The correct answer is the first option. In the excerpt from the article "Vision, Voice and the Power of Creation: An Author Speaks Out," by T. A. Barron says that the setting can influence the story as much as characters can. This is stated in lines: “So it should come as no surprise that I view place as much more than just a setting for a story. It is, in truth, another form of character, no less alive and complex, mysterious and contradictory, than the richest character in human form.”