secret, forbidden. Great consequences may arise from this knowledge. Yet she opens the book, turns the page, and begins to read ...

This challenge asks you to consider knowledge that is forbidden or taboo. What sorts of information might have been hidden over the course of the history of Arda? Why might a character wish to discover this knowledge? And perhaps most importantly, what are the consequences when he does? There are a multitude of possibilities, but here are just a few to get you started.

Knowledge about a certain craft is considered secret. Maybe it is the making of lembas by the Yavannildi or the secret behind the Silmarils or the Rings of Power. Your characters seeks, and finds, this information. What will she do with it?
Or maybe it is a dark secret in the histories being hidden. A Noldorin child in Middle-earth first learns of the Kinslaying ... or a Noldorin child left behind in Aman first hears about his exiled kin. A descendant of Uldor learns of his relationship to the infamous traitor. An Avarin child discovers stories about the light of Aman, forsaken by his ancestors.
What about culture and tradition? Essays such as "Laws and Customs among the Eldar" are fan favorites, but do they tell the whole story? What might have been hidden from the loremasters collecting this information? What are the real customs among different clans of Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Ainur? What notable exceptions to cultural mores may have been hidden throughout history to preserve the reputations of peoples and families?
Or keep it simple! A child is due to receive a special gift and learns where it is hidden. Does she look? What does she find? Or a young adult discovers the privileges and pursuits allowed only to adults.

What will forbidden lore teach you?

Quote of the Month

Few of the Eldar ever learned to speak Valarin, even haltingly; among the people as a whole only a small number of words or names became widely known. Fëanor indeed, before the growth of his discontent, is said to have learned more of this tongue than any others before his time, and his knowledge must at any rate have far surpassed the little that is now recorded; but what he knew he kept to himself, and he refused to transmit it even to the Lambengolmor because of his quarrel with the Valar.
Quendi and Eldar, The History of Middle-earth, Volume 11

Character of the Month: Elrond

Elrond Half-Elven of all of Tolkien’s elves might be the one most widely known to his readers, whether they prefer the epic tales of The Silmarillion or the more novelistic approach of The Lord of the Rings. He is additionally one of few characters who plays a significant role in both of those books and in The Hobbit as well. The major events in the life of Elrond tie together the main threads of Tolkien’s great history from the First Age through the Fourth Age. Elrond is a major symbol of the meshed and undividable fate of Elves and Men in Middle-earth throughout those four Ages. Elrond played a principal role not only in the long fight against Sauron in the Third Age and finally the destruction of the One Ring as recounted in The Lord of the Rings, but his personal history points directly back to the earliest events of the First Age as described in The Silmarillion.

Elrond and his brother Elros were the only children of Elwing (daughter of Dior, the son of Beren and Lúthien ) and Eärendil (son of Idril of the Noldor, daughter of Turgon, and Tuor of the Edain). Thus, unique in Tolkien’s legendarium, Elrond’s ancestry includes Noldor, Sindar, Vanyar, and Maiar blood. He is as well a descendent of all three Houses of the Edain. Through his brother Elros, Elrond recognized a bond of kinship with the Númenórean heirs to the kingship of Gondor and Arnor. Of special interest to the confirmed aficionado of The Silmarillion is his unusual relationship with the sons of Fëanor. The father of Elrond and Elros, Eärendil the Mariner, was absent on one of his many sea voyages when the surviving sons of Fëanor decided to attack the community of exiles of Doriath and Gondolin at the havens of Sirion in an attempt to acquire the Silmaril that Beren and Lúthien had wrested from Morgoth. It had been snatched from their grasp when Elwing had fled with it after the death of Dior. Rather than relinquish the stone, Elwing had thrown herself from a cliff into the sea still holding onto it, leaving her sons Elrond and Elros defenseless behind her. In the words of The Silmarillion, “Maglor took pity upon Elros and Elrond, and he cherished them, and love grew after between them.” Maglor, most likely in the company of Maedhros, fostered the two boys for an extended period of time.

Meanwhile, Elrond’s mother Elwing did not die but had been rescued from the sea by Ulmo, and taking the form of a bird with the Silmaril on her breast, sought and found the vessel of her husband Eärendil. Reunited, the couple sailed to Valinor, with Eärendil bearing the Silmaril upon his forehead to light their way. Successful in reaching the shores of Eldamar, Eärendil was intent upon approaching the Valar and begging for their mercy and their aid to the Elves and Men of Middle-earth who, at the cost of incalculable sacrifice and despite great heroism, were slowly losing the battle to protect Middle-earth from the ravages of Morgoth. The Valar were moved by Eärendil’s efforts and ruled that Eärendil and Elwing could chose between the mortal and Elven kindreds. Eärendil’s ship was transformed so that each night he sailed the skies bearing the Silmaril, becoming the brightest star. The Valar extended the right to choose between the life of Men and that of the Elves not only to Eärendil and Elwing, but also to their offspring.

In response to the pleas of Eärendil, the Valar did decide to finally extend their assistance to the exiled Noldor and the Second Born by organizing an expedition to Middle-earth to defeat Morgoth in the War of Wrath. At the end of the War of Wrath, Elros and Elrond, who by then had been returned to their kindred, were asked by the Valar to make their choice. Elrond chose to remain with the Eldar and his brother chose the Edain. Elros left the shores of Middle-earth to become the first king of Númenor. Elendil was one of his descendants.

