» Wed May 30, 2012 1:49 am While Tolkien created a great series of stories, and clearly had an impact on modern fantasy, he hardly 'invented' the modern fantasy genre, but rather continued the trend of modern writing with the advances in the form of the novel and applied it to fantastical mythology and legends. (He also wasn't the only one writing in that era, just the best remembered. Consider how many people recognize the name Ben Jonson. Anyone? How about William Shakespeare? Yeah, exactly.)
Questing? I'm sorry, Tolkien has nothing to do with inventing questing as we know it. Quests and grand adventures have been a staple of literature and story telling for centuries. Greek lit, the Bible, etc, are all full of questing and adventures.
Elves, Dwarves, etc existed before Tolkien. He did create a few aspects of them that have been ripped off by bad writers, but is hardly a solid staple and requirement of modern fantasy.
Glowing swords? It would require more time than I have to dig up solid references, but I do remember them from Germanic and Norse legends. (Possibly Scottish/Celtic as well.) It has been a few years, but I do know there was at least one sword that would glow when a man who would betray you was in your hall/house. Most other glowing swords either simply glowed all the time, or just in the dark. (Because, you know, magic glowing still takes energy. No sense running down the battery with keeping it lit at high noon.)
