Innumerable Stars Letter 2021

[narya_flame]

Dear Creator,

Hi! Thank you for making a gift for me; I'm really excited to see what you come up with.

I am very easy to please; I like lots of canons and characters (hence the ridiculous number of tags) and I enjoy all types of fanwork – brief character studies; quiet conversations; what-ifs; plotty adventures; horror; romance; smut; portraits; comics; moodboards...I'm happy with anything. I'd be equally thrilled to get something about any of the tags and characters I've selected so please don't read anything into the length of the prompts, or whether I've requested the characters or fandoms for previous exchanges.

Tolkien is the fandom of my heart – I dabble in others, but this is the one I always return to. I love the “feel” of his work, the interwoven nature of it all (even the texts that aren't set in ME), the depth, the blend of styles and tones, the sense of there being so much more hiding just out of sight.

 

That said, I'm not a canon purist so don't feel bound to adhere to the letter of LaCE etc.; I'm very much a believer in an in-world narrator who had a specific agenda influencing their narrative choices. I'm also a believer in “other minds and hands” being able to re-tell/interpret the tales and fill in the gaps in their own way. One of the greatest delights to me as a fan is stumbling across interpretations of characters and plots and motifs that I'd never considered; I have my headcanons, but in an exchange I am always keen to know how other creators see the stories I love. You are welcome to write or draw the occupants of Middle-earth (and beyond!) in any way that you wish. Diverse skin tones; disabilities; different body types; trans, intersex and genderqueer headcanons - go for it.

 

There are, though, a handful things I would prefer not to receive...


DNWs

• Crack; focus on bodily fluids and functions (exception: blood from injuries);
• Focus on pregnancy, childbirth or babies;
• Unrequested AU that significantly changes the canon setting - for example, A/B/O or mermaid AU. (Canon divergence is great, as is post-canon exploration - I don't consider Elves/Ainur in history or canon artefacts turning up in charity shops to be AU.) 
• The Noldor as outright villains;
• The Valar as perfect and right in all they do;
• Maglor dead/mad/broken by grief for all eternity;
• Tom Bombadil = Eru or Maglor.

I don't ship Gigolas or Angbang (or at least, I don't ship Angbang in a soppy/fluffy way...but creepy/dark takes are fun).  I am a bit iffy on Eöl and Námo.  I don't like them as they are written in canon; an appearance from either or both of them is not a DNW, but I generally prefer darker interpretations of them, or at the very least ambiguous/complicated depictions. 

OK, with those out of the way, let's move on to things I do like and would be very happy to see!

General Stuff

 

 

Art Likes

 

• Abstract art (could maybe work for the Ainur?)
• Action shots
• Art as character study, or illustrating the dynamics of a relationship
• Basically anything that plays with colour, light, shadow, space and movement
• Beams of light; strangely shaped shadows
• Calligraphy/illumination/runework
• Close ups of tiny details like stitching, beading, engraving, etc.
• Clothing, jewellery and hair
• Comic panels; sets of linked drawings that tell a story
• Craft and sculpture
• Depictions of the natural world; tiny characters in vast landscapes
• Facial expressions conveying more than one emotion at once
• Fashion design
• Focus on a part of the body that isn't the face, e.g. a character's fingertips lightly brushing their lover's ear
• Group shots
• Intricate detailing on weaponry, armour, buildings, engravings, musical instruments...
• Limited colour palette; jewel tones; monochrome
• Maps, architectural drawings, floor plans, designs for a toy or new invention, etc.
• Portraits
• Unusual perspectives – through a window, over a gate, down a tunnel, from a distance...

 

Fic Likes

 

• Adventure and peril
• Anything to do with languages, linguistics and alphabets
• Canon divergence AUs, especially if used to explore some of the worldbuilding prompts below
• Complex character dynamics
• Conflicting motivations
• Fairy tale motifs
• Found families/families of choice
• Grief and tragedy
• Hope and reconciliation
• In-world myths and legends
• In-world meta (see section below)
• Mercy/pity
• Mysteries and investigations
• Philosophical musings; academic discussions and debates
• Politics, on any scale
• Solace
• Unexpected friends/allies/relationships
• Unreliable narrators and quirky narrative structures – for example, epistolary, fragmented narratives, stories told through found documents, framing devices, stories told out of chronological order; playing with canon narrative bias/intent
• Unusual perspectives, minor characters and textual ghosts
• Wry humour; finding something to smile over when times are bleak

