take-the-hidden-paths

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Looking for Promo Post volunteers!

Calling all fans of our "small" fandoms! Many people are aware of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and Rings of Power. But there are many more fandoms in Innumerable Stars, and we have a special place in our hearts for the small fandoms.

Last round's promotion of the "small" fandoms was a success. We not only had more nominations for those fandoms, we also had more fanworks for them! So we are looking to do another round of promo posts this year - ideally fresh ones, not just recycling last year’s posts.

We're looking for volunteers willing to write a promo post for one or more of the fandoms on our "small" fandoms list - meaning any fandom with less than 100 works posted to AO3. We'd also be very excited if anyone wants to promo the fandoms just added this round- unlike the others, they don't have any posts from previous rounds to fall back on if there are no volunteers.

The promo posts will be posted on Tumblr and Dreamwidth to get people looking at the fandoms in advance of nominations. Your post should answer the following in your own words:

Summary - what is this fandom about?

Why should I check out this canon?

Where can I get this? (The mods are able to assist somewhat with this.)

What fanworks exist already? (We have links to the tags on AO3, but people who are into the fandom can probably add a bit more - you probably know better than we do if there is more to be found and where.)

Optional: provide an image (The image must be either your own work, or a stock photo/other image that allows posting - no copyrighted images, please.)

We are maintaining the fandoms list on DW so anyone potentially interested can easily see which ones still need volunteers - we will be crossing off fandoms as folks step up for them.)

Note: If you would like to suggest a fandom to be added to Innumerable Stars, now is the time! We are open to adding fandoms based on material written by Tolkien or media adaptations thereof. (Musicals, operas, movies.) We do not add new fandoms once nominations open. 

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Calling small canon fans! Innumerable Stars is a low-key, low-pressure Tolkien fan works exchange which attracts some wonderful tags and creations for the non-ME fandoms. Come and play!

Innumerable Stars returns!

The 2025 schedule: Nominations Open: Sunday, 03 August 2025, 8:00 PM UTC Nominations Close: Sunday, 17 August 2025, 8:00 PM UTC Sign-ups Open: Sunday, 17 August 2025, 11:59 PM UTC Sign-ups Close: Sunday, 31 August 2025, 8:00 PM UTC Assignments Out: Monday, 01 September 2025, 8:00 PM UTC Assignments Due: Sunday, 05 October 2025, 8:00 PM UTC Works Revealed: Sunday, 12 October 2025, 8:00 PM UTC Authors Revealed: Sunday, 19 October 2025, 8:00 PM UTC

[take-the-hidden-paths]

TRSB welcomes the small Tolkien canons, so go forth and inspire artists and authors to depict your faves!

TRSB25 Prompt Suggestion Form Is Open

Hey everyone!

The TRSB 2025 prompt suggestions form is now open. You can access it here!

We can’t wait to see all your ideas for this year! 

If you’re not familiar with the suggestion form, it allows you to submit ideas for art, which artists can look through for inspiration!

There is no guarantee anyone will pick up your idea. You are also not obligated to try to claim art that matches a prompt you submitted. 

We look forward to reading all your great suggestions and seeing your art!

Here is the suggestion sheet for 2025!

~TRSB 2025 Mods

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Smith of Wootton Major - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: The Faery Queen (Smith of Wootton Major), The Birch (Smith of Wootton Major), The WInd (Smith of Wootton Major) Additional Tags: Post-Canon Fix-It Summary:

Like Smith, I am haunted by the fate of the Birch that sheltered him from the Wind and paid a price for it. He was unable to offer it any amends, but here is a small fix-it, written for Narya.

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2025 - Prompts (Set 2)

With apologies for the wait...I have spent a good chunk of the last fortnight feeling like someone was trying to stick a knitting needle in my ear. I hope these are inspiring - remember, there is no deadline, so use them however you wish, including in combination with prompts for other events!

Thematic Prompt: Homecoming

Character Based Prompt: Bards

Setting Based Prompt: Portals

Text Prompt: 

“Fire on the mountain shall find the harp of gold

Played to wake the Sleepers, oldest of the old;

Power from the Green Witch, lost beneath the sea;

All shall find the Light at last, silver on the tree.”

~ From The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: Geoffrey Bache Smith and Robert Quilter Gilson’s signatures in the guestbook at Samuel Johnson’s birth place in Lichfield, both with ‘T.C.B.S.’ appended. /.End ID]

For those unfamiliar with Smith and Gilson, and their connection with Tolkien, see this entry in John Garth’s blog: https://johngarth.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/tolkiens-immortal-four-meet-for-the-last-time/

Audio Prompt: Loch Lomond, by Alastair MacDonald with Leo Maguire

Wildcard Prompt:  Use the tarot to inspire your fanwork.  Pick your favourite card and use the image or its associated meanings, or perform a full draw and see where it leads you…

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Your mod is under the weather (again) and will post prompts tomorrow. Apologies for the short delay...however, there is no deadline for creating fanworks for this event, so hopefully this doesn't create too much of an inconvenience!

