narya_flame

Dear Creator,

Hello! I have no idea how it's this time of year again; 2020 has been...well. Maybe the less said about that the better. Anyway, this is one of my favourite fandom events, so seeing it announced put a much-needed smile on my face - it's time to explore some weird and spooky corners of Middle-earth (and beyond)!

I have combed the tagset and pulled together a set of deliciously dark Tolkien prompts and requests to tempt your muses. Don't feel like you have to draw or write to any of my specific ideas; they are 100% optional and intended for inspiration only, so please go in a different direction if that's what your piece wants to do. Also feel free to combine prompts, if it works – for example, Maglor turning up in Cardolan or Arthedain.

I'd be equally thrilled with anything about any of the tags and characters I've selected so please don't read anything into the length of the prompts, or the number of tags I've combined with a character, or whether I've requested the characters for previous exchanges. I haven't included tons of shippy/smutty prompts here because most of the tags I've picked out are focussed around horror, injuries and supernatural goings-on, but if you do want inspiration in that direction, there are plenty of character-agnostic likes and ideas in my Chocolate Box letter from earlier this year.

General Likes

Fic

Complex character dynamics
Conflicting motivations
Found families/families of choice
Grief and tragedy
Hope, redemption and reconciliation
In-world myths and legends
Unusual perspectives, minor characters, original characters and textual ghosts
Unreliable narrators and quirky narrative structures – for example, epistolary, fragmented narratives, stories told through found documents, framing devices, stories told out of chronological order
In-world meta – scholarship, catalogues, bestiaries and spellbooks, marginalia, letters, working papers and project notes
Philosophical musings
Anything to do with languages, linguistics and alphabets
Twist endings/a sting in the tail (sting in the tale...?)

Art

Maps! Maps are amazing! (Tricky for this exchange since it is character focused, but if you can make it work, brilliant.)
Clothing, jewellery and hair
Close ups of tiny details like stitching, beading, engraving, etc.
Depictions of the natural world
Facial expressions conveying more than one emotion at once
Unusual perspectives – through a window, over a gate, down a tunnel, from a distance...
Anything that plays with colour, light, shadow, space and movement

Either

Worldbuilding details
Objects and places with special significance – a “sense of history”
Ruined buildings, settlements and cities
"Thin" places - standing stones, menhirs, tumuli...
Caves, dells and other shadowy locations
Ghosts, literal and metaphorical
Food, drink and celebration
Battle scenes and/or aftermath
Storytelling, riddles and poetry
Candlelight
Roaring fires
Libraries, archives and other knowledge repositories
Fusions of science and magic
Shining a light into places canon doesn't show us, or barely touches on – going off the edge of the map
Suggestion and implication, whether this is hints of backstory, a figure hiding in the shadows, or a slightly ambiguous ending – I love it when my imagination can get to work filling in the gaps

Dark Likes

Hurt/comfort
Whump/hurt without comfort, including terminal illness or fatal injury
Mental illness, including depression and suicidal thoughts
Substance abuse
Death and grief
Torture
Psychological manipulation and abuse
Unhealthy relationships/relationships with troubling dynamics, including obsession, jealousy and co-dependency
Possession
Dark magic and curses
Corruption and decay
Sentient nature
Resurrection and necromancy
Being trapped in a small dark space, possibly with something terrifying lurking nearby
Ghost and horror stories – I'm a huge fan of Edgar Allen Poe, M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu.

DNWs

Crack
Focus on bodily fluids (exception: blood from injuries)
Focus on pregnancy or childbirth
Unrequested kink
Unrequested AU that significantly changes the canon setting, e.g. pirate AU, mermaid AU (canon divergence is fine, as is post-canon exploration - I don't consider Elves in history or canon artefacts turning up in charity shops to be AU)

Maglor-specific DNWs:

Maglor (or any of the Noldor) depicted as straight-up villains
Maglor dying (this includes being in the Halls of Mandos or reborn in Valinor)
Maglor penitent and begging for forgiveness (regretting blood spilled, yes; mourning those lost, absolutely; broken by shame and throwing himself at the feet of the Valar, no thank you)

