Nonfiction & Research
Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion"
Published on 12 April 2024 | Conference Paper
In the Quenta Silmarillion, the narrator of The Silmarillion allows characters to experience grief and express mourning in different ways, reflecting the biases that he brings to the text.
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Topic: Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Pengolodh
(Re)Archive: The Rise and Fall (and Rebound?) of Independent Fanfiction Archives
Published on 9 October 2023 | Conference Paper
Early online fandoms had multitudes of small, often highly specialized fan-run archives. Presented at the Fan Studies Network North America 2023 conference, this presentation looks at archive trends in the Tolkien and Harry Potter fandoms, considering what factors lead to the proliferation, decline, and closure of small archives, including what it means to "rearchive" after an era of high archive closure and consolidation.
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Topic: Fandom History
Characters: No characters listed.
A Fanworks Ecumenopolis: Tolkien Fanfiction Archives and the Implications of Consolidation
Published on 14 October 2022 | Conference Paper
Presented at the Fan Studies Network North America conference in 2022, this presentation uses the concept of the "world city" or ecumenopolis as a metaphor for the infrastructure for archiving fanworks in the early 2020s, taking Tolkien fanfiction as a case study. As the extreme archival fragmentation of the Tolkien fandom gave way to growing consolidation onto the Archive of Our Own, questions arise concerning the future of fandom archiving and whether this consolidation poses risks of not just data loss but cultural loss as well.
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Topic: Fandom Culture, Fandom History
Characters: No characters listed.
Affirmational and Transformational Values and Practices in the Tolkien Fanfiction Community
Published on 19 January 2020 | Article
Using survey data, primary historical sources, and existing scholarship, this article makes the case that writers of Tolkien-based fanfiction value elements of both affirmational and transformational fandom. The navigation of canon, authority, criticism, and reparation is complex and shapes not only the stories authors tell but the communities they build. Published in the Journal of Tolkien Research.
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Topic: Fandom Culture, Fandom History
Characters: No characters listed.
Fanfiction’s Hidden City: Affirmational and Transformational Practices in the Tolkien Fanfiction Community
Published on 18 April 2019 | Conference Paper
Despite more than six decades in existence and nearly two as one of the most consistently dominant fic fandoms, Tolkien-based fanfiction is under-studied in the scholarship and often does not fit how scholarship by fans and academics alike describe "fic fandom." This paper, presented at the 2019 Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, pushes for recognition of Tolkien-based fanfiction as containing both tranformational elements (as typically associated with fanfiction by scholars) and affirmational elements generally associated with male "curative" fandom.
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Topic: Fandom Culture
Characters: No characters listed.
Data on Tolkien Fanfiction Culture and Practices (1st Edition)
Published on 15 April 2019 | Research
This document contains data for all items from the Tolkien Fan Fiction Survey, as well as some commentary and analysis.
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Topic: Fandom Culture, Fandom History
Characters: No characters listed.
The Most Important Characters Never Named: Unveiling the Narrators of The Silmarillion
Published on 6 April 2019 | Conference Paper
This paper, presented at the 2019 Tolkien at UVM Conference, considers the question of who (fictionally) wrote The Silmarillion, what evidence exists for this authorship, and what implications arise when reading and understanding a Silmarillion narrated by a fully developed character.
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Topic: Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Pengolodh, Rúmil
Character Biography: Nerdanel
Published on 1 August 2018 | Essay
Nerdanel is a rare character among Tolkien's woman characters, possessing skill and fortitude rather than beauty, yet due to editorial intervention, has been removed almost entirely from the published text. Fans--mostly women--have effected her rescue through transformative works.
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Topic: Character Study, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Nerdanel
Caranthir the Slandered: Narrative Bias, Cross-Cultural Alliances, and Fëanor’s Angriest Son
Published on 26 July 2018 | Essay
Caranthir is relentlessly described in The Silmarillion as dark and harsh and haughty, yet these descriptions bear little resemblance to his actual deeds. Instead, I argue in this essay, Caranthir serves as one of the rare cosmopolitans of the Noldor and is deliberately cast by the Silmarillion's pseudohistorical narrator as a foil to the equally cosmopolitan Finrod Felagund in order to elevate the reputation of the latter.
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Topic: Character Study, Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Caranthir, Elu Thingol, Finrod Felagund, Pengolodh, Turgon
The Inequality Prototype: Gender, Inequality, and the Valar in Tolkien’s Silmarillion
Published on 8 July 2018 | Essay
The Valar present an interesting case study of sexism in Tolkien's legendarium because they occupy a prototypical role, representing Iluvatar's intentions on how the universe should operate. My research shows that the female Valar not only appear far less frequently in The Silmarillion than the male Valar but are less involved, less assertive, and speak less.
