Pippin Poking

[Luthien_ Tinuviel]

I was surprised and a little disappointed, too. It seems almost that "Book Gandalf" is wiser and more farseeing than "Movie Gandalf" in some respects. I don't know whether this is just an excuse I'm creating to try to reconcile myself with this point, but I think that Gandalf's actions against Pippin's pledging allegiance could be justified thus: They made Denethor less noble in the movie, less despairing for all the right reasons interpreted in all the wrong ways, and instead just a sort of callous jerk, favortist father, self-absorbed prig and all-around hopeless pessimist who himself has a "holier than thou" complex (even in the book he does). Because of this, I figure that perhaps (in the movie version) Gandalf might have seen that Denethor would give bad orders and that having Pippin serve him would not be a favorable position, also that Pippin's humbling himself by kneeling before Denethor would stoke Denethor's ego (which is never a very good thing, seeing as it's far too large already). In the end, though, it turns out to be for the best that Pippin did what he did, so I don't know why this part had to added to the movie at all.