Try playing Oblivion and noticing that it's set in pseudo-british countryside with magic, swords, orcs, elves, and every other LOTR trope. Then come back and try and claim that TES isn't just LOTR only uglier, less interesting and more derivative.
Everything is a ripoff. Lord of the Rings was compiled form a vast array of myths and reinerpreted. It will go on, and on and on. To say the elder scrolls is exactly like LOTR is folly. It will obviously share some characteristics, but at the same time its own spin. Same with Lord of the Rings and mythology. Originality doesn't really exist, not as people think of it. An idea spontaneously generating from nowhere. Something always influernces the person to think of things.
Edit
Of all the games, Oblivion was by far the most like Lord of the Rings though. I personally found it boring and is their low point as a game designer.