Imagine a world without Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien is like the granddaddy of fantasy writing, and his impact on the genre is bigger than a dragon's hoard of gold. His books, "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," basically set the bar for all fantasy novels that came after.

First off, he created a world that was so detailed and believable, it's like he was really a hobbit living in Middle-earth. Before Tolkien, fantasy worlds were just a bunch of made-up places with no real culture or history. But, he showed us all how it's done and now, every fantasy author worth their weight in dragon scales is creating worlds just as awesome as Middle-earth.

Tolkien also made languages for his characters like Elvish and Dwarvish and it's like, whoa, that's some serious commitment. It makes the world feel more real and it's a trend that's still going strong. Now, every fantasy novel has a bunch of made-up languages and it's like, thanks, Tolkien.

Tolkien also made the line between good and evil a little more blurry, which is way more interesting than the typical "good guys always win" thing. Characters in his books were complex and not always good or bad, and now that's the norm in fantasy novels. So, thanks again, Tolkien.

In short, J.R.R. Tolkien basically wrote the fantasy rule book and all fantasy authors are just trying to keep up with him. He's like a legend, a god among mortals, a Gandalf among hobbits. He's the reason why fantasy is such a popular genre today, and for that, we are forever grateful. J.R.R. Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy can be summed up in one sentence: without him, we'd all be reading about wizards playing Quidditch in a school for magic instead of in a Hobbit hole with a fire-breathing dragon.