skygiants | (no subject)

I spent a significant chunk of this weekend's at a boozy traveling Lord of the Rings marathon and have now seen the films in their almost-entirety (except for the bit of The Two Towers that I missed for chorus practice) for the first time in probably fifteen years.

So, if you have a favorite work of LOTR fanfiction, please recommend it to me! I make no promises to actually read everything that's recced to me because I still have to actually get through most of Yuletide, but the iron is hotter now than it may ever be again (also I'm honestly very curious what everyone's favorite actually is, here, now, in the year 2020.)

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From:

makamu

It's technically fanfic for The Silmarilion , but as it also covers the most important backstory for LOTR (the forging of the Rings), it might still fit:

These Gifts That You Have Given Me by thearrogantemu (E, Celebrimbor/Sauron, 114k)

Plus as a bonus:

And What Happened After by the arrogantemu (Gen, 74k, Teen and Up) , a great coda to the whole Legendarium.

I'll dig up some more recs tomorrow if you don't mind - I am on my break now, and keep an eye on this thread because I am actually due for a rewatch and re-read myself *g*

Edited (Forgot a quote, borked the HTML) Date: 2020-01-27 01:40 pm (UTC)

From:

aria

I'm sorry to report that I have no favorite LotR fanfiction and have instead been doing my level best to write my ideal Frodo/Sam story for MANY years now. ONE DAY!!

From:

luzula

I don't really read much LotR fanfic, but if you want, you can read the melancholy and botanically accurate ent smut I wrote where I figured out the reproductive biology of ents.

From:

sally_maria

I must admit most of the Lord of the Rings fanfic I read is technically post-LotR.

One favourite is The Master and the King by rhymer23, which is written from the point of view of a later historian, who's found the letters written between legendary figures Meriadoc the Magnificent and King Éomer of Rohan, a correspondence revisionist historians denied ever existed...

From:

chestnut_pod

I cannot WAIT.

From:

chestnut_pod

Definite second on "These Gifts." And the rest of Thearrogantemu's Silm work, come to that.

From:

chestnut_pod

I'm not sure what your Silmarillion tolerance is, but I adore

gogollescent's a double dream for being gorgeous, Elwing-forward, and heart-wrenching. Also, the most fun fandom trend I've ever followed is "Tar-Míriel is the Witch-King of Angmar," and for all your devious, villainous femslash needs, see

lupinely's something dark is coming and

Sath's What the Sea Knows. God, the tumblr flowering of Silm fandom was such a good time.

As for the main trilogy, if you ever wanted to have FEELINGS about Sauron and Gollum,

Prackspoor's Duplicity is so good and also a fun debate about the differences between Augustinian and Manichean evil.

From:

luzula

Once I started thinking about it, I had to figure out how it worked... : D

From:

lirazel

I was never super into reading LOTR fanfiction (I just watched the special features on the Extended Edition DVDs over and over), but I have to admit that the only one I actually remember reading was a multichapter Eowyn/Legolas fic on fanfiction.net. Which is suitably embarrassing.

From:

dimestore_romeo

My absolute guilty pleasure reread once a year is Sansûkh by determamfidd.

I think I needed something to distract me a few years ago when I was in a really bad place, but now it's one of those where, when there's an update, I end up rereading the whole damn thing.

I've always been a sucker for some Gimli/Legolas culture clash, so...

Edited Date: 2020-01-27 06:51 pm (UTC)

From:

sophia_sol

After I finally read the books, I never really found the sort of LOTR fic that I was most wanting, which was basically good hobbit-focused stuff that is not about The Hobbit. Probably

aria's unwritten Frodo/Sam is what I'm looking for!

But in absence of that I enjoyed some Aragorn-focused fic I found, my fave being The Reins of Power by rhymer23, about Aragorn's backstory.

From:

qian

I haven't reread in ages, but They Say of The Elves is probs my fave LOTR fic of all time, because I'll be a Gimli/Legolas shipper to the end!

From:

silverblade219

This is technically a Hobbits fic: lay down your sweet and weary head by Elenothar, a Thorin time travel fic (https://archiveofourown.org/works/938431/chapters/1828199)

From:

greenygal

I haven't read a lot of LotR fic, but On the Cold Hill Side is a sweet post-canon Legolas/Gimli story.

From:

pedanther

Seconding the rec for thearrogantemu's works.

