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| Also called: Pippin, Pip, �Fool/Tom-fool of a Took�, Master Halfling, Ernil i Pheriannath, Thain Peregrin I Age: (during the War of the Ring) 28-29 Race: Hobbit (of Tookland) Parents: Paladin Took and Eglantine Banks Played by: Billy Boyd Pippin is the member of the Fellowship with whom we see the most character development. He begins the journey as an irresponsible and foolish hobbit (though he may be forgiven for this, seeing as he is the youngest member of the Fellowship, and by hobbit standards, not yet �come of age�, being only 29). He acts � along with Merry � as comic relief, singing silly songs, like �The Bath Song�, or doing stupid things, like throwing a rock down a deep hole in Moria (pushing a skeleton in the movie). Elrond did not wish for Pippin to join the Fellowship, but Pippin, being the irrepressable Took that he is, would have none of it. He was lucky that Gandalf backed him up on this occasion! We see the beginning of Pippin�s maturity when he and Merry are taken hostage by Saruman�s Uruk-hai and orc army. Pippin leaves clues for Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas (dropping his Lorien broach). Later, he manages to cut his ropes, thus freeing himself, and Merry, later. Once free from the orcs, Pippin allows Merry to take control, until they meet up with Treebeard. A hint of Pippin�s foolishness is seen after the defeat of Saruman, and taking of Isengard, when he looks into the Isendgard palantir, and speaks to Sauron. After this foolish deed, Pippin goes to Minas Tirtih with Gandalf, and there we see him mature further. He offeres his service to Denethor, Steward of Gondor in payment for the loss of Boromir, who died to save both Pippin and Merry. Later, he alerts Gandalf to Denethor�s insanity, and thus aids in saving Faramir�s life. He is made a Soldier of Gondor, and represents the city of Minas Tirith and the Shire in the battle against Sauron�s forces (attempting to �draw level with old Merry�). Of course, during this battle, he has a troll dropped on him and is nearly squashed to death. Fortunately, Gimli finds him, and he is nursed back to health. Pippin is made a Knight of Gondor. Pippin carries his soldier honour back with him to the Shire. He leads the Battle of Bywater with Merry, and hence, frees the Shire from �Sharky�s� rule. He and Merry live together in Crickhollow - which Frodo gives to them - for some years. Pippin later marries Diamond of Long Cleeve, and his son, Faramir (named after the Steward of Gondor) marries one of Sam�s daughters. He becomes the Thain of the Shire after his father's death |
| Interesting Facts about Pippin |
| - Of the main hobbits in The Lord of the Rings, Pippin was the last to come about, as we know him. Though his character largely existed from the very start, it took a great many name changes as siftings before he became the Peregrin Took we all know and love. For anyone who�s interested, Merry was the first to settle into his character niche. His character existed very early as �Marmaduke Brandybuck�, but this was quickly (thankfully) changed to Meriadoc. For quite some time Frodo was called Bingo, at first Bilbo�s son, then his nephew (as with The Lord of the Rings), but with the last name �Bolger-Baggins�, and then just Baggins. After some time, Frodo was changed to Frodo (though this name did exist for another character). Sam did not exist in any form in the very early stages (though many of his lines were spoken by one of �Bingo�s� companions, �Frodo Took�). In around the second or third rewriting, Sam simply appears into the character niche he holds in The Lord of the Rings. The Pippin character is first known as Odo Took, one of Bingo�s young cousins. However, Odo and Frodo Took are eventually merged (though Odo Bolger, emerges, the beginning of Fredegar), and our Pip is known as Frodo Took. Of course, this head to be changed when the main character became Frodo, and Frodo Took became Folco Took. For some reason, Folco was renamed Faramond, but this character was also pushed away to become Folco Boffin, and the name Peregrin Took is finally reached (at the forth phase of writing. Merry existed since the first, Sam since the second and Frodo since the third�I think!) - Despite not being used for Pippin, the name Peregrin did exist for another character. For quite a while, Strider was not a man, but a hobbit, with the nickname of Trotter (this name survived the transition from hobbit to man). Trotter eventually revealed to be "Peregrin Boffin", a cousin of Bilbo's, who ran off into the wild, for which Bilbo and Gandalf were blamed. When it was decided that Trotter was to be a man rather than a hobbit, the name Peregrin was eventually replaced with Aragorn. - While in the books Pippin is the youngest of the hobbits and Frodo the eldest, the ages of the actors in the movies are reversed. Elijah Wood (Frodo) is the youngest, while Billy Boyd (Pippin) is the eldest (the ages of Sean Astin and Dominic Monaghan, Sam and Merry respectively, remain in the same positions as in the books, ie, Sean is older than Dominic as Sam is older than Merry. - According to Billy and Dominic, their on-screen roles are the mirror-image of their off-screen roles, meaning Billy is like Merry and Dom is like Pippin. Strangely enough, Billy Boyd is eight years older than Dominic Monaghan, just as Meriadoc Brandybuck is eight years older than Peregrin Took. - Pippin is a rather desperate hope for the Took clan. If he had not been born (or had died at some point, like when he was crushed by a troll), the title of Thain would have passed to Merry (assuming Paladin and Esmeralda's three elder sisters had no sons). The Thainship had originally been passed from the family Oldbuck to the family Took, and the family Oldbuck changed their name to Brandybuck! So, if Pip had not been around, the Thainship would have gone back to the Brandybucks again! - "Peregrin" means to wander. "Pippin" is a type of apple, but it can also mean seed, small thing or precious thing. That about sums up our Master Took, I think! |