It has to all boil down to a final fight between a small contender and an extraordinary opponent. It must be well-written, whether in prose or poetry. If I don’t get at least three memorable quotes, it’s not an epic. The fight has to shape the character to a good extent, and bonus points are given for the allowance of real life developments and influences. As much as I would love to handcuff Patrick Rothfuss to Brandon Sanderson to see if Brandon could get him to finish the series, I genuinely love the Name of the Wind, because as an epic, it’s one of my favorites.