I first encountered Tolkien fandom at TheOneRing.net, where I can most often be found hanging around the Main discussion board these days. From there I fell into fanfiction. It's all Eledhwen's fault, she's to blame, I thought it was the real thing (to slightly misquote The Rocky Horror Picture Show). ;-) Seriously, though, I owe her big thanks for making the past several years far more interesting than they would otherwise have been.
This page includes links to various sites, mostly Tolkien-related: see the list of categories below. Please note, this is by no means an exhaustive list, nor does the presence of any site on this list constitute an endorsement by me as to the quality of the site. These are just a few that I like or otherwise find useful or interesting.
I welcome suggestions for additional sites, though I don't guarantee I'll use them; suggestions may be sent to me through the contact link on the right.
- Movie and general fan sites
- Fanfiction and art: archives, smaller sites, slash sites
- Humor, mostly but not all Tolkien
- Scholarly or otherwise useful sites
Movie and Fan Sites:
The Lord of the Rings official movie site
TheOneRing.net: has movie news, discussion boards, chat rooms, articles, fan work - all kinds of good stuff
Pán Prstenů: Czech-language movie site, takes a long time to load but good pictures
Elfenomeno: Spanish-language site with many film pictures
General Tolkien fanfiction archives:
Henneth Annûn Story Archive: a moderated archive, recommended as a source of quality fanfic - the associated writer's group may be found at Henneth_Annun on Yahoo
The Mithril Awards: as the site says, these were "established to honour excellence in fiction, poetry and critical essays relating to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion and other works by JRR Tolkien" - it's not precisely an archive, since the site doesn't host the stories, but there are links to the winning stories. The Mithrils have been held in 2003 and 2004.Fanfiction.net: a self-submit archive (not limited to Tolkien fanfic); thousands of Tolkien stories, many of them pretty awful, but with the occasional piece of gold among the dross
Smaller (often individuals') Tolkien fanfiction and fanart sites:
The Chimericon: by Kielle (not just Tolkien stories)
Dreamy Aspirations: Eledhwen's site, includes various non-Tolkien writings and other things as well
Erewyn's LotR recs: Exactly what it sounds like, one person's personal list of recommendations
Kasiopea Art: Kasiopea aka Catherine Karina Chmiel's website; be sure to click "enter" or you'll reach the Polish-language version; includes a Tolkien fanart section and a Boromir comic strip series
Odd Lots: includes the Leithian Script by the Philosopher at Large, home also to the Protectors of the Plot Continuum as well as non-fandom things
Romancing the Jewels: Finch's own works and others, Silmarillion-based; has not been updated since 2003
Rómenna: primarily a writing workshop developed by Anglachel, archives stories by the participants; occasionally updated
Shadowstar: MJ Watson's writings (not just Tolkien stories), and also musical compositions inspired by Arda
Stewards' Scrolls: an archive focused on Denethor and to a lesser extent his family, maintained by Liz and Marta; has not been updated in some time
Thrihyrne: Thevina Finduilas's website, with both Tolkien and Harry Potter fic - some though not exclusively slash. added 12 December 2005
Primarily slash sites:
Ansereg: great site by Tyellas; significant BDSM, read and heed her warnings/disclaimers
The Library of Moria: the main search is by pairing, but you can now find listings by author too; includes all races and both M and F slash
Melethryn Archive: Elf slash site, searchable by author and pairing
Parley: not Tolkien, this is a Pirates of the Caribbean slash archive maintained by the same person as LoM
The Theban Band: this is art, not fiction; multiple fandoms, with a lot of Tolkien (mostly but not all slash)
Fun sites:
Aragorn for President: a brief article
Elvish Name Generator: at Subreality
Figwit Lives!: or, how mass hysteria can be generated over a non-speaking extra
Flame Warriors: tells you more than you ever wanted to know about chatroom/message board/list inhabitants
Goeth-Helm's TOR.n funnies: culled from the discussion boards at TheOneRing.net
Hobbit Name Generator: by Chris Wetherell
LotR Quiz: this is a serious one, based on the books
McSweeney's: fictional commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky on the EE of FotR
Multi-language Name Generator: at the Barrow-Downs
The Tolkien Sarcasm Page: if you don't understand what sarcasm and irony are, you'll have trouble here
Two Madlions' LiveJournal: MSTs of some particularly bad Tolkien fanfics; not updated since 2002
The Very Secret Diaries: by Cassandra Claire, these have been archived in several other places including Henneth Annûn as well as the one linked here (the originals were from her LiveJournal, and are harder to read in that format); this location has the TTT diaries as well as LotR
Scholarly and other useful sites:
Anglachel's Writings: some great Hobbit family trees in .pdf; do note that there are original characters included, so use with caution
Ardalambion: excellent starting-place for those interested in Tolkien's languages
The Encyclopedia of Arda: a few errors, but in general extremely helpful
Maps of Arda: includes Valinor and Beleriand
Map of Middle-earth: very good PDF version, in several sizes
Rolozo Tolkien: not scholarly, but a collection of a large amount of fanart of varying quality
The Scrolls of Orthanc: essays by Erik Tracy, based largely on information in Tolkien's Letters