LOTR and Wheel of Time

[Gurthang]

True enough, Tolkien's work is the best, so why not use some of those awesome qualities?

But that was not the point I was making. I wanted to show that every story must have certain elements to make it exciting. Such as a returning evil and an unlikely hero. The stories usually have a scheme somewhat like that, whether it's The Hobbit or The Blue Sword. (another fantasy I've read. Not near Tolkien quality, but not bad for a normal author.)

So what I really want to know is... What other necessary elemental characters or social scenes do you find common in many works?