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2025 - Prompts (Set 1)

Thematic Prompt: Journeys

Character Based Prompt: Guides

Setting Based Prompt: The Borders of the Numinous

Text Prompt: “If I give you a hint and tell you it's a hint, it will be information.”― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: Oil painting of bare trees and broken tree stumps, covered with snow, under a dark night sky. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: ‘39, by Queen

Wildcard Prompt: I suppose this is arguably kind of an audio prompt, but there is a visual component too, so…here it is, as a wildcard.  Tolkien interviewed by the BBC in 1962. 

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2025: Advance Prompts

Hello, small canon fans!

Your mod apparently has a memory like a sieve...however, with apologies for the lateness, I am delighted to share our set of advance prompts for the 2025 event (below the cut). Use these in any way that strikes your fancy!

What is Hidden Paths?

Hidden Paths is an event dedicated to the celebration of smaller Tolkien canons. For the purposes of this event, we define "smaller canons" as any Tolkien canon or text (including academic works and translations) that is not explicitly set in Middle-earth and is not based on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or The Silmarillion and closely related histories.

Your friendly mod (Narya) will post prompts to tempt your muses - one set a few months in advance of the 'official' event dates, then two more sets during the event itself.

If you like the prompts, then use any or all of them to create and share a fanwork based on one or more small Tolkien canons. If they don't speak to you, please feel free to do your own thing – the prompts are there to spark creativity, not impede it!

Rules, FAQs and useful links can be found here.

We welcome fanworks based on past prompts - these can all be found here.

Our AO3 collection is here.

Thematic Prompt: Feasts and Festivals

Character Based Prompt: Elf-shot

Setting Based Prompt: Thundersnow

Text Prompt: “Even a traitor may mend. I have known one that did." – C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: The Hermann Hendrich painting, 'Will-o'-the-wisp and Snake.'  The painting shows a dark swamp at night. A glowing blue-green will-o'-the-wisp floats above still water. Below, a coiled snake partly rests in the water, its shiny scales reflecting the light. Dense trees and roots surround the scene, with faint mist in the background. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: The Light Beneath the Eyelids - Toshio Masuda

Wildcard Prompt: I have a theory that Tolkien would have loved tabletop RPGs, so here, have a list of magical trinkets from Dungeons and Dragons.  Use dice or a random number generator to select one (or more!) to inspire/include in your fanwork.  Some are quite specific to the world(s) of Dungeons and Dragons, so ignore/adapt/re-roll as you see fit – although non-Tolkien canons are permitted as crossovers, so if you’re inspired to make a D&D crossover, please be my guest!

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Many thanks for your input, everyone, and apologies for the delay in updating you all.

I will release a set of prompts on 14th November 2024. If anyone would like extra time to "brew" their creations and/or work on something longer, that gives you 12 weeks before the official event start date.

It's a time of year when lots of us have time off from studying/work, so hopefully that will help too.

Hidden Paths: 2025 Planning!

Hello, Tolkien fans!

The next round of Hidden Paths is still a few months away, but I'm already starting to think about prompts and logistics, and I have a question for you all...

(There would still be two rounds of prompts during the event itself.)

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths: 2025 Planning!

Hello, Tolkien fans!

The next round of Hidden Paths is still a few months away, but I'm already starting to think about prompts and logistics, and I have a question for you all...

(There would still be two rounds of prompts during the event itself.)

[take-the-hidden-paths]

There are lots of lovely tags for the small canons, and multiple people requesting them!

Sign ups remain open for another week.

Signups Are Open!

Our tagset for 2024 is complete and ready to go!

Once you've read through the Signups Info Post, it's time to sign up! Even if you participate every year, please be sure to review the information post.

This year, in any fandom with more than 50 character tags, offering "Any Character" requires mod approval. These fandoms are: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien The Silmarillion Crossover Fandom

Any first-time participants should avoid offering "Any Character" in these fandoms, as it will most likely not be approved.

If you have any questions, please comment here on DW, contact us on Discord, or send a Tumblr ask (bearing in mind that we are still not reliably getting notifications about asks on Tumblr, though this appears to be working better this year).

Signups will close on Sunday, 1 September at 8:00 PM UTC.

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Another week left to nominate tags for Innumerable Stars!

For those unfamiliar, this is a Tolkien-based fic and art exchange and there is usually good representation for the smaller Tolkien fandoms. Wholeheartedly recommend!

Nominations are open!

Please make sure you've read the Nominations info post so your nominations can be approved quickly.

Once you've done that, the tagset is here. (Remember to copy-paste the fandom names!) Go forth and nominate!

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Leaf by Niggle - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), The Porter (Tolkien) Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Art, Inspired by Music, Friendship, Homesickness, References to Depression Summary:

Not everyone needs a train trip to Niggle’s Parish in their afterlife. How about some other trees by a rather famous painter instead?

