[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

I think inclusion of dwarves, elves, wizards and goblins are what make fantasy fantasy, and therefore can't count as ripoffs, because without them it wouldn't be fantasy anyway . . . I do see a lot of characters and themes based on them repeated.

For starters, dwarves are always depicted as greedy, grumpy, gruff little guys.

The very idea of dwarves is short, bearded, tool wielding men who mine underground . . .

The very idea of elves are forest dwellers with pointy ears, although graceful, spirtual and godly creatures are pretty LOTR driven . . .

The epic quest theme is what I think is repeated too often. There's almost always a symbolic heirloom, a dark tyrant and a journey that lasts forever.

What somebody needs to do, is set other genres in a fantasy setting, like a psychological thriller about a dragon-slayer, or a vigilante story about a band of werewolves . . . or the troubles of a some sociopaths who just happen to be vampire hunters . . . or even make a fantasy into a drastic allegorical satire of society (which Tolkien adamantly was not doing, but somebody really should go for it, with that in mind).