Elves in fiction Norse-style elves. However, the elves found in the works of the 20th-century philologist and fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien have formed the view of elves in modern fantasy like no other singular source. The first appearance of modern fantasy elves occurred in "The King of Elfland's Daughter", a 1924 novel by Lord Dunsany. The next modern work featuring elves was "The Hobbit", a 1937 novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. Elves played a major role in many of Tolkien's later works, notably "The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien's elves were followed by grim Norse-style elves of human size in
J. R. R. Tolkien by the UK's "Big Read" survey, about 250,000 Germans found "The Lord of the Rings" to be their favourite work of literature. Tolkien wrote a brief "Sketch of the Mythology", which included the tales of Beren and Lúthien and of Túrin; and that sketch eventually evolved into the "Quenta Silmarillion", an epic history that Tolkien started three times but never published. Tolkien desperately hoped to publish it along with "The Lord of the Rings", but publishers (both Allen & Unwin and Collins) declined. Moreover, printing costs were very high in 1950s Britain, requiring "The Lord of the Rings" to be