Requests

The Silmarillion

Maglor

Medium - Fic

Tags - Aftermath - Survivor Guilt; Altered States - Alcohol; Alternate Universe - Firefly Setting; Alternate Universe - Time Travel; Betrayal; Death - Near Death Experience; Dreams - Nightmares; Dynamic - Uneasy Allies; Effect - Character Is Haunted By Bad Things They Had To Do For A Good Cause; Effect - Character Is Haunted By Someone They Killed; Effect - Character Survived Their Adventures/Ordeal But Will Never Be The Same Again; Effect - Character who dies in canon lives but it doesn't fix things; Ethics/Morals - Moral Dilemmas; Ghosts; Ghosts - Character is adopted by a ghost with ambiguous motives; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Grief/Mourning; Horror - Architectural Horror; Horror - Folk Horror; Hurt/Comfort; Immortality - Burdens of Immortality; Immortality - Outliving Friends and Family; Injuries - Bloody and Bruised; Injuries - Broken Bones; Injuries - Concussions and Head Injuries; Injuries - Temporarily Blinded; Injuries - Wound Won't Heal; Loneliness; Motivation - the road to hell is paved with good intentions; Murder - Murder Mystery; Plot - Faked Death; Politics - Political Machinations; PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; Scars; Torture; Touch-Starved; Trapped - Trapped With Someone in Need of Medical Care; Trauma - Witnessing Violence and Death; Unreliable Narrator; Weather - Storms

I'm sorry for the ridiculous list of tags, but there are so many options for Maglor! I love the potential of his story to continue beyond the end of the First Age. I don't mind when you want to set the story, and if you'd like to move past canon and into known history, I'm completely OK with that – I love Maglor-in-history fics.

Some possible ideas...

Wandering through a ruined city
Encountering a ghost or a Houseless Elf, maybe even someone he knew
His time as a prince and commander in the First Age, having to make impossible decisions in the face of Morgoth's forces
Captured by Sauron - or, in a later Age, by someone who wants to unlock the secret of his immortality (yes, I may have watched The Old Guard recently, what made you ask?)
Events from our history seen through his eyes – the Black Death, the American War of Independence, the fall of the Berlin Wall...
Getting embroiled in political manoeuvring and backstabbing, either in Valinor, in Beleriand, or at some point in known history
Solving an apparently impossible murder - pick any milieu you like for this one, I love Agatha Christie novels but creepy Victoriana or Middle-earth mysteries are equally welcome
Forming an attachment to a mortal or group of mortals, knowing he will one day lose them

A note about the AU tags - I threw them in for fun. I would love to see Maglor in a Firefly-type setting (and honestly, you could convince me that's post-canon rather than AU); I don't know how the time travel idea would work but I'd be interested in anything you wanted to explore there (there is a very specific crossover requested further down if you happen to be a fan of the Time Lords); as for the canon divergence tag, it could be one of his brothers who lives, or someone less obviously connected to Maglor but whose survival nevertheless has a butterfly effect - how might things have gone differently for Men and Elves if Beleg had lived, for example?

Include any canon characters you like from any Age of Arda, and/or any historical figures or OCs that strike your fancy. I'm game for all of it!

Nielíqui

Medium - Fic, Art

Tags - Apotheosis - Nonconsensual; Body Horror - Flowers growing out of bodies; Captivity; Dark Fairy Tale Elements; Death - Character Death; Dynamic - Jealousy; Effect - Accidental Apotheosis; Ethics/Morals - Ethical Dilemmas; Dreams - Dreams bleeding into reality; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Grief/Mourning; Horror - Folk Horror; Loneliness; Magic - Losing Control Over Magic/Powers; Possession; Sounds - Creepy Laughter; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs

I am so intrigued by the Valarindi, and also by slightly creepy magical/supernatural children, so I would love something exploring what became of Oromë and Vána's daughter, and how her existence could be reconciled with canon as published. Did she stay in Middle-earth and become a nature spirit - maybe a dryad, or similar? Or maybe something darker happened. Maybe the Valier grew jealous of this little dancing maiden (I am completely OK with sinister takes on the Valar) - or maybe Nielíqui wasn't as sweet and innocent as she appeared...