The other one I've found myself recommending to people recently is Knowledge and Light by Flamebyrd (30K, Teen and Up, Gimli/Legolas) which is Lord of the Rings: The College AU. Now, when I say "college", I don't mean in the American sense; it's a very English college, at a very English university, one Tolkien might have felt at home in. And it's not a mundane AU; the elves are still elves, the dwarves still dwarves, and so on. But the plot mirrors the plot of the trilogy at a more down-to-earth level, and nobody dies.

From:

theodosia21

These are (mostly) Silmarilion rather than LOTR fics, but hopefully you'll find something to enjoy. :-)

Mirkwood Royals: https://archiveofourown.org/series/269389

The Splintered Light: https://archiveofourown.org/series/304197

In Full Measure I Return To You (64974 words) by thearrogantemu
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Relationships: Celebrimbor/Sauron
Characters: Celebrimbor, Annatar, The Valar - Character, Nerdanel, Laicanis (Curufin's Wife), Fingolfin, Finrod, Curufin, Ambarussa
Additional Tags: Eregion, Second Age, canon-divergent, AU - Celebrimbor wins, Torture, Emotional Abuse, Well-Intentioned Extremist Sauron, Vader Gambit (There Is Good In Him I've Felt It), Theomachy by Other Means, Don't Try This At Home, Sauron's (un)Sexy Conlang, Alternate Ending for These Gifts That You Have Given Me, Fanfiction of Fanfiction, The Most Self-Indulgent Thing I Have Ever Written, Death and Rebirth, Backpacking in the Blessed Realm, Blatant Appropriation of Laws and Customs of the Eldar, soulbonding, Fade to Math, Trauma and recovery, Halls of Mandos, Many Awkward Conversations, Forgiveness and its limits, Reconciliation, Moral maturity is difficult okay
Series: Part 1 of To Morning Through the Shadow
Summary:

“Think about it. What if you get everything you want? What if this works? What if, in pain and in the fear of pain, I yield to your will? Where you once had a friend, you will now have a cringing slave. Then, Annatar, and only then, will we both be lost beyond recall.”

Now available in podfic form thanks to the skills of WolffyLuna.

Cover art by Sumeria

The Starless Road (62157 words) by orphan_account
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Fingon/Maedhros
Characters: Fingon, Turgon, Finrod, Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Gandalf, Maedhros, Maglor, Fëanor, Sons of Fëanor, Elrond, Elros Tar-Minyatur, Dior Eluchíl, Eluréd, Elurin, Amras
Additional Tags: Fix-It, Hobbits, Valinor, The Void, Finrod and Turgon Build A Hobbit Hole, Elves Love To Party, Spirit Quests For Your Rubbish Ex, Maedhros Ruins Breakfast, Void Spiders, How Many Things Can Fëanor Set On Fire, Teen Rebellion Haircuts, Sad Twins, Kissing, Significant Gifts, Platonically Ideal Dragons, Thangorodrim, Self-Pity Seldom Helps, Maedhros Ruins Second Breakfast
Summary:

"Maedhros sought destruction body and spirit, and found both. When Mandos summoned him, he refused, and first of them all he has been taken by the void that they swore themselves to. He is not in the world, and will not come again. Deeper darknesses are there than that which Morgoth made below Thangorodrim!” Fingon paused and looked at Finrod. “Should I not then have killed him as he asked me?”

“No!” said Finrod, but Turgon said nothing.

Sam grew even more upset. “Now that’s not right,” he said, “that can’t be right! Just or not – and I don’t know that it is, begging your pardon, sir – still, no story should end that way!”

Conditional Release (24552 words) by Anna_Wing
Chapters: 26/26
Fandom: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Manwë, Varda, Nienna, Melkor, Yavanna, Nessa, Vána, Vairë, Estë, Námo, Ungoliant, Finwë, Findis, Fëanor, Nerdanel, OCs, Indis (Tolkien), Salgant (Tolkien), Oromë, Irmo, Tulkas
Additional Tags: Happy Ending, Humour, One of these is the Silmarillion AU where everything goes right
Series: Part 9 of Vignettes of the Blessed Realm
Summary:

In which the Valar make a decision about the conditions of Melkor's release from Mandos which is in my view rather better than the one that They actually made.

The Sky, the Sea, the Birds Between (17011 words) by HerenorThereNearnorFar
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elwing/Eönwë/Eärendil, Eärendil/Elwing (Tolkien), Elwing/Eönwë, Eönwë/Eärendil, Elwing & Melian (Tolkien), Elwing & Olwë
Characters: Elwing (Tolkien), Olwë (Tolkien), Eönwë (Tolkien), Melian, Eärendil (Tolkien), Teleri (Tolkien)
Additional Tags: Polyamory, Grief/Mourning, Separation, Married Couple, Valar Critiques, The Dubious Philosophy of Angels, Aurora Borealis, Birds
Summary:

"Hail Earendel, brightest of angels
Sent over Middle-earth to men."

