Absolutely! I do really think the author of this story read Tolkien's The Hobbit. Even without the dragon's scale, halflings did not exist in fantasy before that book, nor did noble long-lived elves. Fairy tales with elves before The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings painted them more like gnomes. Little tricksters who could work magic, but not really all that impressive. Also, Gus kind of reminds me of Gandalf.
Fairy tales with elves before The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings painted them more like gnomes. Little tricksters who could work magic, but not really all that impressive.
Actually, Tolkien wasn't the one to "invent" the tall elves! He pulled them, like a lot of his inspiration, from Norse and old English mythology, where "elves" were basically demigods: better than men, but worse than the gods. However, as Europe became mainly Christian, the idea that there was something that stood between God and man fell out of favor. This led to elves becoming smaller, and more "superstition-y", which are the elves we know today. (Source: The Magical World of The Lord of The Rings, by David Colbert)