silwritersguild | Cultus Dispatches: Fandom Voices

A blue banner with a photograph of multiple books by Tolkien and the text "Fandom Voices: Fanon in Fanworks"

Fanon, or fan-generated theories about the legendarium, has had mixed reception in the twenty-plus years on online Tolkien fanfiction. This article, part of our "Fandom Voices" collection in the Cultus Dispatches column, caps off a three-part series looking at fanon and Tolkien fanworks. Fandom Voices asks Tolkien fans to respond to an open-ended question. This month, we asked simply: What are your thoughts on fanon?

Responses were selected, organized, and presented with minimal editing to contribute to our growing picture of how fanon and other fan-generated theories fit within the world of Tolkien fanworks. (The full set of responses are also available.) You can read the article "Fandom Voices: Using Fanon in Fanworks" here.

If you missed the chance to respond, the form is still open here. While we will not update the article, we will continue adding new responses to the collection as they come in.