You may be answering your own question, Mithadan [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] .
My impression is that by the time of the fellowship, the elves were already turning inward, and obsessed with the 'fading' (ie. caught up in a cultural nostalgia that was leading to stasis and extinction). The foretold hearing of the call of the sea by Legolas was perhaps symbolic of the fact that 'the time of the elves' was drawing to a close, as was Arwen's choice of mortality and her marriage to Aragorn.
The dwarves also had reached a plateau of cultural development - their yen for craft and 'delving' inevitably leading to the exhaustion of the earth, and the greed and conflict arising from diminishing resources. Gimli's description of how the dwarves would manage the glittering caves - barely touching the rocks, simply illuminating them as if they were a kind of museum - and the failure of Moria, may be examples of this.
The Maia too are "on the way out" by the end of LotR. Gandalf was merely a temporary returner to Middle Earth, and Saruman the eventual victim of of his own evil (Tolkien's recurrent "evil defeating itself" theme), and the others (Radagast etc.) had already surrended any meaningful influence.
The Valar are not referred to in depth in LotR, but even by the time of the final defeat of Morgoth seem to have lost any great impetus to action - for all their great host, it is Earendil that makes the telling contribution. The restoration (or re-creation) of the Silmarils (to air, water and fire) seems to represent a closing of their age, and the return of Melian to Valinor symbolises the end of their active association with the sub-created races.
Only the windlord and the eagles seem to retain an active and vibrant participation - indeed, their contribution at various times is crucial.
The Ents are play a similar positive role, but a melancholy akin to the 'fading' is already present, as more and more of them become, in effect 'just' trees. And the absence of the Entwives seems to prevlude anythin other than a gradual devolution.
Indeed, everything else seems to represent closure and completion - Aragorn's "fulfilling", or lifting, of the ancient oath on the Paths of the Dead etc. - and so, as you say, it is men and hobbits that strike the decisive blows that eventually end the conflict.
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Is there a significance in the fact that Sauron was destroyed by the actions of two men working alone? ... Can it be that Sam and Frodo's lonely victory was necessary? Could it have shown that Man was at last prepared to ascend to its dominant position? Could it be that only Man could defeat the evil incarnate (with the incidental effect of ending the mythical times)... ?
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Erm - yes, yes, yes and ... yes. I think [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
Peace [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
[ May 21, 2002: Message edited by: Kalessin ]