I was watching gameplay in the LOTR LCG Progression Series on Youtube. Maybe they were just a bit careless, but in the Pelargir quest, when they decided to take undefended attacks, they checked out the shadow cards before they chose whom to assign the damage to. I have always been under the impression that, whether you defend or not, you have to declare who takes the damage before you get to peek at the shadow effect.

Am I wrong? How do you do it?

In the example on page 19 of the rule book, when it is time to declare the defender, the player states "undefended", then the attack is resolved (shadow flipped,etc.), then it is determined who will take the damage.

I see. I thought the order was a bit unclear in the rules. My friends and I have always decided first who should take the hit and then resolved the attack.