If you're doing art, then pretty plant-based body horror would make me very happy.

The Hobbit

Smaug

Medium - Fic, Art

Tags - Dark Fairy Tale Elements; Death - Character Death; Death - Resurrection; Effect - no good deed goes unpunished; Manipulation; Obsession; Plot - Help from strangers; Revenge; Sacrifice - Self-Sacrifice; Scars

This is my "please give me dragon content" request! I love this wily old wyrm. Show me Smaug brooding atop his mountains of gold, or Smaug tricking and manipulating his enemies - or, if you'd like to focus on non-draconic characters and use Smaug as the villain, how about his attack on Dale from the eyes of some OCs, or even a pair of over-bold thieves attempting to enter his lair?

If you fancy a bit of dark canon divergence, resurrected skeleton!Smaug could make for some wonderfully creepy fic or art...

The Lord of the Rings

Lalia Clayhanger & Pearl Took

Medium - Fic

Tags - Abuse - Condescending Praise; Abuse - Gaslighting; Dynamic - Jealousy; ; Ethics/Morals - Ethical Dilemmas; Ethics/Morals - Moral Dilemmas; Motivation - the road to hell is paved with good intentions; Murder - Murder Mystery; Plot - Falsely Accused

Cosy Shire murder mystery, anyone? (I might have already mentioned that I love Agatha Christie.) Did Pearl stand to gain anything from Lalia's death? Was she sick of being bossed around, and worse? Or did someone set things up to make her look guilty?

Original Character from Cardolan; Original Character from Arthedain; Original Character from Rhudaur

Medium - Fic

Tags - Ghosts; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Ghosts - Malicious ghost gradually starts to gain corporeal form; Injuries - Bloody and Bruised; Injuries - Broken Bones; Injuries - Concussions and Head Injuries; Injuries - Hiding Injury; Injuries - stabbed; Murder - poison; Plot - Character has to kill or injure the enemy they reluctantly admire; Plot - The War Was Lost; Politics - Political Machinations; Sick - Pandemic; Trapped - Quarantine; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs; Weather - Storms

I am fascinated by the legacy kingdoms of Arnor, and I love original characters. There's so much to explore here. If you want to examine the events leading up to the war with Angmar then I'm interested in the political relations between the kingdoms - what kinds of conflict arose before Angmar, and how did their lack of unity lead to the Witch-king being able to gain a foothold in the North? Alternatively, explorations of the assaults, battles and sieges during the Angmar wars themselves would be fascinating.

The Great Plague also springs to mind (although it might be a bit too topical) - and it coincided with the Shadow gathering in Mirkwood. Did Sauron or one of his lackeys create it? Was it the land's reaction to his return, or was it simply a dreadful coincidence? In-world meta could be interesting here - a healer's notes, or a traveller's diary entries, showing how the Plague affected different lands and peoples. Or maybe you could explore the impact the Plague had on Cardolan, and how this affected the war with Angmar.

A look at Arnor after its fall could be interesting too - maybe a curious Hobbit or a wandering Ranger exploring some ruins makes an intriguing discovery, or has a supernatural encounter they can't quite explain...

Old Man Willow; The River-woman; Huorns; The Silent Watchers; Helm Hammerhand

Medium - Fic, Art

Tags - Dark Fairy Tale Elements; Death - Character Death; Death - Trapped Between Life And Death; Ghosts; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Grief/Mourning; Horror - Architectural Horror; Horror - Folk Horror; Magic - Dark Magic; Magic - Magical Corruption; Magic - Magic Curses; Plot - Becoming The Thing That You Most Hate/Fear; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs; Weather - Storms

AKA the Third Age Curiosities and Cryptids prompt - weird things in the Old Forest and beyond! (I'm aware that we may not have matched on the character and tag combinations that I think are the obvious ones, so if the ideas below don't work for you, chuck them out and follow your muse.)