Eönwë plays messenger as Elwing and Eärendil begin to adjust to their new lives as a lighthouse keeper and a star respectively.

The Most Valuable Resource (13509 words) by HerenorThereNearnorFar
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Celebrimbor | Telperinquar & Sauron | Mairon
Characters: Sauron | Mairon, Morgoth Bauglir | Melkor, Celebrimbor | Telperinquar, Fëanor | Curufinwë, (Feanor Is Present Spiritually), Thuringwethil (Tolkien)
Additional Tags: Kidnapping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Look Some Children Absolutely Got Murdered But It's In The Background, Child Murder, Child Neglect, Terrible Childcare By Sauron, Celebrimbor's Life is a Tragedy, Elf Children Are Fragile, Sauron: "When Celebrimbor was a child I was already the Lieutenant of Angband", "If we'd hung out back then I would have been hanging out with a baby!", "I absolutely would have killed him!", Platonic Relationships, It's Weird But Only In Regular Minor Deity Faced With A Small Child Kind of Ways, fractals, Languages and Linguistics
Summary:

The children of elves die easily, for their souls are thinly bound to their bodies and their fate is to endure but not survive. So when faced with a young hostage he really can't afford to let fade away, Sauron is very careful not to do anything too traumatizing.

(Mostly.)

Luckily Feanor's grandson is an interesting child to babysit.

Five Golden Rings (5705 words) by HerenorThereNearnorFar
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Celebrimbor | Telperinquar/Sauron | Mairon
Characters: Celebrimbor | Telperinquar, Sauron | Mairon, Annatar (Tolkien), Frodo Baggins
Additional Tags: Narvi Gets One Line, The Only Major Character Death Is Sauron's And That One Is His Own Fault, Recovery, Formenos, Deductive Worldbuilding, Post-Lord of the Rings, Jewelry, Some Non-Explicit Torture
Summary:

Barad-dûr has fallen. Celebrimbor does some light metalworking for the sake of sentiment (and maybe something more).

alteration (5129 words) by simaetha
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Celebrimbor/Sauron
Characters: Celebrimbor, Sauron
Additional Tags: Trauma, abusive relationship tactics, boundary violation, Consent Issues, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Vampires, Horror
Summary:

Sauron brings Celebrimbor back from the dead. More or less, anyway.

Beware of women with beards and men without (4792 words) by TheLionInMyBed
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Maedhros/Azaghâl
Characters: Maedhros, Azaghâl
Additional Tags: Gender or Sex Swap, Cultural Differences, Beards, Dwarves, Elves, Maedhros is a slut for military resources, Azaghâl Is Definitely Not A Dirty Elf Fetishist Nope, half of this is intelligent people respectfully discussing cultural gender markers, ...the other half is reprehensible sex
Summary:

The wise rulers of two noble peoples come together. And make common council.

From:

castiron

A Game of Chess has long been one of my favorites.

From:

castiron

I'm seconding the rec of Anna Wing's "Conditional Release". Silmarillion rather than LOTR, but hilarious, with moments of spine-tingling numinousity.

The Game of the Gods by Limyaael is a fun story with commentary on bad fanfic tropes.

From:

vass

This is Silm rather than LOTR, but it's short and I am confident you'll like it: Alizarin, by

simaetha. Relevant tags: Economic Protectionism, Aniline Dyes, Fashion & Couture.

From:

aquamirage

yessssss

I will be watching this with interest and also to see how many linked fics are by people I used to know Back In The Day

From:

reconditarmonia

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18025313

All Who Are Hungry, by CenozoicSynapsid - Jewish hobbits!

From:

makamu

And the rest of Thearrogantemu's Silm work, come to that.

I was thinking about just reccing all of her work; I refrained because I thought it would be impolite :)

From:

makamu

I would love to second The Starless Road ; it's one of my favourite Fingorn/Maedhros stories and a great examination of Arda's metaphysics

From:

chestnut_pod

That is all you have to say ever to make me pledge my undying loyalty to a story.

From:

gogollescent

I'm going to graciously bypass the temptation to which so many others have fallen and not "rec" "Silm" fanfic here, but I'm fond of River of Stone (Legolas/Gimli, bitch Legolas) and the all-essential Galadriel-takes-the-Ring-and-Eowyn-sexually-harasses-Faramir AU which you may have read. NEVERTHELESS.