The first RJ book is very Tolkein-esque, and even #2 and sort of #3. #4 the world vastly expanded, and became its own. DomA gave a great post on this somewhere, but he described the Book 3/4 transition to be where RJ's world switched from typical fantasy to a "historical saga." The worldbuilding increased exponentially, the story because less plot-driven and more character-driven, and the depth and breadth of the storyline changed the way the WoT was told.

Anyway, Rand's been stated by RJ (can someone back me up here?) to stand at 6'7, which is well above Hobbit height.

Also, RJ likes to take the cyclical nature of time in the WoT world and play with it, giving an indication that, maybe, the WoT universe is ours. Tom Merrilin tells the story of "Mosk and Merk" fighting with "spears of fire," which one could easily interpret to be Russia (Moscow) with America, fighting with missiles. It's just a fun thought experiment, but really nothing else. The easiest proof is that we know our Universe had some sort of beginning about 13.75 billion years ago, and we know its history--it is most definitely NOT cyclical.