narya_flame

Hello, dear worldbuilder!

I'm so pleased to see this event back after the original mod stepped down. Thank you so much for creating a gift for me; I love the concept of this exchange, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

I've included some prompts below, and a general list of things I love to see in fanworks, but as always, if you're inspired to do something different then please ignore all of this and follow your heart. This is not a shopping list and I would just like my lovely creator to have some fun with whatever we matched on.

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
Capable/competent characters being casually excellent
Complex character dynamics
Conflicting motivations
Curious characters who just want to <i>know things</i>
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/kindness
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
Communication and travel between worlds and across time
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
Ghosts, hauntings (literal and metaphorical)
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 appearances from characters in canons that aren't strictly their own (Silm characters rocking up in the Third Age; Middle-earth characters turning up in non-ME canons; characters from the other canons travelling to Middle-earth; characters from multiple small canons meeting up somehow...)
Unprompted crossovers between requests
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

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
Dark magic and curses
Dreams bleeding into reality
Dubious consent
Incest
Malevolent ghosts and hauntings
Memory loss, or memories being fake/unreliable
Possession
Resurrection and necromancy
Ritual and sacrifice
Seances
Sentient nature
Torture
Unhealthy relationships/relationships with troubling dynamics, including obsession, jealousy and co-dependency

Squicks

Focus on bodily fluids and functions (exception: blood from injuries)
Focus on pregnancy, childbirth or babies
Totally hopeless/grimdark tone. I am definitely up for thorny material and I don't need a happy ending, but please let there be at least a sliver of light and beauty in there too.

A Word About My Personal Interpretations and Preferences

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; in an exchange, I am always keen to know how other creators see the stories I love. Please write or draw the occupants of Tolkien's worlds in any way that you wish. Diverse skin tones; disabilities; different body types; trans, intersex and genderqueer headcanons – go for it.

I am also open to unrequested relationships of all kinds (provided they don't conflict with a DNW), so if you have a precious rare pair/OT3+ that you never get to write and it's compatible with one of my requests, please include it if you wish. (If you'd like shippy/NSFW inspiration, feel free to check out my Smut4Smut letter from a couple of years ago.)

If Maglor appears (particularly in crossover contexts or in later Ages of Middle-earth), I do have a preference for him being capable and compos mentis, rather than feral, broken, or weeping by the sea forever more.

Prompts from the Tag Set

I've referred to my tagged characters in a few of these prompts, but I'm aware we may not have matched on the character and worldbuilding combinations that I think are the obvious ones, so again, ignore and adapt wherever you like.

A note up front – it isn't an officially listed option in the tag set, but I would also be open to poetry based on any of these prompts, whether they're taged as Art, Fic or Meta in the “official” sign-up. For fic requests, I am up for podfic too. Any media type is welcome for treats.

The Father Christmas Letters

Characters: Original Character(s); Any or No Character(s); Father Christmas; Ilbereth; The North Polar Bear; Original Gnome Character; Grandfather Yule

Fanwork Type(s): Art; Fic; Meta

The Nature of the Green Brother - 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 our modern incarnation who dresses in red? Or maybe he's some kind of summer spirit, or Green Man, or the leader of the Wild Hunt (is he Oromë!?). What's his relationship with Father Christmas like? Where is his domain?
Scripts and Runes - I love the runic letter from Polar Bear, and the goblin cave paintings too - and Ilbereth uses Tengwar! What does that mean?? Alternatively, what is Grandfather Yule's writing like? (OK, I am scraping the barrel a tiny bit with that one, but I foolishly nominated him and then didn't add any worldbuilding tags he could sensibly go with...)
The Flow of Time on Christmas Eve - We all know it makes no sense, right? So how does it work? (Does Grandfather Yule help with this??)
Father Christmas's Workshop - I would love art of this! Or fic about the bears causing trouble there, perhaps. Or for in-world meta, maybe some notes on how to make or find a particular toy, or maintain a piece of special magical equipment?
Elves & Bears & Gnomes - I wonder how closely linked the Elves of the North Pole are to the Elves of Middle-earth? Maybe some of them even remember the Elder Days, and perhaps they have more affinity with the bears (including the mysterious Great Bear) than the Letters explicitly state. Alternatively, something light-hearted, with Ilbereth getting frustrated by the bears' lack of common sense and penchant for mischief, would be delightful. And the Gnomes! Who are they? Noldor? (They help out in the battles against the goblins, after all...)

