tookish results

general questions

what be thy name?
xany kaos.

where do you currently reside?
usa.

have you read "the lord of the rings" novels? if so, which is your favourite book and why?
yes... that's like asking me to choose between my children (which i don't have). prolly return of the king because we get to see pippin and merry show their mettle apart from each other. ttt is close for the palantír scene...

have you seen the film versions? how many times? why?
yes. at least 5 per film, probably more. because they're really great and even if they don't follow the books exactly, pj and all the actors are so dedicated and did a wonderful job.

is pippin your favourite character?
yes.

book questions

describe how you imagine pippin.
pippin, to me, is like a gifted kid. he's incredibly clever and intellegent, but lacks the common sense that god gave little green apples. moreover, he finds it difficult to pay attention, especially to things told to a large group. if someone were to sit him down and say "this is what's going on and why" he'd pay attention, but as it is, he leans on merry to remember the tedious details, such as where they are. he thinks on his feet and acts quicker than he thinks, which is also a very gifted quality. in escaping from the orcs, pippin shows that while, when it comes to knowing things that your supposed to, he is woefully lacking, he's good at realizing what must be done when thrown into a situation unprepared, whereas merry likes to understand what's going on. also, he tends to feel that "everything will turn alright" not in a sam-ish sense, but in a "how else should it be" sense. this was part of the reason that he was able to escape from the orcs, because on some level, it never registered that they would not be able to escape. it's difficult to explain... um... he's clever, sensitive, inquisitive, intellegent, oblivious, charismatic and somewhat spoiled/lazy, all of which are qualities of a gifted person... i need an essay to write all this down. physically, i see him as tall-ish and skinny (for a hobbit, which means still cuddly), with dark redish hair, a sly face with somewhat squinty green eyes (as if he's thinking of the best way not to get caught) and freckles. his voice, in the books, for me, kind of "pipes up." that's the best way to describe how i hear it and also the reason that, while i love billy boyd and his wonderful voice, it's not quite right in the movies.

what was your initial response to pippin's character?
i liked the name. i could hear his voice easiest and tell it apart from the other characters in my mind. he seemed like fun, but a spoiled, mischievious handful.

what in his character do you like?
i like his youth, his inquisitiveness and his reliance on merry to take care of things. i like the way he's got a playfully violent streak in him. i like the way that he reminds me uncannily of myself, especially his relationship with merry (my best friend and i have a similar one). i like the bit of humor (not ness. the movie's slapstick) and innocence that he interjects into the who trilogy. ga...i just love pippin.

what do you dislike?
as a character, i can't say much of anything, except that i wish we could see more of him as an individual and not merrypippin, much as i love that. as a person, he's somewhat spoiled at the beginning, but it all works out.

what do you consider pippin's strongest suit?
pippin's strongest suit would either be his luck or his quick-thinking/acting. god protects fools and children and pip's got double coverage. but also, while merry needs to "know" to act, pippin just reacts to the situation as it happens and worries about the details later. i like that.

what are his weaknesses?
probably his dependance on merry. rereading rotk, i was amazed that he could march into battle, "upright" as it's described, without merry. it's heart-wrenching, if you have that kind of relationship with anyone and think about it. also, his tendancy to ignore the importance of things gets him into a lot of trouble.

to what degree did pippin's tookish nature play into his leaving the shire? was pippin searching for something when he left, or was it purely to help frodo?
(gr...can't find fotr) i think that pippin's nature has him underestimating the importance of things and so he saw this as a grand adventure and that is very tookish. i don't think he was searching for anything; i think he really went because merry did. pippin probably did a little convincing, but merry's decision to go probably cemented pippin's. to him, it was like a road trip with friends. in fact, it stays that way until the mines of moria.

what purpose did pippin have with the fellowship?
oh god, everything. in a literary sense, pippin gave us an "audience character" -- someone who things would have to be explained to, thus letting the audience know what's going on. in the fellowship itself, pippin probably brought people closer together, whether anybody realized it or not. merry, i'd think, would be a little more introverted if left alone, frodo was the suffering ringbearer and sam had such a servant mentality that the rest of the fellowship would have found it difficult to bond with the hobbits as strongly as they do had not pippin been there. his presense acts as something of a social buffer because of his innocence, charisma, and inquisitive nature. i think that probably made boromir look on the hobbits as more than mere "halflings." pippin brought a bit of light and lightness, that is, both childlike hope and a sense happy-go-lucky blitheness that eased something in the seasoned warriors. and we can't forget the whole thing with the palantír. And the escape from the orcs.

what would have happened if he had been left behind? how would he be different? how would the others be different?
frodo and same might not have made it because sauron's attention would not have been so solidly focused on pippin. certainly the bonding of the group would not have been as strong. merry might not have done so well, indeed, he may not have survived the encounter with the orcs. as to how different he would be, it's difficult to say. nothing would have stopped him from being the cocky little pip that he is, but there is some growing that he did (physically and emotionally) on the quest. i think he probably would have headed the tooks in hunting the bad men, second to his father, of course, and would have probably led some raids on them as well.

