A hobbit of the Shire, Meriadoc Brandybuck a.k.a. Merry, born in T.A. 2982, was the son of Saradoc Brandybuck. He belonged to the most respectable family in the Shire. In 710, according to the chronology of the Shire, his ancestors populated Buckland and began to build their estate, able to accommodate all the members of the family. Merry is a great friend of Pippin, Frodo and Sam. Along with them he sets out to Rivendell, where thanks to his persistence Pippin and he were allowed to join the Fellowship of the Ring. If it were not for Gandalf who believed that the loyalty of a true friend was of more value than the might of a warrior, Pippin and Merry would have never done their feat of arms and would never have become famous in Middle-earth.In Hobbiton Meriadoc was a hobbit of high standing. During the War of the Ring he took service with Theoden of Rohan. In the battle of the Pelennor Fields Merry fought with the Nazgul Lord. Together with Eowin he won over the dark forces but received a nasty wound which could be healed only by Aragorn. He wrote �Herblore of the Shire�, �The Reckoning of Years� and other scholarly works. Back in the Shire, he was one of the leading forces in its scouring. The last pages of �the Lord of the Rings� tell us the following: �Merry and Pippin lived together for some time at Crickhollow, and there was much coming and going between Buckland and Bag End. The two young Travellers cut a great dash in the Shire with their songs and their tales and their finery, and their wonderful parties. �Lordly� folk called them, meaning nothing but good; for it warmed all hearts to see them go riding by with their mail-shirts so bright and their shields so splendid, laughing and singing songs of far away; and if they were now large and magnificent, they were unchanged otherwise, unless they were indeed more fairspoken and more jovial and full of merriment than ever before.� In F.A.12 he became the Master of Buckland and two years later he was appointed Advisor in the Northern Kingdom. Together with Pippin he travelled to Rohan and Gondor, leaving his wife, Estella Bolger, at home. Merry, called by the hobbits Kalimac, died in F.A.65 and together with Pippin was buried in Rath Dinen. If there were medals or orders in Middle-earth, Merry would undoubtedly have had a huge collection of them. Probably, the most valuable ones would have been �for defeating Nazguls� and �to Rohan�s honoured hobbit�.