This is seen in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings through the interactions between its characters because of the personal motive of one of the characters to reach a certain outcome. In The Lord of the Rings, the elvish character of Elrond has the power over his daughter Arwen to decide whom and when she is to marry another. In the appendices of the novel, the history of the love story between Arwen and Aragorn is explained and the importance of Elrond’s disapproval of Aragon. Elrond and Arwen are elvish and have the power of eternal life, whereas Aragorn is of mankind meaning that he does not have eternal life and will eventually die. Aragorn is the heir of Isildur, meaning that it is his birthright to be the King of both Gondor and Arnor. Arwen and Aragorn eventually fall in love and Arwen reveals to Aragorn that she will give up her eternal life for one life with Aragorn. Once Elrond learns of Arwen’s wishes, he disapproves of Aragorn and says that Arwen will never marry to one that is lesser than her and if not the bare minimum is that he is to be no “less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor” (Tolkien 1061). Meaning that Aragorn must be the King of both Gondor and Arnor to marry Arwen, both places have yet to have a king since the death of Aragorn’s father. Unknown to Aragorn, Elrond wishes for Aragorn to become the King for personal gain of restoring order in Middle Earth and to protect against the forces of Sauron. Elrond intermixes himself within the lives of Arwen and Aragorn, in order for there to be an outcome that he directly benefits from. That outcome of which being the restoring of the Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor, which would in turn relieve the level of pressure that the elvish realm is enduring due to Sauron. This relates to the topic of chapters in Sean McMeekin’s Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II, in which Stalin attempts to interfere with other countries in order for his own personal gain. Stalin involved himself in other countries’ governments through the use of spies in the United States government, in order to convey an idea that would result in change for his benefit. Stalin uses other countries as the chess pieces, with little to no regard to the country itself, in order to move forward with his political beliefs and spread communism throughout the world.