 

In-Universe Meta

 

• “Filling in the gaps” e.g. fragments of documents complete with in-world commentary
• Bestiaries and spellbooks
• Catalogues
• Contracts and agreements
• Diary entries; project journals
• Essays
• Etymology
• History
• In-world scholarship
• Instructions and recipes
• Laws and proclamations
• Letters
• Literary criticism and analysis
• Marginalia
• Working papers and project notes

 

General Likes

 

• A sense of history and wonder
• Animals
• Battle plans, battle scenes and/or aftermath
• Candlelight
• Castles, fortresses, palaces and grand houses
• Cosy cottages (or hobbit holes!)
• Dragons!
• Elves/Ainur in history
• Fic, art etc. inspired by my own fanworks: remixes, based on, set in the same 'verse, using the same plotline, borrowing an OC, podfic recording, etc.
• Fog and mist
• Food, drink and celebration
• Forests; rivers; the sea
• Fusions of science and magic
• Games, contests and competition
• Ghosts, hauntings (literal and metaphorical) and liminal places
• Learning a craft or skill
• Libraries, archives and other knowledge repositories
• Liminal places; the borders of the numinous
• Loyalty and sacrifice; carrying on against impossible odds
• Magic
• Music and musical instruments
• Myth, folklore and fairy-tale
• Objects and places with special significance
• Original characters
• Quiet moments
• Roaring fires
• Setting as character - feel free to take this literally, I love sentient nature and architectural horror
• Shining a light into places canon doesn't show us, or barely touches on – going off the edge of the map
• Starlight
• Storytelling, riddles and poetry
• 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
• The supernatural and the uncanny
• Unprompted crossovers between requests. If you want to send Finrod to the North Pole, then please be my guest.
• Villages, towns and cities, especially their unusual defining features, like Esgaroth being constructed on wooden piles in the middle of a lake
• Witchy, fey and eldritch beings

 

Relationship Likes

 

 

(A lot of my requests are for single characters but I am open to unrequested ships as long as they don't conflict with a DNW.)

General/SFW

 

• Ambiguous relationships
• Banter and teasing
• Bedsharing; huddling for warmth
• Characters being utterly fascinated by one another (doesn't have to be romantic; could be admiration of craft/skill, or being impressed by someone's intellect, or something else altogether)
• Developing friendships – especially unlikely friendships
• Emotional reunions after long separations
• Enemies/rivals to lovers/friends
• Fierce loyalty and devotion, to the point of one character doing something incredibly stupid to help or save somebody they love
• Fighting back-to-back
• Forehead kisses
• Grey relationships that don't sit neatly in a box
• Hurt/comfort
• Quiet moments between people who care about each other, especially during or after huge events shaking their world
• Situational relationships – enemies having to work together, or people who wouldn't normally be drawn to each other forming a bond through circumstance
• “The little things” - light brushes with fingertips, smiles across a room...
• Tempestuous, complex or unhealthy relationships (see section on darker stuff)

 

Smut Likes

• Aftercare
• Banter in bed
• Bathing
• Biting and scratching
• Blood play
• Breath play
• Comfort sex; sex between friends who are just having fun
• Differing experience levels
• Drinking wine in bed together
• Enthusiastic consent
• Gags; blindfolds; light bondage
• Hair brushing/washing/braiding
• Helplessness
• Knifeplay
• Neck kissing; collarbone kissing
• Nipple play
• Orgasm delay/denial
• Piercings
• Pillow talk
• Porn as character study
• Reading erotic literature together
• Sensation play
• Sex exploring power dynamics and/or deeply informed by characters' history together
• Sex in or near water
• Swimming
• “Thank god you're alive” sex; sex after serious injury

More ideas in my Smut4Smut letter if your muse bends that way!
 

