[Amanaduial the archer]

I think the way Pippin's role was played in Return of the King was possibly one of the best parts of the film. As Kalimac said, you almost saw him changing on screen - when you look at his first scene in which he and Merry are sitting, smoking their pipes and munching away, the very epitome of carefree hobbity-ness, you see the same Pippin from the first two films, and it continues throughout that film: when Gandalph tells him to hand over the Palantir, he does so without question or misgiving - wide eyed, innocent, impulsive, playing the fool. <P>It continues even after the Palantir as well: "I won't do it again," he says to Merry, like a small child. Lesson number two comes to Pip with a sharp shock when Merry turns on him, opening his eyes, and then Lesson number three when Merry, like an older brother, gives him the last of the Longbottom leaf in one of my favourite scenes, and he suddenly realises his best friend from whom he has never been parted for more than a day, say, is not coming with him. Throughout the film, these little things keep coming, making no really significant change to the main plot, but building up - when Faramir rides on what is basically a suicide mission at the bidding of his father and Pippin is left in the huge hall with Denethor munching away disgustingly, you see the subtle changes altogether in Pippin's own newfound subtlties of speech (enhanced by the camera work): "we have no songs for huge halls (?) and...*switch to Denethor crunching hideously on a bone*...<I>evil</I> times." <P>Oh, and his singing was lovely. <I>That</I>, interlaced with the Faramir snippets, was my favourite scene.