First up, Old Man Willow. I find him fascinating and frightening, and can't help wondering about his origins. What kind of power does Tom Bombadil have over him? What made him decide to start luring and devouring stray wandering Hobbits? Or feel free to leave him unexplained, if you prefer; I'd be just as happy with a cautionary tale set in the Old Forest, or a vignette about his malevolent musings.

What other powers lurk in the Old Forest, and how do the Shire-folk keep them at bay? How about the River-woman? Does she know, or work with, Old Man Willow? Is she the incarnate spirit of the Withywindle, or something else altogether? Did she know the Lady of the Blue Brooch? Was she responsible for her demise? How did she create/give birth to Goldberry? (Exception to the pregnancy DNW here).

Maybe there are Huorns in the Old Forest! What are they - Ents that have become tree-like, trees that have grown like Ents, or something totally different? (If you're doing art, how about a hapless traveller, slowly being surrounded as the tree-creatures close in...?)

The Silent Watchers...oof. This passage used to make me feel sick in the books - the idea of being forced back and kept out by sheer willpower frightened me as a kid and still spooks me now. Could the Watchers be a product of Sauron's necromancy, or were they crafted from dark magic of another kind?

Finally, old Helm. The Rohirrim were my first fandom love, and I am still fascinated by their culture and history. I'm picturing a harrowing death scene here, or a quiet moment during the Long Winter, or some sad introspection as he grieves for his sons - or perhaps on a dark night at the Hornburg, two young guardsmen are huddling around a fire, and a ghostly figure figure approaches through the shadows and mist...

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

The Shadow-Bride; Mewlips; Gorcrows; Fíriel; Barrow-wights

Medium - Fic, Art

Tags - Body Horror - Flowers growing out of bodies; Dark Fairy Tale Elements; Dreams - Dreams bleeding into reality; Dreams - Nightmares; Ghosts; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Horror - Architectural Horror; Horror - Folk Horror; Immortality - Burdens of Immortality; Magic - Magic Curses; Shadows - Shadows coming to life; Sounds - Creepy Laughter; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs

Cryptids and Weird Things, Round Two! I remember being petrified by the Barrow-wights the first time I read The Lord of the Rings, and I still get the shivers when I find myself near old tombs or standing stones at twilight with the mist creeping in. Tom clearly has power over the wights, which makes me wonder why one of them went sneaking into his house; perhaps they have a grudge against him from the old days, which of course begs questions about who they were and where they came from (and indeed what Tom is!). In-world folk tales, historical records or just a straight up scary story or piece of art would be great here.

Speaking of petrified - Mewlips and Gorcrows...yikes. Perhaps a tale of an innocent wanderer stumbling into their clutches, or art of their horrible dwellings? Or a scary nursery story, told to frighten little Hobbit children?

The Shadow-Bride is another wonderfully creepy creation - thank you, Tolkien! I am super intriued by the glimpse we do get of her, but there's so much more you could do. Tolkien scholars have pointed out the poem's parallels with the myth of Persephone, so maybe that's something you could explore?

If that all sounds a little bit too dark, how about something based on 'The Last Ship'? I always wonder why the Elves asked Fíriel to go with them. Maybe she'd seen the Elven ships before? Art of the ships (and of course of Fíriel and the Elves), fic about their comings and goings, or in-world documents about their travels all very welcome.

Sellic Spell

Grinder; Grinder's Dam; The Queen of the Golden Hall

Medium - Art, Fic

Tags - Body Horror; Body Horror - Extra Eyes; Body Horror - Impossible Pregnancy; Body Horror - Non-Consensual Body Modification; Body Horror - Traumatic Tranformations; Cannibalism; Corruption - Magical Corruption; Death - Character Death; Death - Dismemberment; Death - Resurrection; Death - Repeatedly Killed and Resurrected; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Horror; Horror - Folk Horror; Loneliness; Magic - Blood Magic; Magic - Dark Magic; Magic - Magic Curses; Magic - Magical Corruption; Monster - The Monster Isn't The Villain; Politics - Political Machinations; Scars; Undeath - Sapient Undead Character Treated as Inhuman Object; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs; Weather - Storms

I love this strange little folk-tale reworking of Beowulf. I don't have any specific prompts here, beyond what I've pulled out of the tag set – a more detailed exploration of one of the scenes or characters, maybe? (I'm especially interested in depictions of monstrousness and otherness, so perhaps something about Grinder or his dam, their origins, and their perspective on events?) Alternatively, feel free to re-interpret and re-frame the story yet again, or take a look at events from a different viewpoint – maybe through the eyes of the Queen of the Golden Hall. If you want to draw on Beowulf itself as well, I'm more than fine with that.

