J. R. R. Tolkien is regarded as the father of modern fantasy. His fictional works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as his famous essay “On Fairy-Stories” are the manifestos of the redefinition and explosion of the genre. Many fantasy authors today are still writing within the frame of Tolkienesque tradition, while others are clearly setting themselves apart from it, trying to redefine the genre and the points made in the previous paragraphs about the elements of the fantastic. The swift success of fantasy as a literary genre also means that it will change and reinvent itself at an equally swift pace. However, the creator of Iluvatar, Arda and the Rings of Power is the touchstone for fantasy, even for those works that diverge from its tradition. In this vein, this thesis shall analyze certain aspects of three contemporary fantasy novels (A Song of Ice and Fire, Harry Potter, Throne of Glass) having Tolkien as the point of reference.