.@​stephenathome says what makes The Lord of the Rings special is that Tolkien created a "total work of art," building entire languages, cultures, histories, and stories into one world. "I love the implied history. I love the fact that Tolkien wrote the books because he really liked making languages." "So he made up Elvish and thought that real cultures should have stories that the languages tell. So then he started telling the stories that the language would have been used to write." "The Germans would call it a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art." "There's any question you can ask about the Lord of the Rings and Tolkien answered it, except one, and that's who is Tom Bombadil?" ▻