A Grayer Lord of the Rings?

The petty-dwarves, a species akin to the Dwarves (obviously) were exterminated by Elves that hunted them for pests until they realized they were actually living creatures that could think, act, and talk.
Hmm, I didn't remember that point. Must've been in one of the versions of Narn i Hin Hurin that I skimmed over. [read web article ] Wow. I didn't think the Sindar would do that.

And what was that about the first Elf-Orc fight?
 
All this talk of Tolkien, high fantasy and shades of gray yet no mention of Martin's masterful Game of Thrones? For shame!

Mind you, GoT is more bottom-of-the-mineshaft pitch black than gray, but still...

Eh, I don't particularly like ASOIAF. It is bland and doesn't have the feeling of history the LotR has, Of course I never finished the second book of Martin's series and never really plan to.

As to OP I think a lot of what can be said for how it gets darker has been said, but one thing to consider would be making the elves more Fair Folkish. Ironically Tolkien tried to get away from that in his work, but His aversion has since been copied so much it has led to people actively trying to avert his elvish portrayal. Additionally, if the LotR is at least perceived as grater you would likely have that in fantasy as a whole, while more modern authors would be giving it a black and white portrayal in order to give Fantasy a fresh take.
 
Hmm, I didn't remember that point. Must've been in one of the versions of Narn i Hin Hurin that I skimmed over. [read web article ] Wow. I didn't think the Sindar would do that.

And what was that about the first Elf-Orc fight?

It was in the Silmarillion more than in the Tale of Turin, Mim just appears and disappears after a relatively short arc. There's a bit in the earliest part of the Silmarillion where Haleth, distant progenitor of Turin, Tuor, and ultimately Elros and Elrond fights off a gigantic Orc horde and after all the fighting's over, along comes Caranthir, son of Feanor, who offers his "help." The humans naturally decline figuring he's a bad guy and they're right. Mind Caranthir if he'd meant it would have been there during the Orc attack, not after the humans had won it with massive losses.
 
As to OP I think a lot of what can be said for how it gets darker has been said, but one thing to consider would be making the elves more Fair Folkish. Ironically Tolkien tried to get away from that in his work, but His aversion has since been copied so much it has led to people actively trying to avert his elvish portrayal. Additionally, if the LotR is at least perceived as grater you would likely have that in fantasy as a whole, while more modern authors would be giving it a black and white portrayal in order to give Fantasy a fresh take.
Unlikely since as you pointed out Tolkiens depiction of elves was largely a reaction against traditional fair folk. To be honest a lot of the suggestions people are making are people thinking Lord of the Rings should have deconstructed its own genre before it even existed. But it would be no fun like that. The fun in having a darker and edgier version of a story relies on the people knowing about the original before it is created. It would be like trying to have Don Quixote before the stories of King Aurthur.
 
Unlikely since as you pointed out Tolkiens depiction of elves was largely a reaction against traditional fair folk. To be honest a lot of the suggestions people are making are people thinking Lord of the Rings should have deconstructed its own genre before it even existed. But it would be no fun like that. The fun in having a darker and edgier version of a story relies on the people knowing about the original before it is created. It would be like trying to have Don Quixote before the stories of King Aurthur.

Though if the Silmarilllion had been published in Tolkien's lifetime it would be a double unbuilt trope (the Tolkienverse is ambiguous at best about war, and is built on a theme of endless decay and collapse, which is not exactly standard in today's fantasy, but with identifiable Black and White Morality in LOTR. The Silmarillion has a group of Villain Protagonists intermixed with Butt Monkeys participating in one giant Shoot the Shaggy Dog story about a war they already know they're going to lose against a literal God of Evil and a second story whose outcome is foreordained in LOTR).
 
Eh, I don't particularly like ASOIAF. It is bland and doesn't have the feeling of history the LotR has, Of course I never finished the second book of Martin's series and never really plan to.

Really? That is one of the things which attracted me to it early on, that feeling of being placed in a very alternate earth. I got the same vibe from LotR, though to a lesser extent. Well, to each his own.
 
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