[aragornreborn]

What Tolkien has created has never been reproduced. It is in a class by itself. No single author has created a world of such magnitude to rival Tolkien. And, Tolkien's world is precisely why it appeals to so many people. Sure, Lord of the Rings has fantastical elements to it, but it is in no way similar to most of the fantasies out there. One must decide then, how exactly fantasy is defined. Tolkien is so different from the rest that it seems to me that one of the groups isn't fantasy.

On a side note, the reason why Tolkien stands alone - apart from any other story - is because, well, what he did is very hard to duplicate. First, Tolkien created languages, histories, cultures, lands, and scads of characters. That can be reproduced. It just takes talent and time. Second, he did it well. Heh heh, that's harder to do. Third, he used up many of the resources out there. Sure there were elves and dwarves and dragons in literature before Tolkien, but Tolkien took them and defined them (dare I say) permanently. If someone were to try to write an epic, like Tolkien did, he would have a very hard time making his world. He could use men and spiritual beings for those are universal. But, from now and forever on, the identity of elves, dwarves, dragons, and all other ME creatures are Tolkien. It would end up being cheap and insincere to borrow them or try to change them. So, writers have a difficult task in front of them. They can try to copy Tolkien and fail miserably or they can write those smaller fantasies which I will not comment on for I have not read them. Or, they can make their own original epic if they are so inclined.

[ March 03, 2003: Message edited by: aragornreborn ]