[Lyta_Underhill]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>I just felt an instant bonding when I read your words.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Thanks, <B>'lijahsgirl</B>! One of my main ingredients is Superglue (patented, trademark, all rights reserved, offer not valid)! I get along with most people, even the ones who flame people for misspelling Saruman...yes, even them! <P>And <B>dragoneyes</B>, aka <B>spelling maniac</B>! You missed Gandolf (GandAlf) in there! (Sorry...wife of English PhD! Can't help it!) Strangely enough, I find that, as I get older, I get less and less bothered by spelling aberrations, or it could just be that I've incorporated all of them, since I'm dead if I can't misspell a word for an Internet search engine! <P>I also wonder if the "stupid Pippin syndrome" has to do with the fact that Pippin tends to act impulsively with results that are not immediately advantageous. His actions seem to effect a more serendipitous end, i.e. he seems to be a tool of Eru in a sense that his unconscious but well-directed "blunders" turn to ultimate good: i.e. the Palantir, for drawing off attention from Frodo and Sam in Mordor/skewing Sauron's perceptions of the state of Middle Earth and even the small stone in Moria, for it set Gandalf on a path that gives him the power he needs to complete his long quest.<P>Sam, on the other hand, is more worldly in practical ways; he is handy with ropes, cooking, other survival skills. He is also more serious than Pippin, more focused on getting Frodo through the Quest than on allowing the unexpected to affect him or make him grow. Pippin's story is much more a Bildungsroman than Sam's appears to be. Thus, the degree of change would seem to point to Pippin as having been noticeably less mature at the beginning than Sam was. <P>I hope some of that made sense! Bye now!<P>Cheers,<BR>Lyta