http://members.ozemail.com.au/~imcfadyen/notthenet/fantasy.htm
Dead on and it fits Lord of the Rings so well. What did Gandalf do,
really? A strong flashlight would have been about as useful; maybe a
bazooka for the Balrog. The writer also points out the racial elements
that had long been a minor controversy with the LOTR novel but in the films
became pretty much flat-out racism (couple that with a plot line about
putting a noble Aryan on his throne and Return of the King becomes a
perfect film for Bush's America). There's an issue of Grant Morrison's The
Invisibles that completely stops the story (about "good" rebels vs an
"evil" conspiracy, though that's sorta like saying Gravity's Rainbow is
about rocket research) and tells the troubled but also sometimes happy life
history of a security guard. It has no obvious relation to the main
story. But about three or four issues later one of the "good guys" is
infiltrating an enemy stronghold and shoots some of the cannon fodder when
you realize from the image and the distinctive uniform that this security
guard was one of those shot. Try to imagine Star Wars stopping for 10
minutes to show the family life of one of the stormtroopers Luke and Han
continually slaughter.
On a smaller note, it's worth pointing out that many real-life castles and
fortifications did in fact have small side doors, not really for garbage
but were often used during war for raids. It was through such a door that
Mehmet II was able to take Constantinople with all the reverberations
that's had down to the present day.
As for heroic fantasy that doesn't fit this mold, I'd recommend Michael
Moorcock's lush and dark Elric novels, Fritz Leiber's constantly
imaginative Fahfrd and Grey Mouser stories and (if it's actually fantasy)
Mervyn Peake's vast, decadent Gormenghast trilogy. In a category all its
own is T.H. White's The Once and Future King, a heartbreaking re-imagining
of the King Arthur legend that in some ways is one of the most politically
astute novels ever written.