Written for @take-the-hidden-paths

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2024 - Prompts (Set 2)

One week in already! Here is the second set of prompts to tempt your muses...

~~*~~

Thematic Prompt: Gifts

Character Based Prompt: Morally ambiguous characters

Setting Based Prompt: Villages and small settlements

Text Prompt:

“Why was he born so beautiful?

Why was he born at all?”

- From The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: 'Studies of a Dog's Paw' by Leonardo da Vinci.  Three sketches of a dog's paw, covered in shaggy fur. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: Galadriel's Lament - J. R. R. Tolkien

Wildcard Prompt: Choose a folk or fairy tale from our world, and use elements from it when creating your fanwork.  (Note that the fanwork itself need not be a fairy tale, or anything like one!)

[take-the-hidden-paths]

The Psamathist's Cove

Summary: On a starry moonlit evening, two unexpected visitors come to Psamathos' cove.

Characters: Psamathos Psamathides, Little Boys 1 & 2, various sea- and land-fairies

Genre: Ficlet, Fluff, General

Rating: General

Written for Hidden Paths (@take-the-hidden-paths) 2024!

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2024 - Prompts (Set 1)

Hello Tolkien fans!

It's the 14th somewhere and I have a very busy schedule tomorrow, so here, have your first set of prompts a little bit early...

~~*~~

Thematic Prompt: Hauntings

Character Based Prompt: Threshold Guardians

Setting Based Prompt: The Perilous Realm

Text Prompt:

“Sometimes I think all this

Is a waste of time and effort:

For all words disguise what

We truly wish to say.

How then can we use

Our foolish fond words,

Beloved and enchanted words,

Wild words which run away with us?

Hold up the mirror to our thoughts,

Breathe on it, wipe it clean:

Let us begin again.”

From 'Cornish Words' by Donald R. Rawe, trans. Tim Saunders.  Collected in Poems From the Edge of Extinction, ed. Chris McCabe.

The original Cornish is below:

“Nepprys y brederaf oll hemma

Yu sculva termyn ha gwyth:

Rak geryow oll a guth pandra

Ny a vyn leverel yn wyr.

Fatel ytho yllyn-ny gul defnyth

A'gan geryow fol ha whek,

Geryow kerys ha nygromansek,

Geryow gothyk, nep a bon a ves genen-ny?

Syns avan an gweder dh'agan tybyans

'Wheth warnodho, segh-ef glan;

Gesyn dhyn-ny dalleth arta.”

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: The Van Gogh painting, 'Olive Trees In A Mountainous Landscape.'  There are gnarled green and brown olive trees in the foreground; behind is a mountain range and sky in navy blue, with a cream and yellow cloud above. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: Crosby, Stills and Nash - Guinnevere

Wildcard Prompt: Museums are perfect for inspiration!  I've linked to the National Museums Scotland online collections, but feel free to use another museum (online or local to you) to search for an object or story that speaks to your muses.

[take-the-hidden-paths]

Hidden Paths 2024 - Prompts (Set 1)

Hello Tolkien fans!

It's the 14th somewhere and I have a very busy schedule tomorrow, so here, have your first set of prompts a little bit early...

~~*~~

Thematic Prompt: Hauntings

Character Based Prompt: Threshold Guardians

Setting Based Prompt: The Perilous Realm

Text Prompt:

“Sometimes I think all this

Is a waste of time and effort:

For all words disguise what

We truly wish to say.

How then can we use

Our foolish fond words,

Beloved and enchanted words,

Wild words which run away with us?

Hold up the mirror to our thoughts,

Breathe on it, wipe it clean:

Let us begin again.”

From 'Cornish Words' by Donald R. Rawe, trans. Tim Saunders.  Collected in Poems From the Edge of Extinction, ed. Chris McCabe.

The original Cornish is below:

“Nepprys y brederaf oll hemma

Yu sculva termyn ha gwyth:

Rak geryow oll a guth pandra

Ny a vyn leverel yn wyr.

Fatel ytho yllyn-ny gul defnyth

A'gan geryow fol ha whek,

Geryow kerys ha nygromansek,

Geryow gothyk, nep a bon a ves genen-ny?

Syns avan an gweder dh'agan tybyans

'Wheth warnodho, segh-ef glan;

Gesyn dhyn-ny dalleth arta.”

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: The Van Gogh painting, 'Olive Trees In A Mountainous Landscape.'  There are gnarled green and brown olive trees in the foreground; behind is a mountain range and sky in navy blue, with a cream and yellow cloud above. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: Crosby, Stills and Nash - Guinnevere

Wildcard Prompt: Museums are perfect for inspiration!  I've linked to the National Museums Scotland online collections, but feel free to use another museum (online or local to you) to search for an object or story that speaks to your muses.