Closely associated with Tolkien’s Middle-earth, the legendarium of a secondary world is its invented cultural history, encompassing elements such as religion, mythology, languages, and tradition. The detail afforded to a world’s legendarium can significantly enhance its sense of ‘realness’ to the reader, viewer, or player, enriching an imagined reality with the verisimilitude of a real one: a world with its own past and distinct cultural identity.

Image: Cover for Tolkien's The Silmarillion (1977) ©Estate of J. R. R. Tolkien. Image courtesy of Ex Carta.