As a story of creatures like the hobbit, dwarves, elves, goblins, wolves, and the wizard Gandalf, and their lives and adventures in a place called the Middle Earth, the fantastical nature of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit deserves no further explanation. Yet the use of fantasy in it is remarkable and prominent, which contributes to its popularity over the years since it has been published in the 1930s.

According to Steven Jones, the use of fantasy in fairy tales is "the most salient...stylistic feature." In most other stories which fall into the genre of fairy tales or fantasy literature, one can never overemphasize the importance of fantasy in them. However, the fantastical elements there is usually accompanied by some realistic elements, such as a link with the ordinary world like ours. For example in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the fantasy world is only a dream and...