Visible souls....

[Formendacil]

This might be taking your topic somewhere you didn't quite intend, but what you say about not getting into the characters' heads is quite interesting. You are right, of course, that we do not "See" into any of the characters's minds the way most novels present themselves. Sam and Frodo are the closest we come, and yet they are far more "hidden" than characters in most novels out there.

This is very "incorrect" on the good professor's behalf, but if you think about it, it is a far more realistic way of looking at things. Think about people you meet in real life. Do you "get into their minds"? Of course not. You get to know them through talking with them, and through observing them. In other words, the same way you get to know the characters of The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps it's no wonder then that you seem to know Frodo and the others better at the end of the story than characters from other novels, since you have gotten to understand Frodo in a way that more closely mimics a natural human relationship.