Why did Pippin and Merry choose to be buried in Gondor?

[Melilot Brandybuck]

Wouldn't they have wanted to be buried in the Shire? After all it was their home and they clearly loved it very much. Yes they did great deeds in Gondor and proved that their strength and valour was equal to any Man's. But I got the sense that even throughout all this they felt a little forlorn and lost, and somewhat overwhelmed. That amidst all the talk of war and rings and wizards, what they really wanted, deep down, was to find themselves sitting by the fire in The Green Dragon with a pint of ale, swapping jokes with their friends.

I know that they did sometimes travel to Gondor as honoured guests in their later years. But they were very important hobbits in the Shire. I would have thought the inhabitants of the Shire, their families, and they themselves, would have found it fitting to bury there and not in Gondor.

[Boromir88]

Not only was it that they were buried in Gondor, but their bodies would be laid to rest next to Aragorn's...truly a mighty honor for any halfling. I think however, it's just the fact that Merry and Pippin both decided to go to Gondor and spend the rest of their life their:
It was heard after that Master Meriadoc came to Edoras and was with King Eomer before he died that autumn. Then he and Thain Peregring went to Gondor and passed what short years were left to them in that realm, until they died and were laid in Rath Dinen among the Great of Gondor.
Then we find out when Aragorn dies Merry and Pippin are placed beside him.

I mean sure I think Merry and Pippin loved the Shire, but they were on this journey for I believe over a year and growing in friendship with everyone in the Fellowship, so it was only "right" that they were set beside Aragorn when he died. First it being a great honor to any halfling, but also showing the friendship all shared during life.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Good question, Melilot, and I understand the thoughts that you have. Certainly, as Boromir says, it was an honour for the Hobbits, but why would they choose that over spending their last days in the Shire with their families and being buried there? (This reminds me of Arwen's death - why did she choose to die soon after Aragorn instead of living for her children and grandchildren?)

I wonder if that doesn't echo Tolkien's own experience (and that of many other men); his friendships with Lewis and other colleagues and friends were deeply important to him.

Apparently the bond created among the Fellowship was so strong that other bonds could not compete - with the exception of the marriage bonds. We see the eight who survived seeking each other's fellowship even after going their separate ways for most of their lives. Frodo and Gandalf left Middle-earth together; Legolas and Gimli ditto, after spending their lives traveling together often. Sam also chose to leave M-e instead of staying with his children and grandchildren after Rosie's death. The three remaining members of the Fellowship, who were not allowed to go to Valinor, chose to end their lives together. As far as we know, in most of these cases, the women in the lives of those who were married were already dead; I'm not sure about Merry and Pippin, and of course Aragorn didn't go away from Arwen but left her in death first.

Perhaps it also has something to do with going back to the most memorable experiences one had in life when one gets old? Selective memory or something similar...

[Mithalwen]

All I would add is that it symbolically raises Merry and Pippin to be on a par with Aragorn. They have not the "gift" of the Numenorean kings to give up their lives at will but these two holders of the great hereditary offices in the Shire choose the moment to pass their offices and estates on. It is not forced on them by failing health or death. Effectively they did to their families and friends at the moment they leave the Shire and although they may not pass over sea like Frodo, Sam and Bilbo, they spend a time in places where they receive honour and perhaps have a chance to reflect on the extra-ordinary events that tempered their lives.

Although the religious aspects of the Lord of the Rings are not something that impinge on my general readings of the book (they are not unavoidable as in Pullman or Lewis), the idea of making "a good death" is a very Catholic one and seeing their departure to Rohan and Gondor as a time of retreat and preparation (if not an actual Purgatory) does make it seem less unnatural. Within the internal religion of Ea, choosing death (even symbolically) at an appropriate moment identifies Death clearly as the "Gift of Illuvatar" to mortals, not the doom or curse that lesser or fallen mortals perceived it to be. So although on a human level, it seems "wrong" that the hobbits voluntarily choose to leave their families, symbolically Tolkien raises them to a high level both spiritually and temporally.

I think it is nice that having been born to be big fish in a small pond, at the end they are honoured for the things they acheived for themselves. They have been returned to the wider world and there their high status are due to their deeds not their birth.

[Selmo]

We cannot be sure what was in the minds of Merry and Pippin when they left The Shire.

It maybe that they intended to return after one last jouney but found when they reached Minas Tirith that they were just too old to make the arduous return trip.
.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

And don't forget the bond between
Merry and Theoden.
"As a father you shall be to me."

Overall, it was as much actions of
closure, both of The Fellowship
and of the Third Age for them
to return to Gondor/Rohan.
(And, of course, of LOTR, since
Tolkien must have had some fun
tying up various loose ends and
putting (more or less) happy
endings to the tale of The Fellowship,
particularly Merry and Pippin.

[Enedhilion]

I actually did not know this. Thanks for the insight!

[Caunwaithon]

Tolkien could also be showing the natraul vanity of the Tooks.

Instead of being buried in the shire, like normal, well-to-do hobbits, Merry and Piippin decided to go out with a "bang".

Being buried next to the son of Isildur is a pretty big bang to go out with.


Not the most plausible definition in literary terms, but it is another view on the topic.
;)