Merry and Pippin have interesting roles in “The Lord of the Rings.” While Frodo and Sam are away doing the critical job of destroying the One Ring, their two Hobbit friends play more subtle (but still absolutely critical) roles. First, they head to Fangorn Forest, where they help the Ents rise up and overthrow Saruman. Then, Pippin is shuttled away to Gondor, where he enters the service of the Steward Denethor and fights in the epic Siege of Gondor, where he saves Faramir’s life. Meanwhile, Merry becomes one of the Riders of Rohan and sneaks his way into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where he helps Éowyn take down the Witch-king.
After that, the reunited Halflings march to Mordor with Aragorn and company, where they represent their people in the final negotiations of the War of the Ring and battle before the Black Gate until the Ring is finally cast into the fire. From there, they reconnect with Frodo and Sam, and the quartet eventually makes their way back to the Shire. Once there, the ending of Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King” movie has them settle back into a life of quiet obscurity.
The books have a more dramatic story, where they fight Saruman’s minions (who have moved in while they were gone) and help the Hobbits reclaim their homeland. In either case, once the movies and books end, both Merry and Pippin are quietly ensconced in the Shire once more. But their lives are far from over, and Tolkien tells us in the appendices that their ending is a pull-on-your-heartstrings kind of moment. Here’s what happens.
