Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lore cast, the show that explores the background of Tolkien's amazing world from the very beginning. Have you ever experienced while reading a book or watching a show, a moment where a character does something, and it's unexpected.

You didn't predict it, but when you actually think about it for a moment,

there's no other action that that character could have taken that would have made sense.

Specifically, I'm talking about the kinds of decisions characters make that truly feel like they are in retrospect, when looking back on them, the obvious decision based on who you

understand that character to be.

It's this weird phenomenon, and it's something that

I first really noticed with George R.R. Martin's books, which are highly influenced by writers

like J.R.R. Tolkien, of course, being that they are in the fantasy genre and have come afterwards,

but his works are distinct and different in other ways.

One of the things that I really, really appreciate about his character development is that

when looking back on a situation and truly understanding who the characters are and what levers, I guess you can say, the characters

will pull, what actions are within their scope, what motivates those individual characters.

It seems often that what initially is a surprise decision is really just the fulfillment of who he was

making the character to be from the beginning.

And he has a really interesting knack for that.

And I think it comes down to just a few very specific things.

And before I get ahead of myself, this absolutely applies to this episode.

In fact, we're just wrapping up the second chapter today.

And there are two very important moments with both Bilbo and Gandalf, which lead into this.

This is important because it doesn't just happen with George R.R. Martin and the Song of Ice and Fire.

This happens with Tolkien.

This happens with a lot of great writers.

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