Darker Stuff

 

• Abandoned places; ruins; haunted houses/objects
• Being trapped in a small dark space, possibly with something terrifying lurking nearby
• Body horror. Especially pretty body horror, like flowers growing out of bodies, or being consumed from the inside by starlight.
• Body modification
• Canon divergence that initially seems like it will fix things but then makes everything worse.
• Character death. Most of these canons are somewhere on the scale from sad to tragic; death, loss and grief make them all the more powerful, so I'm happy for it to be explored (although please don't kill Maglor, who I firmly believe is still wandering around somewhere).
• Corruption and decay
• Dark magic and curses
• Dreams bleeding into reality
• Dubious consent
• Horror! Most forms of horror, to be honest. I'm rarely bothered by gore and I like being scared.
• Hurt without comfort, including terminal illness or fatal injury
• Malevolent ghosts and hauntings
• Memory loss, or memories being fake/unreliable
• Mental illness, including depression and suicidal thoughts
• Possession
• Psychological manipulation and abuse
• Resurrection and necromancy
• Ritual and sacrifice
• Seances
• Sentient nature
• Substance abuse
• Torture
• Unhealthy relationships/relationships with troubling dynamics, including obsession, jealousy and co-dependency

Fandoms and Prompts

 

I've based most of my suggested prompts on the optional worldbuilding tags, but if you have a different idea for the character(s) we've matched on then by all means go with that!
 

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (Art, Fic)

 

• The Corrigan
• Daughter of Aotrou and Itroun
• Daughter of Aotrou and Itroun & the Corrigan
• Son of Aotrou and Itroun & Daughter of Aotrou and Itroun
• Son of Aotrou and Itroun/Daughter of Aotrou and Itroun
• Son of Aotrou and Itroun & the Corrigan
• Son of Aotrou and Itroun
• Original Character

Optional worldbuilding tags: 
 

• Blood Bonds and Magic
• Changelings
• Daily Life in Aotrou and Itroun's Halls
• Source and Nature of the Corrigan's Magic
• Spider-craft
• The Effect of the Corrigan's Magic on Aotrou and Itroun's Children

I love this poem an unreasonable amount and it lends itself to all kinds of magical (and smutty) shenanigans. The Breton setting! The creepy Corrigan! Curses! Bargains! Magic! There's so much you could do with this, and I'd be thrilled to get something really dark here.  (What the heck is "spider-craft" anyway?!)

Alternatively, how about outsider POV (I love OCs), or a bit of post-canon exploration? I can't help thinking that Aotrou and Itroun's children might one day go looking for revenge on the wicked fairy whose tricks and wiles caused their parents' deaths. Flipped POV is always fascinating, too. Perhaps the Corrigan isn't so wicked as all that. Maybe she has a story of her own to tell?

 

Art-wise, anything featuring any of these characters and their setting will make me very happy. Maybe a drawing of the Corrigan's lair, or an OC servant in Aotrou and Itroun's great house?

 

The Silmarillion (Art, Fic)

 

• Arien
• Elwing/Vairë
• Eru Ilúvatar
• Estë/Nessa/Vána/Yavanna 
• Gandalf (Olórin)
• Ilmarë
• Melian
• Nienna/Thuringwethil 
• Oromë
• Ossë
• Salmar
• Sauron
• Tilion
• Uinen
• Ulmo
• Ungoliant
• Vairë
• Vairë/Ungoliant
• Varda
• Yavanna

Optional worldbuilding tags: 

 

• Alternative Versions of the Creation Myth
• Elves &/or Ainur in History
• Hauntings and Horror
• Making of the Sun and Moon
• Motivations of Sentient Trees
• Songs of Power
• The Helcaraxë as a Semi-Sentient Entity Capable of Communication
• The Round World Version of the Mythology (Silm)
• The Void
• Valarin as the Language of Cosmic Horror and Sorcery

AKA the freaky eldritch Ainur request! 

I think the worldbuilding tags more or less speak for themselves here.  If you're doing art then I am always interested in takes where the Ainur definitely look "other" and not-human (Yavanna in her tree form?!), and if you're after relationship inspiration, I am a huge fan of Eönwë/Sauron, and also of Mairon and Olórin being friends, back in the day.

 

The Silmarillion (Art, Fic)

 

• Maglor
• Finrod
• Maglor/Finrod

Optional worldbuilding tags:
 

• Elves &/or Ainur in History
• Finrod in History
• Finrod in the Modern World
• Maglor at the Opéra Garnier
• Middle-earth Is Our Earth
• The Round World Version of the Mythology

This is me shamelessly pleading for Elves-in-history content, but I love Maglor and Finrod anyway, so if you want to write about one or both of them in their canon timelines, that's fine too! 

I love sending Maglor on his travels around the US, Scotland and Italy, but by all means do something else if your heart lies with a different location or a particular period (whoever nominated Maglor at the Opéra Garnier - thank you, I love you, please go wild with that tag), and when I saw Finrod in History as an option, I couldn't resist asking for that too.  Maybe he goes looking for his wandering cousin, and they have some adventures together...? Shipping and smut very welcome!