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

Characters: Original Character(s); Any or No Character(s); Daughter of Aotrou and Itroun; Original Retainer of Aotrou; The Corrigan; Aotrou; Itroun

Fanwork Type(s): Fic; Meta

Writing History – Who Told Aotrou and Itroun's Story? Someone who knew them well, clearly. A faithful retainer? Their children? Someone else?
Rules Lawyering – Curses and Bargains. Was there a way out of Aotrou's deal with the Corrigan? Could Itroun have undone or overturned it - or the twins, born of a changeling's magic?
Magic and Religion – the Church's Relationship with Folk Beliefs. Anything you're inclined to explore here would be fascinating. Are the Corrigan and her ilk persecuted by the Church? Do they co-exist in uneasy peace? What about Aotrou and Itroun's people - do they pay lip service to one thing, and believe another? How does their daughter feel about the circumstances of her birth (if she ever finds out)?
Dark Rituals - "She span dark spells of spider-craft..." - what does that mean?? What spells? What is spider-craft? What's the price of the Corrigan's power??
Daily Life in Aotrou and Itroun's Halls - what are they like as rulers? What does their inner circle look like? Is there anyone they don't trust? What decisions do they make and what do they worry about when they're not striking bargains with a witch?

The Hobbit

Characters: Any or No Characters; Original Character(s); Original Merchant Character; Original Elf of Rivendell; Original Elf of Mirkwood; Original Character from Lake-town

Fanwork Type(s): Art; Meta

The Enchanted River - if you're doing art, then a depiction of the river looking somehow innocent-but-creepy would be delightful...perhaps, on closer inspection, there are figures or faces in the water...? Or for meta, perhaps healer's notes about an Elf who fell in, and who came out ever so slightly changed...
Trolls with Multiple Heads - their existence is only implied, but if you're inspired to draw some three-, four- or more-headed trolls, that would be amazing! If you're doing in-world meta, maybe bestiary entries could be fun – or the notes of a hunting party from Rivendell, encountering something in the Ettinmoors that they've never seen before, and hope never to cross paths with again?
The Toy-market of Dale - I'd be thrilled to get something about Dale in its glory days – how about sketches of toy designs, or notes kept by a travelling trader?
The Riddle Game - This is clearly a very old ritual, so I'd love something about in-world precedents, and how the custom has evolved over time. If you're making art, maybe depictions of a few pairs or groups playing the game through the Ages? (Feel free to draw on elements of LotR and the Silm too, if you wish.)
The Effect of Smaug's Corpse on Lake-town and the Surrounding Area - was the lake a site of archaeological interest for later generations? Did divers go down for the gems embedded in Smaug's belly? Does the dragon magic spread through the water and the land, and have any unusual effects?

The Lord of the Rings

Characters: Any or No Characters

Fanwork Type(s): Art; Meta

The Kine of Araw - They were supposedly descended from the cattle of Oromë...is that true? Does he walk among them in the later Ages? If you'd like to write about Vorondil the Hunter and the making of the Great Horn of Gondor then that would be fantastic; alternatively I would love artwork of one or more of these awesome beasts.
The Mearas - Another race of beasts with ties to Oromë. An in-world tale about their origins would be fascinating, or about Eorl's taming of Felaróf, or Gandalf's relationship with Shadowfax – or, as with the Kine, just pretty art of them would be wonderful!
Crebain from Dunland - wicked by nature? Or corrupted by circumstance? You decide!
Building the Argonath - When I saw this in the tag set a couple of years ago, the first thing that sprang to my mind was a documentary I watched years ago, about building the Hoover Dam and the human cost of the project. It's kind of tickled at my brain ever since, so I thought I'd stick it in the tag set again. I love the early Third Age so I'm interested in wherever you'd like to take this – designs, feasibility studies, diary entries about the how and the why (go mad with OCs here if you like, this period practically begs for them), or art of the pillars under construction.
The Warning Beacons of Gondor - similarly, I would love something about their construction - or something that gives an insight into the daily lives of those who stand watch there.
The hauntings of King Helm Hammerhand - Ghosts and horror stories are among my favourite things to read, so please scare me silly with an MR James style take on Helm's hauntings – or perhaps draw me some creepy art of him visiting the battlements of Helm's Deep?

