legendarium

The legendarium is the term used to describe the body of myths, legends, and histories that form the fictional mythology of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The word is often used by Tolkien and scholars to refer to the entire corpus that explains the origins, ages, and peoples of his setting, including events from the creation of Arda to the end of the long era in which The Lord of the Rings is set.

Etymology: The term draws on Latin roots associated with legendaries and stories; Tolkien used it to describe his own myth-making and the collection of lore surrounding his world.

Scope and contents: The legendarium encompasses a coherent mythology rather than a set of unrelated tales. Its core material includes the creation myth Ainulindalë, the account of the Valar in Valaquenta, and the history told in Quenta Silmarillion; the later narratives of Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age form an extended chronicle of Númenor, the rings, and the events leading to The Lord of the Rings. The frame narrative is the Red Book of Westmarch, a fictional manuscript in which the histories are recorded and preserved by in-world authors.

Publishing and scholarship: Tolkien’s legendarium has been expanded and interpreted extensively in published works, most notably The Silmarillion, and in The History of Middle-earth series edited by Christopher Tolkien, which documents the development, variants, and revisions of the legendarium across dozens of drafts and notes.

In its reception, the legendarium is treated as Tolkien’s primary mythopoeic project—a self-contained mythology for a fictional world that has influenced modern fantasy and scholarly approaches to world-building and narrative mythologies.