Welcome to the first Writing installment. Here, I want to talk about what I refer to as the "Almost OC," which may be my favorite thing ever. Well, almost.

How ironic.

I feel safe in saying that a vast majority of people know what an OC is. For those who do not, OC stands for Original Character, ie, a character in fanfiction that is not from the original work the fanfic is based on.

I myself love writing an OC. OCs are so full of possibilities, and as a deeply imaginative person (sometimes too much!) the OC offers so many opportunities of exploration in writing.

Here, though, I don't want to talk about standard OCs. I want to talk about the characters in Tolkien fanfics who are Almost OCs.

Tolkien offers us so many named characters. It's a gold mine. But often, that's all they are—names in a family tree or mentions in a poem or song. Sometimes if we're lucky we get a couple lines of description of what they did in their lives.

But then, that's it.

The best part of these mystery names in a family tree, though, is that often times they're married to someone important, or complex, or tied to the narrative. Or they're a brother, a sister, a mother.

So why don't you take a stab at writing them? You can't really get their personalities wrong—they don't yet have a personality beyond what you conjure from context clues! You have a built in connection to the wider story—great for AUs but also great for exploring moments Tolkien only scratched the surface of!

So today, I'm going to provide a non-exhaustive list of potential Almost OCs. I'll start with a few where I include details. Then, I'll just provide, well... the names!

Númenóreans:

Silmariën - aunt of Tar-Aldarion and the woman from which the Faithful/kings of Gondor and Arnor descend

Tar-Telperiën - second Ruling Queen of Númenor, refused to wed and bore no heir, ruled during the forging of the Rings of Power and the Sauron's war on the Elves

Isilmë - Younger sister of Silmariën and aunt of Tar-Aldarion. Nothing is really known about her except that there is no record of any descendants of a marriage. But maybe....maybe she's related to the Witch King? Could be a fun twist to write.

The Witch King

Two unnamed Númenórean Nazgûl

Any number of Kings of Númenor after Tar-Telperiën

Elves:
Elenwë
Amarië
Anairë
Nerdanel
Indis
Irimë
Findis
Fingon's Wife
Curufin's Wife
Orodreth's Wife
Angrod's Wife
Mithrellas
Nimrodel
Eluréd and Elurín

Hobbits:
Pearl Took
Pimpernel Took
Pervinca Took
Belladonna Took
Diamond of Long Cleeve
Elanor Gamgee
The Fairbairns
The Gardners
Rose Gamgee
Merry Gamgee
Pippin Gamgee
Goldilocks Gamgee
Faramir Took
Primrose Gamgee
Ruby Gamgee
Tolman Gamgee

That should be enough to get you started! When in doubt, I highly suggest the online "Encyclopedia of Arda." They offer lists of many different things, included specifically by race!

Hope that helps!