Elrond pledged himself to Ereinion Gil-galad, the last High King of the Noldor, then ruling from Lindon, and went on to participate in the significant battles of the Second Age. It was Elrond who led the troops of Gil-galad against Sauron in Eregion where, vastly outnumbered, the elves were defeated, yet at significant cost to their enemy as well. Elrond also served as Gil-galad’s herald and second in command of the elven forces in the Battle of Dagorlad in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Everyone who has read The Lord of the Rings or seen the recent films is familiar with the story of how Elrond unsuccessfully pled with Elendil’s eldest son Isildur to destroy the One Ring after he had taken it from Sauron in that battle. Before Gil-galad was killed at Dagorlad, he had given Vilya, the most powerful of the three rings of the Elves, also called the Ring of Air, to Elrond for safekeeping.

After the Last Alliance, Elrond wed Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, and the tales of their children, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen, feature prominently in the events of The Lord of the Rings. The story of Arwen and Aragorn, of course, harks back to the choice given by the Valar first to Eärendil and Elwing, then to Elrond and Elros, and passing through Elrond to his children. Much of the poignancy of Arwen’s decision to renounce Elven immortality and cast her lot with Aragorn is based upon Elrond’s loss of his brother Elros an Age before.

Throughout the Third Age, it was Elrond’s haven in Rivendell that served as an oasis in darkening times. Elrond not only helped to preserve the line of Númenórean kings in Middle-earth but additionally brought together in discussion, including in the White Council, those who sought to defend Middle-earth against Sauron. Elrond became known in those years as a great healer and loremaster. For most of the Third Age, Elrond stood at the center of the struggle of the free peoples of Middle-earth through his commitment and well-cultivated connections to Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Hobbits. One of his principal supporters in that endeavor was the Istar Gandalf. In modern terms, Elrond was the facilitator, organizer, and coordinator of information whose efforts largely enabled the Ring Quest to set out and in doing so significantly contributed to its success. After the destruction of the One Ring, Elrond sailed with Gandalf, Galadriel, and the remainder of the Noldor left in Middle-earth. The fate of his sons Elladan and Elrohir is not covered in Tolkien’s stories. But the departure of Elrond harkened the end of the days of the Elves in Middle-earth and the beginning of the Age of Men.

Character profile by Oshun.

View past character profiles.
Read archived stories about Elrond.

Want more challenges? Check out our complete challenge listing for more than two years' worth of challenges to inspire your writing!

Have an idea for a challenge? Some of our most popular challenges have been created by you, the members of SWG! If you have a plotbunny gnawing at your ankle, a favorite quote, or a favorite character that you think might inspire others as well, please send an email to moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org and we'll try to include your challenge in our next newsletter!

September's News

New to the Reference Section

We've begun archiving our monthly character profiles in order to make them more accessible for reading and research. The complete listing of biographies may be found on the Character Biographies page in the Reference section. We don't have many yet, but the list is growing! Remember, if you'd like to see your favorite character featured as the Character of the Month, we're always open to suggestions. Email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

TOS Translations

In recognition of the fact that SWG is very much an international community, we are making an effort to translate our Terms of Service (TOS) into as many languages as possible. It is our hope that this will help our members and visitors for whom English is not their native language feel more comfortable on our site.

We still need translators, so if you'd like to help us with this project, please email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org. For a up-to-date list of languages for which we already have volunteers, please check out our volunteer page.

Our TOS are now available in Spanish. Many thanks to Angelica for her help with the translation!

Banner Contest

Digital artists, we need your help! As SWG continues to grow, we have received requests for banners that members and other groups can use to link to us on their own sites and pages. Those of you with a knack for digital art and manips are invited to contribute banners. We would like to offer a variety to choose from, so we will try to use them all. In the event that we receive so many that we cannot feasibly post them all, we will present them to the group for a vote.

There are a few things to keep in mind when designing your banners:

Please save the images as JPG files unless they involve animation. Animated images may be saved as GIF files.
Banners should be no larger than 400 pixels wide by 150 pixels high.
Banners should include the name "Silmarillion Writers' Guild" or "SWG" somewhere on them.
Images should be suitable for all audiences. Please, no nudity or blood and gore.
Very important: Please use only your own artwork or get permission from the artist whose work you're using. Artists should grant permission for you to use the image as well as allow you to crop/modify it for the banner. They should understand that the banner is being used by SWG and will be publicly available for other Internet users to put on their pages. Unfortunately, it is not feasible for us to give credit to the artists' whose work is being used in the banners. A small copyright notice in an inconspicuous place on the banner is acceptable, but we reserve the right to determine what is acceptable for these purposes. The copyright notice should not dominate or detract from the banner. Please, no watermarks or large notices; we will not be able to display these banners.
SWG moderators reserve the right to use our discretion in choosing which banners to display.

Please send your banners to moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org. We will reply within a few days to let you know that we've received your submission. If we do not reply, please query; the email may have been swallowed in a spam filter somewhere.

The due date for banner submissions is Monday, 1 October 2007.

Around the World and Web

Fëanorian Feast

Our German members--or anyone wanting an excuse to travel--will be interested to know that a Fëanorian Feast is being held at Trutzburg at Altona on 22 September 2007, and there are still tickets left! Visit the Feanorisches Feuerfest for more details.

Photographs of past events are available in Marja Kettner's Seven in '07 gallery.

Around the World and Web is provided for our members to inform them of events in the larger Tolkien community. SWG is not affiliated with and does not endorse the groups that we feature in Around the World and Web, and we are not responsible for content on sites outside of our own. Please use discretion and caution when visiting unfamiliar sites on the Internet.

Would you like to see your group or event featured on Around the World and Web? See our Promotions Page for more details or email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

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