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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3016426" data-attributes="member: 19675">And the authors we have alluded to (Moorcock, Lieber, Vance, et alia) who frequently meld sci-fi elements into their fantasy works are also "tried and true" by the very same standard you allude to- some dating back pre-JRRT (OMG! PEOPLE WROTE FANTASY BEFORE TOLKIEN?!) and sweeping them aside is no less hubris on your part.Sure- if I go into B&N or Borders and peruse the sci-fi/fantasy books, JRRT's books outmass any other authors' work save perhaps Asimov's.  Why?  Because like Stephen King, his works have been made into movies and everyone- even non-fans- knows his name.  His stuff sells because of his notoriety.  In fact, sometimes I have trouble finding classic authors on those shelves, they are crowded out for want of space...I count 6+ editions of his Magnum Opus on the shelves on a good day, with multiple copies of each.  Does that make JRRT more important than Howard or Lieber?I don't think so.Do the superior sales of LotR that make that work superior in quality, more important to our hobby?If it does, then we'd better start rewriting the music ed courses to appreciate the greatness of Britney Spears and Vanilla Ice.You mention the gnome...The gnome of D&D- in ANY edition- shares mainly physical stature and name with the gnomes of European legend.JRRT's Elves?  They are his own trope on the pointy ear'd folk- you examine Euopean folklore, and you'll find that "elf" was associated with smallish, very magically oriented beings, who lived apart from humanity, not in the wilderness, but in a "parallel dimension" often referred to by names like "Underhill"- in other words, the creatures that most RPGs call "Fey."</blockquote>

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