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was discarded when he served his purposes
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But he
wasn't discarded. In fact, I'd say we get to know him much better after his death than we did when he was part of the Fellowship. During FotR, he seemed fairly churlish and uncooperative to me, arguing with everyone and being tempted by the ring all the time. Minas Tirith was an opportunity to see, literally, where he was coming from, and his desire to save his city is one we (meaning, I) can sympathize with much more easily when we've been there. Furthermore, it is through his relationships with Faramir and Denethor that we come to see him as someone that people cared about, and we don't meet either of them until long after his death. I would argue that, rather than being "whisked off the stage," he lingered on much longer than we might have expected.
In fact, one of the really important effects of his death on the plot that nobody's yet mentioned is Pippin's enlisting in Denethor's service. He says:
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He died to save us... and though he fell and failed, my gratitude is none the less
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and proceeds to offer to risk his own life, and ends up saving Faramir, and this is in RotK! Boromir's still making things happen! Important things, too; his sacrifice is a huge part of what causes Pippin to mature, and the hobbits' growing awareness of the non-Shire world matters very much.
--Belin Ibaimendi
[ August 10, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]