(This fandom is an exception to my pregnancy DNW.)

Smith of Wootton Major

The Faery Queen; Original Character(s)

Medium - Fic, Art

Tags - Dark Fairy Tale Elements; Dreams - Dreams bleeding into reality; Grief/Mourning; Immortality - Burdens of Immortality; Loneliness; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs; Weather - Storms

This is such a sad and beautiful little story. How about an original character who dreams of Faery, and longs to go? Or how about the Queen of Faery? How does she feel about the "real" world changing as time goes on? Does it encroach on her realm, and if so, what changes?

Crossover

Maglor (Silmarillion) & Eleventh Doctor (Dr. Who - 2005)

Medium - Fic

Tags - Alternate Universe - Mirror Universe; Ghosts; Ghosts - Haunted Hotel; Ghosts - Haunted Houses; Ghosts - Haunted Landscapes; Ghosts - Haunted Planet; Immortality - Burdens of Immortality; Grief/Mourning; Hurt/Comfort; Injuries - Broken Bones; Injuries - Concussions and Head Injuries; Loneliness; Murder - Murder Mystery; Murder - poison; On the Run; Plot - Art/sculpture/statuary coming to life with malevolent intentions; Plot - Character Enthusiastically Consents To Dark/Dangerous Activity; Plot - Faked Death; Plot - Falsely Accused; Plot - Help from strangers; Plot - People Suddenly Start Mysteriously Disappearing; Plot - Presumed Dead; Plot - The War Was Lost; Politics - Political Machinations; Role - stowaway; Scars; Shadows - Shadows coming to life; Sounds - Creepy Laughter; Time - Time Loop; Time - Travel to Change Past Works Badly; Trapped - trapped in a futuristic mining complex during a gas leak; Trapped - Trapped in a Haunted House; Trapped - Trapped in Another Universe; Trapped - Trapped Together; Trapped - Trapped With Someone in Need of Medical Care; Vehicles - Doomed Ship/Vessel; Weather - Semi-sentient mists and fogs; Weather - Storms

Loads of tags again I'm afraid, but I couldn't help it, there is SO MUCH potential here! Two immortals wandering through time and possibly space...what are their views on each other? How do their experiences compare and contrast? What stories do they tell each other? Show me a one-off encounter between the two of them, have Maglor as an undocumented companion of Eleven (accidental stowaway on the TARDIS!?), have them encountering each other multiple times at different points in their timelines...it's totally up to you.

There are lots of haunt-y tags in here. My favourite episodes of Doctor Who are almost always the ghost stories - think "Hide", "Heaven Sent" and "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" - but I also love the romps through futuristic sci-fi settings (bonus points for running up and down corridors!), the "let's visit history" ones, the lower budget character-focused ones, and the ones that turn on solving a puzzle (a very specific idea - with Maglor's musical gifts, can he do anything unusual with the Sonic Screwdriver?). As for the tags about statues and shadows coming to life...isn't that just begging for an appearance from the Weeping Angels or the Vashta Nerada?

I specifically nominated the Eleventh Doctor because I loved Matt Smith's portrayal, but you're welcome to include multiple incarnations of the Doctor in your fic if you prefer others - as long as Eleven makes an appearance, I will be happy. Companion-wise, I like the Ponds, Clara, River and the Paternoster Gang, but don't feel obliged to include any of them, I'm more than happy for the focus to be on Maglor and the Doctor.

...and that's it! I hope that's given you an idea or two; I can't wait to see what you create <3