|
At the risk of sending this thread in an entirely new direction, Tolkien was able to kill Boromir and "endure the loss" because with that warrior-prince's death, he was well within the borders of Northern heroic epic theme.
As for Pippin, if one reads the various events of his life, including the words Gandalf speaks to him in warning, there is plenty of foreshadowing for his death. Personally, after reading the battle at the Gates, I thought that Pippin was dead. So Tolkien was well within his artistic rights to choose to have had him killed, because it would have worked; but it would have changed the tale, made it darker, especially on the return trip, and all the events in the Scouring of the Shire.
I'm rusty on the Sil and so will leave that question to be answered by others.
|