I've read the entire trilogy of Middle Earth, finished The Hobbit, and gotten a pretty good start on The Silmarillion, and there's a reason for my obsession that permeates every literary genre and is something I think is a major component for a compelling story, and is certainly necessary for a story told in more than one part. Stories need a rich environment. They need a world to live in. I've found no story or series that drags the reader into a such a convincing fictional setting as well as Tolkien's books do. Every entry into tales of Middle Earth enriches the world and inspires the imagination. Who hasn't read a Tolkien novel and not wanted to live in the Shire? The Shire is the perfect home. A clean, safe, nature-filled oasis in the middle of a dangerous surrounding world. It's sometimes hard to imagine the Shire as an actual part of Middle Earth, considering the turmoil happening in every other locale.
In terms of the archetypal Hero's Story, however, Tolkien's tales generally follow the basic steps. There is an introduction to the hero's home, a call to adventure, an old crone or a wise guide met along the way, a boon of some sort, but it is filled with interest by the way Tolkien infuses interesting elements of character and environment into the old and familiar journey. Tolkien's stories are a journey though a mystical land with new, unheard languages, with magic, with demons – and nothing is left undescribed, nothing is vague. The reader could almost paint a picture for every page, and not have to leave one detail out.
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