Admin Post: Cultus Dispatches: Tolkien Fanfiction and Demographics

[dawn_felagund]

In a lot of communities, you can get a sense of who is present just by looking around yourself. In online communities—especially online fan communities, where pseudonymity is a cultural norm—it can be harder to know just who you share your online spaces with.

This month's Cultus Dispatches column looks at Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data from 2015 and 2020 to answer that question: Just who is in this fandom? Who is present? Who is missing? And why are some groups of people heavily represented in the fandom while others are barely present or absent altogether?

Remember that Cultus Dispatches is always open to contributions! If you'd like to share a piece of fandom history, consider writing an article for the Cultus column.

Admin Post: Character of the Month: Tinfang Warble

[dawn_felagund]

Tolkien was a young man when his earliest work on the "Silmarillion" emerged in the form of the Book of Lost Tales. Full of whimsy, the Lost Tales present a version of Middle-earth where enchantment reigns and Faerie is a place where mortals sometimes land.

From this earliest work comes Tinfang Warble: a mysterious character whose eerie music enchants its mortal listeners and makes the stars burn brighter. Tinfang first appeared in Tolkien's writings even before the Lost Tales, and his character evolves along with Tolkien's work on the tales until he disappeared from the legendarium altogether. Tinfang survives in the two renowned (doomed) musicians of the legendarium: Daeron and Maglor. The difference between Tinfang's character and these later evolutions illustrates the stark shifts the legendarium underwent as it progressed from the Lost Tales to its final form. This month's biography, by Dawn Felagund, explores what we know of this obscure character and his shifting role in the legendarium.

You can read Tinfang Warble's biography here.