The Silmarillion: Request 1

Characters: Any or No Characters

Fanwork Type(s): Art; Meta

Heraldry - The Elven sigils are beautiful and I would love something about how and why any of them were chosen. Alternatively, feel free to draw me something gorgeous displaying one or more of them, or make sketches showing how they developed over time. (If Elves aren't your thing, how about the devices of the Edain, or the Dwarves, or even the Ainur? Did different races use their sigils for different purposes? How did the process of choosing and developing them differ by culture?)
Calendar Systems - I see calendar systems in the tag set every year, and I always think it would lend itself so beautifully to in-world meta, or to illustrated meta of some kind (a drawing of a calendar used by one of the peoples of Midle-earth?)
Maps and Mapmaking - This one is extremely straightforward – I would love you to draw/paint/make a map of any location from Tolkien's legendarium that your heart desires. It could be a well-known city, a tiny village that never gets a mention, a map of the Shire, or of Valinor, or one of the lands that Tolkien doesn't pay much attention to, like Khand. I will be thrilled with whatever you choose.
Manuscripts and manuscript transmission - I don't have any specific prompts for manuscripts but I am intrigued by the tag, so if that was your nomination, please do whatever you please with it and enjoy.

The Silmarillion: Request 2

Characters: Amras; Amrod

Fanwork Type(s): Fic; Meta

Twins and Soul-Bonds - I couldn't resist asking for this in the context of these two characters. I was wondering about something to do with the ship-burning, but take this in any direction you fancy.

The Silmarillion: Request 3

Characters: Fëanor

Fanwork Type(s): Fic; Meta

Valarin - From HoME:

“...The information that Pengolodh then gives is here set out more briefly. His preliminary points are these. Few of the Eldar ever learned to speak Valarin, even haltingly; among the people as a whole only a small number of words or names became widely known. Fëanor indeed, before the growth of his discontent, is said to have learned more of this tongue than any others before his time, and his knowledge must at any rate have far surpassed the little that is now recorded; but what he knew he kept to himself, and he refused to transmit it even to the Lambengolmor because of his quarrel with the Valar.”

This passage intrigues me – as does the note that the sound of Valarin was alien and even downright unpleasant to the Elves. (There is huge potential for language-based horror here, if your view of the Valar is less than benign.) What did Fëanor know of Valarin? How did he feel about what he knew? Did he record anything about it for posterity – if not for the Lambengolmor, then privately, at Formenos? Did he ever tell his sons or siblings or Nerdanel about it?

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Characters: Carnan

Fanwork Type(s): Art; Fic; Meta

Carnán's Nature and History - Carnán is my favourite thing about the Shadow of Mordor video games. She feels like she belongs in canon! I'm intrigued by who and what she is. Something to do with the Entwives? One of the Ainur? Something else altogether...?

TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms

Characters: Any or No Characters; Original Character(s)

Fanwork Type(s): Art; Fic; Meta

Connections between the Middle-earth legendarium & other Tolkien settings/texts - OK, I could not resist this one; 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. I've left this request wide open as the wild card option. I'm intrigued to see what you come up with – you honestly can't go wrong here! – but if you need some inspiration, here are a few ideas:

The Lossoth encounter the Great Seal or the Great Bear from The Father Christmas Letters
The Guild of Venturers meet Fastitocalon on a voyage
The Ostler's Tipsy Cat is Tevildo in disguise
Roverandom gets to visit Valinor
Uin the Great Whale has an underwater chat with Ulmo
Old Swan of Elvet-isle is a shapeshifting Telerin mariner
Fingon encounters Fafnir, with or without the dragon-helm
Beewolf is a descendant of the Beornings
Ilbereth is a survivor of Sirion
Guinever is an Elf (or Peredhel?) who never sailed