 

The Silmarillion (Fic Request Only)

 

• Group: Caranthir/Lúthien

Optional worldbuilding tags: 
 

• Canon-Divergence Fëanorians Win AU
• Elves and Mushrooms
• Hauntings and Horror
• Improbable parentages for Gil-Galad
• LaCE as a Horror Concept
• LaCE as a Social Construct
• Law and Bureaucracy among the Eldar
• Relations between Dwarves & Elves
• Sentient Weapons & Jewelry
• Weaponized Osanwë

I did not nominate this ship but I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to request it.  I love a rare pair, so if this is your pool noodle, go ahead and convince me - how does this happen?  Is this a marriage of convenience, a love match, or something else entirely?

I've pulled out a few tags that seem like they could be a fun combination with this ship and hopefully they're sparking some ideas.  Fëanorians building bridges after they recover the Silmarils and look to fashion a life in Beleriand?  Something less consensual (a kind of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers scenario, perhaps)?  Caranthir genuinely falling for Lúthien and taking her to meet his Dwarf friends?  Something playing with the fanon of Caranthir having wild osanwë, and how that interacts with Lúthien's Maia powers?  Love the idea of them being Gil's parents, that is a take I've never come across, so please feel free to run with that (and involve Gil in the fic if you like, I love him too!).

 

The Hobbit (Art Request Only)

 

• Beorn
• Roäc son of Carc
• Smaug the Magnificent

Pretty pictures, please and thank you? <3

 

The Lord of the Rings (Art, Fic)

 

• Bill the Pony
• Fatty Lumpkin
• Felaróf
• Ghosts in the Dead Marshes
• Goldberry
• Group: Entwives
• Group: Farmer Maggot's Dogs
• Group: Ioreth & Entwives
• Group: Last Prince of Cardolan/Lady of the Blue Brooch
• Group: Tom Bombadil's Horses
• Nameless Things that Sauron Knows Not
• Old Man Willow
• Shadowfax

Optional worldbuilding tags: 

 

• Barrow-downs and Barrow-wights
• Forests
• Motivations of Sentient Trees
• Necromancy and Hauntings
• Rohirric Elf-legends
• War Against Angmar

I could basically sum this request up as ghosts, forests and horses.  I LOVE all the weirdness of the Old Forest; please feel free to go eldritch and scary and uncanny here. (I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of The Withywindle and Old Man Willow as Goldberry's parents, but maybe the river has her eye on someone else...the Lady with the Blue Brooch, perhaps?)  

As for the Entwives, where did they go? What did they do there? How many, if any, survived to the end of the Third Age? I adore the idea of Ioreth encountering them so anything depicting that would be awesome.

Horses...these are all pretty special critters and I'm good with anything you'd like to write or draw here.  Links between the Mearas and the Elves?  Art of Shadowfax in the plains of Rohan?  Bill's adventures as he makes his way home?
 

 

Roverandom (Art Request Only)

 

• Artaxerxes
• The Great Sea Serpent
• The Man in the Moon
• The Moon Dragon
• The Moon Rover
• Psamathos
• Roverandom
• The Sea Rover
• Tinker the Cat
• Uin

I am such a huge fan of this tiny Tolkien canon and the illustrations that accompany it; I love all the settings, so anything with any of the selected characters in any landscape that appears in the story would be wonderful. 
 

The Father Christmas Letters (Art, Fic)

 

• Cave Bear
• Father Christmas
• The Great Bear
• The Green Brother
• Ilbereth
• The North Polar Bear
• Original Goblin
• Original Snowperson

 

I am so fond of The Father Christmas Letters!  The worldbuilding here is gorgeous, and with the air cooling I am already starting to get into the festive spirit, so anything about gift giving or the making of gifts would be perfect – who is in charge of Father Christmas's workshop?  Do they still make everything by hand, or have they modernised?  Who looks after all those letters?  (Epistolary format could be a lot of fun here!)  Maybe most importantly of all, how do they get around everybody on Christmas Eve!?

