[Gwathagor]

That's interesting, since while Tolkien certainly added his own elements to mythological stereotypes, he also built on existing mythologies and folklore, and so relied on older stereotypes.

The idea of elves as a highly developed culture originates in Middle-Earth for sure. In the older fairy tales of which I am aware, elves are simply another species of rustic woodland sprite, rather than great craftsmen, loremasters, and artisans.

I'm also inclined to think that pre-Tolkien elves are smaller and weaker, but that may only be the subversive effect of the Enlightenment tainting my soul. Now that I think about it, I believe that in the oldest elf-tales, the elves are rather tall and bright-eyed, like Tolkien's, but they seem to get smaller and more tame the farther we get from the middle-ages. So, at least in that case, it seems that Tolkien reverted to the oldest stereotypes in a kind of stereotype-revolution.

What about dwarves? Were they typically considered as being miners prior to The Hobbit? I'm not sure. I know that Terry Brooks chose to give his Dwarves an intense aversion to anything resembling underground tunnels and caves, which I thought was an interesting contrast with Tolkien-dwarves.