how does the grand adventure change pippin?
it does and in a way, it doesn't. he's still a cocky, rash hobbit and there's still something about him that is a boy, but he grows. he learns deep down inside that sometimes, things don't always come out perfect, even if he still acts like they do. pippin remains the same in his attitudes towards life and people because such attitudes have seen him through the fire relatively unscathed. seriously, i think that the adventure helped him to do a bit a growing up and makes him something of a soldier, but does not change him all that much. maybe i'm still to young and unchanged to see it.

was pippin unsure of himself at the beginning of the tale?
pippin was never unsure of himself at the beginning. towards the end, at gondor, away from home, when everything looked bleak, yes, then he was unsure, but at the beginning, he "knew" that he could do anything. he still had that sense of invincibility that all teenagers (or tweens, as it were) have.

does pippin have a hero? who and why?
i think pippin's heros would probably be boromir and faramir. boromir because of the time they spent together and the fact that he sacrificed his life trying to save pippin and merry. faramir because he's faramir. he's everybody's hero in gondor and pippin is a man of gondor. frodo might be something of a hero, but i still think that for pippin, the whole ring thing is a bit difficult to grasp, though nowhere near as difficult in the beginning.

describe how you see pippin's relationship with merry.
i think they were undoubtably close when they were young. they have an understanding of one another that runs deeper than casual friends. they seem the type who can speak worlds to each other through a glance and that's the kind of relationship that takes years to develope.

do you think merry was ever disappointed in his cousin (ie during the palantír incident)?
i really don't think it ever occurred to merry to be disapointed in pippin. he does turn away from pippin when the lad describes what he saw in the palantír, but i think that's because he couldn't bear to see the fear and pain on pippin's face, especially since he knew he couldn't help. afterwards, all he did was sit next to his cousin, probably just comforting him with his presence. i think merry knows pippin and while pippin does things he didn't expect, he's not altogether suprised when pippin does something foolish.

what do you think gandalf felt towards the young took? what was their relationship?
i think it was very much like a stern grandfather and a favorite, but pertinant, grandchild. gandalf liked pippin well enough, probably even loved him for his innocence, his humor and his sharpness (though he was quick to call attention to his bad moments), but in something as big as the war of the ring, there wasn't time for gandalf, who had to be everywhere at once saving the day, to really deal with pippin in a tender fashion.

do you think gandalf was particularly hard on pippin? why?
i think he was a bit more hard on him, but not much. pippin did do a lot of things that, in retrospect, weren't terribly intellegent. this was largely because it was often difficult for pippin to grasp the direness of their quest. the quest was nothing that should be jepordized by foolish doings of one member. gandalf's reactions to pippin's follies (dropping the stone in the well, the palantir) were swift and harsh because he was on edge. if he had a little time to breath afterward, he softened a bit.

when the fellowship first meets galadriel it is said, "each had felt he was offered a choice between a shadow of fear that lay ahead, and something he greatly desired: clear before his mind it lay, and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road and leave the quest and the war against sauron and the others." what do you think pippin was offered?
i think for pippin, especially at this time of the quest, it was just the shire, a pint of beer and his good friends with him. probably with him as the center of attention.

what do you think boromir represented to pippin?
(dang...i need my fotr) ... boromir was probably something like an uncle or maybe another older brother to pippin. he was less distant than aragorn, gandalf, legolas, or frodo were and something about him would seem more real. i don't remember if pippin knew about boromir's attempt to take the ring, but i don't think he did.

how did the death of boromir affect pippin?
i think it really brought the whole of the quest into perspective for pippin. losing gandalf was horrible and grounded him in reality, but in some ways, it just wasn't "real." seeing boromir die, but fight even while mortally wounded, for his and merry's sake brought a sense of gravity and reality to what was going on around him. it stopped being a summer outing without food. also, in a longer run, i think it gave pippin the strength to do many things that he did. boromir, a prince, almost, had given his life for pippin and that let pippin know that he was important and his life was worth something and that even if he felt it wasn't, he had darned better make something out of himself so that boromir's death would not be in vain. i think that's why giving up in the orcs' clutches never crossed his mind; he had no right to lay down and accept what was happening to him, not when boromir had fought to the death to prevent it. it also probably prompted his loyalty to denethor, faramir and gondor. i think in an even longer run, it gave him something to look back on at the pelennor fields and realize that he would have to do that for his friends. it gave him a certain kind of strength.

why do you think faramir so moved pippin?
faramir was described as a man who "men would follow, even under the shadow of the black wings." his bearing, his nobility, but his "accessibility" (for he was described as less distant than aragorn) were all factors. faramir's just very charismatic.

