Legendarium

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"For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!"
Aragorn in The Two Towers, "The Riders of Rohan"
J.R.R.Tolkien by Donato Giancola

The legendarium is the entirety of J.R.R. Tolkien's works concerning his imagined world of Arda.

Tolkien himself used the term,[1] and also referred to his "mythology" in the same sense.[2][3][4] Expecting publication for The Lord of the Rings, and hoping that "The Silmarillion" would be published together, Tolkien envisioned his work (possibly including The Hobbit) as the "Saga of the Three Jewels and the Rings of Power".[5]

The term of legendarium is not the same as "canon". The legendarium includes all Tolkien's corpus in its entirety, even mutually contradicting versions, both earlier and later stages of its conception.

Published works[edit | edit source]

Writings of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

Here follows a list of all published texts by Tolkien relating to Arda. For a discussion of the "canonical" status of the texts, consult the page Canon.

Illustrations of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

Other sources[edit | edit source]

More of Tolkien's vision of his legendarium can be found in interviews conducted with him. Hints of lesser value (i.e., hard to verify the authenticity), may also be found in reminiscences. There is also much material on the topic that remains unpublished, including many letters not published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Scholarly bibliography[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter (ed.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 149, 189, 197, 214
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter (ed.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 26, 131, 231, 307
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 135
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", in Parma Eldalamberon XVI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, Carl F. Hostetter and Bill Welden), pp. 88, 92
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 125, (dated 10 March 1950), p. 138
A J.R.R. Tolkien book guide
Books by or mainly by Tolkien
Of Arda Authored by
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit · The Lord of the Rings
(i.The Fellowship of the Ring · ii.The Two Towers · iii.The Return of the King) ·
The Road Goes Ever On · Bilbo's Last Song
Edited by Christopher Tolkien The Silmarillion · Unfinished Tales · The History of Middle-earth series
(i.The Book of Lost Tales: Part One · ii.The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two · iii.The Lays of Beleriand · iv.The Shaping of Middle-earth · v.The Lost Road and Other Writings · vi.The Return of the Shadow · vii.The Treason of Isengard · viii.The War of the Ring · ix.Sauron Defeated · x.Morgoth's Ring · xi.The War of the Jewels · xii.The Peoples of Middle-earth · Index) ·
The Children of Húrin · Beren and Lúthien · The Fall of Gondolin
Edited by others The Annotated Hobbit · The History of The Hobbit · The Nature of Middle-earth ·
The Fall of Númenor · The Maps of Middle-earth
Not of Arda Short stories
and poems
Leaf by Niggle · Farmer Giles of Ham · Smith of Wootton Major · The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ·
Letters from Father Christmas · Mr. Bliss · Roverandom ·
Tree and Leaf (compilation) · Tales from the Perilous Realm (compilation)
Fictional works The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún · The Fall of Arthur · The Story of Kullervo · The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
Translations and academic works Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo · Finn and Hengest ·
The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays · Beowulf and the Critics · Tolkien On Fairy-stories ·
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary · A Secret Vice · The Battle of Maldon
Collected letters and poems The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien · The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien
Edited old texts A Middle English Vocabulary · Sir Gawain and the Green Knight · Ancrene Wisse · The Old English Exodus
Books by other authors
Biographies J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography · The Inklings · Tolkien and the Great War
Reference works The Complete Guide to Middle-earth · The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
Scholarly studies The Road to Middle-earth · The Keys of Middle-earth · The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion ·
The Ring of Words · A Companion to J.R.R. Tolkien · Tolkien's Lost Chaucer ·
Tolkien's Library · Tolkien on Chaucer, 1913-1959
Scholarly journals Tolkien Studies · (The Chronology)
Other works by Tolkien
Linguistic journals Vinyar Tengwar various issues · Parma Eldalamberon issue 11-22
Collections of artwork
and manuscripts
Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien · J.R.R. Tolkien: Life and Legend · J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator ·
The Art of The Hobbit · The Art of The Lord of the Rings · Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth ·
Tolkien: Treasures · J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript
This list is only a selection of works, for a fuller bibliography of Tolkien see here or here. See also a timeline.