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Man-of-the-Wold · 12-14-2002, 01:22 AM

This is a cool thread of essentially complete concurrence.

I validate the observation's of Pippin. He is more spiritual than the others, and in someways much like Bilbo in his impulsiveness. He is also quite closely related to Bilbo, who was half Took. Kudos on the Hobbit quote.

I think both he and Merry change quite a bit, not so much in terms of where they end up -- both Sam and Frodo have had much more life-altering and deeper experiences -- but more from where they started.

Sam & Frodo are both in one way or another somewhat mature. Sam is simple, and really never changes in that particular sense, being a matter of pragmatic, humble attitude rather than intelligence, and his intuitive skills are uncanny.

But both Merry & Pippin (presumably Pippen more so) are both rather immature, and come from fairly innocent backgrounds. There willingness to make Frodo take them is more uninformed bravado than anything. They go from a point of merely young Hobbits (the good points of which they always retain) to being among the greatest figures in the West of Middle-Earth, buried among the great of Gondor, amoung the only four of the Fellowship to die in Middle-Earth.

I also have always liked the parallel between Gondor-Rohan and Pippin-Merry. Merry is I think all along destined to be the Master of Buckland, which is not technically part of the Shire and in many ways comparable to what Rohan is relative to Gondor. Pippen on the other hand becomes associated with the Guard and Stewards in Minas Tirith, which very much compares to the Thainship of the Shire, to which Pippin is heir, and who like the Steward is a stand-in until the King Returns.

12-14-2002, 01:22 AM	#7
Man-of-the-Wold Wight Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: With Tux, dread poodle of Pinnath Galin Posts: 239	This is a cool thread of essentially complete concurrence. I validate the observation's of Pippin. He is more spiritual than the others, and in someways much like Bilbo in his impulsiveness. He is also quite closely related to Bilbo, who was half Took. Kudos on the Hobbit quote. I think both he and Merry change quite a bit, not so much in terms of where they end up -- both Sam and Frodo have had much more life-altering and deeper experiences -- but more from where they started. Sam & Frodo are both in one way or another somewhat mature. Sam is simple, and really never changes in that particular sense, being a matter of pragmatic, humble attitude rather than intelligence, and his intuitive skills are uncanny. But both Merry & Pippin (presumably Pippen more so) are both rather immature, and come from fairly innocent backgrounds. There willingness to make Frodo take them is more uninformed bravado than anything. They go from a point of merely young Hobbits (the good points of which they always retain) to being among the greatest figures in the West of Middle-Earth, buried among the great of Gondor, amoung the only four of the Fellowship to die in Middle-Earth. I also have always liked the parallel between Gondor-Rohan and Pippin-Merry. Merry is I think all along destined to be the Master of Buckland, which is not technically part of the Shire and in many ways comparable to what Rohan is relative to Gondor. Pippen on the other hand becomes associated with the Guard and Stewards in Minas Tirith, which very much compares to the Thainship of the Shire, to which Pippin is heir, and who like the Steward is a stand-in until the King Returns. __________________ The hoes unrecked in the fields were flung, __ and fallen ladders in the long grass lay __ of the lush orchards; every tree there turned __ its tangled head and eyed them secretly, __ and the ears listened of the nodding grasses; __ though noontide glowed on land and leaf, __ their limbs were chilled.