I've been (slowly) re-reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and as I have, I've been thinking about the legacy left behind by LotR.  This post is in no way a review of the trilogy, I'll be posting that once I've finished my reread.

For me, it feels extremely strange that most of modern fantasy is based on this one trilogy. While reading the books, I don't see why it made such an effect on the genre just as a story. But when I consider all the work Tolkien put into this story: everything from the thousands of years of the world's history Tolkien wrote out, to the languages he invented, makes me wonder why those aspects are not inherited by modern fantasy? Why do we continue having our fantasy stories set in a pseudo Middle Ages, with a dominantly white cast of characters? Why do we embrace certain aspects of Tolkien's world while rejecting others?

If you have thoughts on this topic, please comment down below!

-Laura