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.

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.

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.

Swans

Published on 11 August 2017 | Short Story

Against Maedhros's wishes, Fingon is off to a summer retreat in the mountains, a retreat designed by the Valar for newly reembodied Elves. Amid games of kickball and group therapy, Fingon makes a friend, discovers the Noldor haven't actually invented everything, and begins to grasp the complexities of his post-reembodiment relationship with Maedhros.

This work is part of the collection Republic of Tirion.

“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.