If you want to go deeper and/or darker, I love the glimpses of lore and history that we get in this canon.  What about the bats and weird sausage-dog things that the goblins ride on?  Maybe you could explore what those are, or make art of them.  And the Elves...Ilbereth uses Tengwar at one point, if memory serves, so are they Middle-earth Elves of a later Age?  Or maybe you could write or draw the Gnomes (are they Noldor?!) or even explore the nature of Father Christmas himself, and the history of Christmas and its realm.  What did the land at the North Pole look like before Christmas as we know it?  Was it once a darker, scarier place?  Who is Grandfather Yule, and what does he do these days?

On a similar note, I can't help wondering if the Green Brother is an “older” version of Father Christmas – the version we see dressed in green robes and crowned with holly, before Clement Clarke Moore clad him in red. Or maybe he's some kind of summer spirit, or Green Man. What's his relationship with Father Christmas like? Where is his domain?

 

Crossovers (Art, Fic)

 

• Annatar (Silm) as Father Christmas (FC Letters)
• Curufinwë Atarinkë (Silm) As Attila | Atli (LSG)
• Group: Argon (Silm) & Gawain (Arthur) & Agravain (Gawain)
• Group: Ælfwine (BoLT) & Maglor (Silm)
• Group: Belladonna Took (Hobbit book) & Lalaith (Silm)
• Group: Beowulf & Maedhros
• Group: Celegorm (Silm) & the fox wandering through the woods on business of his own (LotR books)
• Group: Daughter of Aotrou and Itroun (LAI) & Houseless Elf (Silm)
• Group: Eärwen (Silm)/Kalervo's Swan-mother (Kullervo)
• Group: Entwives (LotR books) & Lalaith (Silm)
• Group: Fëanor (Silm) & Loki (LSG)
• Group: Fingon (Silm) & Fafnir (LSG)
• Group: Guinevere (Gawain) & Guinever (Arthur)
• Group: Ilbereth (TFCL) & Maglor (Silm)
• Group: Maglor (Silm) & Barrow-wights (LotR books)
• Group: Maglor (Silm) & Farmer Maggot's Dogs
• Group: Maglor (Silm) & Ghosts in the Dead Marshes (LotR books)
• Group: Maglor (Silm) & Original Character(s) from Cardolan/Arthedain/Rhudaur (LotR Books)
• Group: Old Swan from Elvet-isle (ATB) & Kalervo's Swan-mother (Kullervo)
• Group: Old Swan from Elvet-isle (ATB) & Original Character from Alqualondë (Silm)
• Group: Original Noldorin Character (Silm) & Original Knight of the Round Table (Gawain &/or Arthur)
• Group: Oromë (Silm) & the Green Knight (Gawain)
• Group: River-woman (LotR Books) / Uinen (Silm)
• Group: Tevildo (BoLT) & the Cats of Queen Berúthiel (LotR Books)
• Group: Tevildo (BoLT) & the Ostler's Tipsy Cat (ATB)
• Group: Tevildo (BoLT) & Tinker the cat (Roverandom)
• Group: The Blue-Robed Lady of the Forest (Kullervo)/Galadriel (LotR books)
• Group: The Corrigan (LAI) & Ungoliant (Silm)
• Group: The Green Knight (Gawain) & Son of Aotrou and Itroun (LAI)
• Group: The Green Knight (Gawain) & Son of Aotrou and Itroun (LAI) & Finrod (Silm)
• Group: Thuringwethil (Silm)/The Shadow-Bride (ATB)
• Group: Tom Bombadil (LotR books) & the Green Knight (Gawain)
• Group: Ulmo (Silm) & Uin (Roverandom)
• The Nameless Things that Sauron knows not (LOTR) in a crossover setting of your choice

 

Optional worldbuilding tags:
 

• Elves &/or Ainur in History
• Elvet-isle
• Fragments of Ancient Worlds
• Gramarye
• Historical Documents
• Mirrors
• Portals and Passageways
• Seeing Stones
• Water Magic
• Wights and Ghosts and Hauntings

I am a sucker for crossing multiple Tolkien canons.  I'm fascinated by the motifs and patterns woven through Tolkien's body of work – how they evolved over time, their roots in his own life, and how they speak to his goal to create that “body of more or less connected legend” that he was aiming for, his own “intricate web of story.” For this section I've tried to pick characters and groups that have the potential to tease out some of those connections if that's something you're inclined to explore – but some of them are just so much fun and I couldn't resist.  Annatar as the very literal bringer of gifts!  Swan symbology galore!  Cats behaving badly!  Beleriand Noldor in King Arthur's Court!  So much to play with – honestly, you can't disappoint me.