ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Tolkien's legendarium

Tolkien's Legendarium is a big story made up of many smaller stories, like a really big book with lots of pages. It's all about a world that's not like ours, full of magic and creatures that you've never seen before, like dragons and elves and dwarves.

The big story has a lot of different parts, but they're all connected like puzzle pieces that fit together. It starts with the creation of the world and the first beings in it, and then goes on to tell lots of different adventures that different people and creatures go on over thousands of years.

Some of the stories are about people trying to save the world from evil creatures, like the dark lord Sauron who wants to take over everything. Others are about kingdoms at war and battles between different races like humans and elves. And some are just about people going on adventures and discovering new places or getting into trouble.

All of the stories are set in the same world, and they all have a lot of details that make them feel like they're really happening in a real place, with its own history, languages, and cultures. Even though the stories are all made up, they feel like they could be real, and that's why people love them so much.