Why is Tolkien's work so well known and popular?

Question

Okay, I am not disrespecting Tolkien, I loved LOTR and The hobbit, I even read The Silmarillion. It is a great story.

I have also read many other books such as the Dragonlance series, A Song of Fire and Ice and The Legend of Drizzt.

They are all amazing, absolutely awesome works of literature. I know A Song of Fire and Ice is popular, but only because of the show, so if the TV show GoT was never created, I am sure LOTR and Tolkien's other works would be the most popular of fantasy novels, easily of all time, but why?

What do his novels have that the others I have mentioned do not? Out of the four series I mentioned, I could not pick a favorite, so why is Tolkien the spokes person for fantasy novels?

Elaine M · Accepted Answer

Tolkein did it first, his books came out before those others you mention, it was part of the start of the fantasy genre.

When something comes out in 1954 and predates the regular fantasy novels we are familiar with that were all written at least 2 decades after that, yes the original stand alone and above those.

They struck a chord with readers, same as the Narnia books.

Anonymous · Answer

Because in the minds of many people he created Fantasy. People had been writing Fantasy long before, even if in the form of songs and myths. But he was really the first person to really get creative and build totally new languages and a setting that felt real. He was also a well educated man who could write good prose.

I liked the Hobbit as a child but LOTRs was a bit of a slog to get through with lots of info dumping - that's how they told stories back then. Now we've found other ways to make it more interesting for the reader, but for some reason, you don't get the same "story" feel. When I read Tolkien I feel like I'm being told a story.

Pearl · Answer

probably cause he was a good writer

Why is Tolkien's work so well known and popular?

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