The Teitho theme for May is "Capture". With this theme, we celebrate the 100th theme of Teitho, a fanfiction and later also fanart contest that, we hope, captured the imagination of many writers and artists.

Do you want some tips what to write about? Think how many of The Fellowship endured capture during the quest! Saurman detained Gandalf and "had a mind to capture the Ring, for himself." The Uruk-hair took and held Merry and Pippin for days despite Boromir's efforts to protect them. Faramir takes Sam and Frodo to Henneth Annun. Later, the Orcs of Cirith Ungol captured Frodo, with 'help' from Shelob and Gollum.

Those are all physical captures, but there are also emotional and mental captures. Aragorn captured Arwen's heart to the point she sacrificed her immortality. Sauron sought to capture minds through the Palantirs. The sea-longing tugged at Legolas' heart, but was there someone that had a special place in it earlier in his life? Did young Estel capture an animal as a pet? What was Elrond's response?

If one of our heroes is the victim we want to see them escape or rescued. But what if he is the capturer, like when Aragorn's hunt for Gollum was finally successfull?

Let this theme capture your imagination. Will you rescue your captive, free them, or will they sacrifice themselves for a greater good? We look forward to reading your stories and seeing your artwork.

And the winners are:

Capture, Rescue...and Repayment by Darkover
Captured Star by Tauriel
Child's Play by Sivan Shemesh
Ensnared by Hope by Fiondil - 3rd place
Missing, Presumed Dead by Helenllama
The Cruelest Kindness by MP Brennan - 1st place
The Depths of Memory by Cairistiona - 2nd place
The Very First by AmazinWriter123
Too Long a Sacrifice by Linda Hoyland - 2nd place

In pictures:

by ~LalaAdanwenB - 1st place
by ~rstrider9
by ~ich-bin-s

And as a little bonus to the 100th challange, we have shared our Teitho Memories. If you would like to share your memories as well, you can send them to our email teitho.contest@gmail.com, comment at this journal or post at O.A.A., and we will add them here.

Happy reading!
Your Teitho-moderators,
StarLight, and Mirach

"In this elvish sheath dwells the Blade that was Broken and has been made again. Telchar first wrought it in the deeps of time. Death shall come to any man that draws Elendil's sword save Elendil's heir."

Or theme for June is Weapons. Swords, spears, axes, bows, knives... they are not just pieces of deadly metal in Tolkien's world. Not all of them, at least. Some have names almost as famous as the names of their bearers, and history going centuries back, to the skilled elven or dwarven smiths of old, who first gave shape to the hot metal.

Some of the famous examples are Aragorn's sword Anduril, reforged from the shards of Narsil, Eomer's sword Guthwine, Gil-Galad's spear Aeglos, Beleg's bow Belthronding , Beren's knife Angrist that cut the silmaril from Morgoth's crown, Morgoth's own hammer Grond and the sadly known black sword Gurthang that killed its owner Turin and even spoke before that, or Glamdring and Orkrist, blades from the lost Gondolin that ended in the hands of Gandalf and Thorin. Bilbo's and Frodo's blade Sting also can't miss in this collection.

You don't have to write about or draw just famous weapons. You can weave the threads of your story around a regular one as well, a weapon without any name or history. You can write about their making, about fights, the important moments when a weapon decides about the outcome by breaking or lasting, about weapons visible and concealed, even poisoned ones, about learning to wield a weapon. It can be a weapon of the hero of the story, or of the enemy, dark and enchanted like the Morgul knife.

You can also explore the bond between the weapon and its wielder. Why did a sword break with the death of its owner? They say that pen is mightier than a sword. You can prove this statement by writing a story or drawing a picture about swords!

Our thanks for the suggestion belong to AmazingWriter123.

The deadline for this challenge is June 25th. If you need an extension, let us know!

For writers: send your stories to teitho.contest@gmail.com. As usually, the contest is anonymous and the story can't be posted publicaly until the results of the challenge are announced. Aragorn and/or Legolas must be mentioned in the story.

For artists: Submit your picture into the Teitho gallery folder of : [link] . The picture should be new, drawn specifically for the challenge. State that you are submitting it to the contest in the artist's comments. The 1st place winner will receive 100 dA points from =MirachRavaia!

Happy writing and drawing!
Your Teitho-moderators,
nautika, StarLight, and Mirach

Our April theme is Smells.  Do you remember the smell of the book when you first read the Lord of the Rings? Maybe it was fresh, just out of press, or old, musty smell of yellowed pages. You can clearly imagine both, don't you? It's because the sense of smell has it's centrum in one of the oldest parts of human brain, and makes the most permanent memories. And just like in our world, there have to be many various smells in Middle-earth, yet the paper of the books cannot convey them. This is a task for you this month: through your words or picture, let us experience the smells of Middle-earth!

What is the scent of spring in Rivendell or summer in Gondor? Could you close your eyes and recognize by the smell if you are in Mirkwood or in the Shire? And surely you could recognize athelas by its scent... There are also some places and creatures that do not smell that well, with Aragorn's own words about Gollum: "I was glad to be rid of his company, for he stank."

In your story, you can use any smell you want, pleasant or unpleasant. It can please the senses, or warn of danger, like the change in the air before a storm or the smell of some dangerous creature approaching. It can trigger a memory, long forgotten, that resurfaces with the remembered smell. In pictures you can depict something with a strong or characteristic scent,  that we could clearly imagine when looking at it.

And the winners are:

An Unexpected Blessing by Erulisse (one L) 2nd place
Crimson Flowers by NightShadow131
Of Roses and Memory by Darkover
The Ragged Edge of Legend by MP Brennan 1st place
The Scent of Home by Linda Hoyland 3rd place

Happy reading!
Your Teitho-moderators,
nautika, StarLight, and Mirach