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Topic: Gender and Tolkien, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Valar, Varda
Finding Footing in a Forest of Fins: Name Etymology as a Characterization Technique of the Finwëan Noldor
Published on 7 April 2018 | Conference Paper
Tolkien often uses etymology to develop narrative by exploring what Tom Shippey terms an "asterisk-world." This paper, presented at the 2018 Tolkien at UVM Conference, explores the concept of "asterisk characterization," or the use of characters' names to develop their personalities and narratives, with a specific emphasis on Fëanor, Finwë, Curufin, and Maedhros.
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Topic: Language and Linguistics, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Curufin, Fëanor, Finwë, Maedhros
"A Greater Still": The Importance of Song in Tolkien's Creation Myth
Published on 3 March 2018 | Essay
Tolkien's creation story the Ainulindalë includes many archetypal elements. This essay explores the deus faber or god-as-maker element and why creation from vocal song is vitally important to legendarium.
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Topic: Comparative Mythology, Tolkien Studies
Characters: No characters listed.
Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Community
Published on 24 February 2018 | Essay
Data from the Tolkienfic community shows that a lack of commenting on fanfiction is less about a lack of desire to comment and more about a lack of skill, confidence, and community, all of which empower readers to comment more on what they read.
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Topic: Fandom Culture, Fandom History
Characters: No characters listed.
101 Comment Starters
Published on 7 February 2018 | Essay
My research has shown that readers often don't comment on fanfiction because they lack the specific skill in writing that this requires. This resource uses an evidence-based pedagogical method used to teach writing--sentence starters--to scaffold commenting as a writing skill.
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Topic: Fandom Culture
Characters: No characters listed.
The Author of the “Quenta Silmarillion”–and Why I Think He Was Elvish
Published on 7 February 2018 | Essay
In his late writings, Tolkien reversed decades of the Silmarillion tradition, with its explicitly Elvish narrator, in favor of a Númenórean. This essay makes the case that, while this is Tolkien's stated intent, he never carried out these revisions, and the texts should still be read as coming from the Elvish tradition.
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Topic: Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Pengolodh
Beleriand Light & Power: Or Musings on the Silmarils, Capital-L Light, and the Hoarding of Resources in The Silmarillion
Published on 21 January 2018 | Essay
In the debate over who had the right to the Silmarils, rarely considered is the idea that the Light within them was not subcreated by the Valar but created by Eru. This essay reviews the evidence for creation (versus subcreation) of the Light and the implications of this idea for understanding the dispute over the Silmarils.
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Topic: Tolkien Studies
Characters: Silmarils
“Thus Wrote Pengolodh”: Historical Bias, Its Evidence, and Its Implications in The Silmarillion
Published on 8 April 2017 | Conference Paper
The fictional author of The Silmarillion impacts how the story is told. This paper, presented at the 2017 Tolkien at UVM Conference, makes the case for Pengolodh as the author of much of the Quenta Silmarillion and explores how his biases manifest in the text.
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Topic: Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Pengolodh
References to Sources in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
Published on 6 April 2017 | Research
This document-in-progress collects all references, direct and indirect, to the narrators of Tolkien's books and their sources of information.
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Topic: Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: No characters listed.
The Deaths of Kings: Historical Bias in the Death Scenes of Fëanor and Fingolfin
Published on 8 March 2017 | Essay
The death scenes of Fëanor and Fingolfin parallel each other closely in plot, beginning with the rash pursuit of single combat with Morgoth. Yet the manner in which the narrator of The Silmarillion, Pengolodh, employs language and symbolism leads to two very different conclusions that likely served to advance Pengolodh's political and personal agenda.
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Topic: Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Fëanor, Pengolodh
On Writing Aman, or the Balance between the Mythic and the Real
Published on 6 March 2017 | Essay
Fantasy writers, including creators of Tolkien-based fanworks, have long struggled to depict the "otherness" of realms like Aman. In the past, the Tolkien fanfiction community showed a preference for an idealistic portrayal of Aman that left little room for imperfection. My work has long taken the opposite approach, and in this essay, I argue for the artistic need and canonical basis for grounding stories set in Aman in a more recognizable reality of human experience.
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Topic: Speculative Literature, Tolkien Studies, Worldbuilding
Characters: Fëanor