[Kalimac]

They are, but they're also the elements behind many stories; Narnia (as you mentioned) uses this story in several variations, Wheel of Time has the same thing going on, Neil Gaiman in "Neverwhere" uses it to an extent. (Hero has to get help from a bunch of diverse elements to rescue girl, if you really boil it down). But Pullman's world is very, very different from Tolkien's. The daemons have no real counterpart, and the knife that cuts between worlds, and the compass, are nifty artifacts. The society is differently structured, and while the heroine is someone who seems obscure & in the background who goes on to do a lot of important stuff, there are bushels of stories with that idea.

Full disclosure: I loathed HDM. I made it through two books, ended up throwing the second one against the wall in a fury, and sold them both on Amazon (used, obviously [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]). But I don't think Pullman ripped off the plot from Tolkien, and believe me, I'd jump on the chance to point it out if he did. I just hated the "good" characters so much that I wanted them to lose with a passion.