The thing to keep in mind about an event like Minneapolis Comic Con is that those gathered on panels are pros. They know how to do what they are doing. Which is perhaps why hearing Sean Astin talk about his experience being called to the bedside of those who are dying was so moving. He knows how to tell a moving story. But just because he does it for a living does not mean that the powerful stories are not powerful.

So Astin closed his comic con hour talking about death.

Prior to this portion of his panel, Austin had given a fairly routine performance. Very funny and very engaging; his fans would have had nothing to complain about had Aston not chosen a serious topic to close the hour.

But after requesting of the moderator the opportunity to end on a sad note, Astin talked about those times he had been asked to accompany people during their final moments of life because of the love those people have for the stories he’s helped tell.

That someone would do this caught me by surprise. It simply hadn’t occurred to me to have the man who played Samwise Gamgee hold your hand as you’re shuffled off the mortal coil.

In those moments, “You can’t help but be in awe of Tolkien’s language and stories, and the actors, the whole experience,” he said. “It’s very powerful. People want to take these stories with them.” No matter how many times Austin may have told this anecdote it in the past, it was a real moment of emotion for the crowd of several thousand fans gathered to hear the actor. There was a palpable response across the audience.

And it was a beautiful expression of the power of the stories we love. At no place is that love of stories more evident than at fan events like comic con. Here were men and women literally dressed in the stories they love. That we want take these stories with us, even at the end, should not surprise me.