The Reading Prismatic Arch discussion

I've been reading fantasy for many years and I thought that this book would be a basic one to compare others to because of it being published about 10 years after Lord of the Rings (which can be seen as a start of the medievalist or high fantasy genre). I hope to look at parallels and differences between other fantasy style books. I also want to watch the Black Cauldron movie and see what parts from this book are in there after I read the book.

So let's get started on parallels: boy from a small village meets wise old man who tells him of bigger world and the saving that needs to be done to it, which the boy becomes involved in.

The "boy from a small village" thing seems to be a pretty common plot device for the fantasy genre. I can see why it's done- it's meant to draw us ordinary folks into the story, generating empathy for the main character and putting us in his shoes. It gives us hope for a future of adventure, interest, and triumph. It makes tries to convince us that there's a chance we're more than ordinary ourselves.
Glancing over some of the books I've read, I know that Eragon, the Belgariad series, the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Steelheart, Harry Potter, and The Sword of Truth series all use it somewhat. The degrees of success they had in making it work varies, though.
The biggest departure from this formula that I've encountered is the Game of Thrones books (A Song of Ice and Fire series). It's shockingly different. People aren't just good or bad. Everyone has hidden motives. Good people have really bad things happen to them. Bad people sometimes win. Good people turn bad. Bad people don't turn out to be as bad as they were originally though to be. It's refreshing, actually. In a gritty, dark kind of way.