Incredibly, I actually agree with unigolyn in his second post. <P>The reason Merry and Pippin -- and even Legolas and Gimli, to an extent -- seemed undeveloped is because they really didn't have much of a role in the first book. There were <I>some</I> aspects that could've been better (for instance, I always pictured Merry a good bit more mature than Pippin rather than a partner-in-crime), naturally. We all know that Merry and Pippin and Legolas and Gimli have much larger parts in The Two Towers. You're really criticizing the roles of characters who have not yet even had the focus of the story. Why was Bean so spectacular as Boromir? He was one of the primary focuses of the Fellowship of the Ring. His character developed (in the book) within the space of the first third of the story. All the other characters have much more to do. Don't condemn the characters (or the actors!) based on the first third of the film! <P>And unigolyn, welcome to the Downs. Your opinions are welcome here, but so are everyone else's!
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