what do you think motivated pippin to swear fidelity to gondor?
i think there were two factors: the first would be boromir's death. the second would be his own pride. to quote, "pippin looked the old man in the eye, for pride stirred strangely within him, still stung by scorn and suspicion in that cold voice." i think of all the hobbits, possibly because of his youth, pippin is the swiftest to take insult and wants desperately to prove his worth.

was it appropriate pippin ended up serving denethor, not théoden? why?
i think it was. pippin seemed to have a stronger connection to boromir. also, gondor is a house of nobility and fierce pride and for a hobbit, pippin has an unusual supply of these things. merry seems the more "natural, earthy" of the two and edoras is the more "natural, earthy" place. also, pippin's pertness allowed him to stand up to denethor where merry might not.

when pippin was confronted with death during the battle before the black gates, how do you feel he reacted?
i think it was the last blow in grinding the gravity and seriousness of his situation in. until now, i think some part of pippin thought that they could get out of this okay, but after seeing what a battle on the doorstep of mordor looked like, it diminished to almost nothing. it kind of shut him down, as a hobbit and helped him to harden himself to the idea that he might and probably would, die and the least he could do was die with honor.

how do you imagine pippin as a father?
wonderful, of course! it's probably all diamond can do to keep him and faramir in line because i think he'd be a big a kid as his son. i can also see him telling bold stories of his exploits to the east and letting faramir try on his helm. very playful, very loving. if faramir got into some kind of mischief, he would probably start to reprimand rather harshly, then break down and grin.

in the end, what do you feel pippin lost and what did he gain from his journey?
i think that pippin came out of the whole thing the most unscathed of the hobbits. still, he lost a bit of the boyish-ness. he'd seen war up close and been in it. he'd watched his closest friends suffer and knew there was nothing he could do to help. he wasn't just a pretend-soldier, he really became a warrior. he gained a reason for the pride he'd always had as a boy, a sense of gravity (love that word!) and leadership skills that he may not have ever really gotten in the shire. he also gained almost an extra foot of height.

favourite scene or quote?
sooo many... i think: " 'but i should like to know ---" pippin began. 'mercy!" cried gandalf. "if the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, i shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. what more do you want to know?' 'the names of all the stars, and of all living things and the whole history of middle-earth and over-heaven and of the sundering seas,' laughed pippin. 'of course! what less?'"

film questions

how do you think pippin was portrayed in the movie?
billy boyd said that he tried to portray pippin as a two-year-old who's just learning to talk and stares at the adults as if he can understand every word, but he can't. i think that pretty much covers it. he was comic relief, but his comedy was more slapstick than the wry "i know everything" kind of humor he had in the books. that said, it was still a wonderful character, just not "the" pippin.

many felt pippin in the film came off as "stupid," do you agree?
yes, sadly. pippin is always asking things in the books, but it comes off as more thoughtful, like he just wants to know everything. in the movie, it comes off like he doesn't know anything at all. he's always got a look of confused uncomprehension, where i personally saw a more sly and intellegent expression. you know, one that looks like he's thinking about what's going on and trying to understand it instead of waiting for merry to explain it. there's a fine line between "gifted" and "stupid" and the movie pippin crosses that line.

did you enjoy the performance of billy boyd as pippin? how so?
yes! the first thing i said when the credits finished: "they took out his scene of smart!" the whole sequence where pippin tricks grishnák was brilliant in the books and defined for me some of the key elements of his character: tricky, sly and quick-thinking. the way that he cut his bonds, but kept them on was clever. the whole thing was just wonderful and the movie shot it all to hell, adding insult to injury by the whole squeazing his face and making him look even more stupid. even in the extended edition, they manage to make his smart look bad. pippin immediantly goes "he knows about the ring!" to merry, who responds "shh!" which shows pippin without the descretion that he practiced in the book and also makes it look like merry, as always, is thinking two steps ahead of him, when really, merry catches on after pip. gr.

favourite scene or quote?
so many again. the pub scene, the pint scene, second breakfast. in tt, arguing over who's taller and the almost lennon-mccartney patter of "he doesn't look happy up there." i really do love the movie, whatever harm they've done.

if you've seen the movie and read the books

which scene from the books which didn't make it into the film do you miss most?
probably the bath scene and the tricking of grishnák. but with both, they wouldn't have worked with the way the movie protrays pippin.

was the pippin of the films accurate to the pippin you imagined?
no, not at all. except the reddish hair. i really saw pippin as being clever, sly, smug and just a bit spoiled. oh and sweet as a button, of course.

what do you most look forward to in return of the king?
oooooh... pippin swearing allegiance to denethor and looking into the palantir. oh and the added scene "we will see the shire again!" i'm gonna cry!

which scene are you most worried about?
that they'll screw either scene up. that pippin won't really look into the palantír, or won't resist sauron and that beregond won't be in it.

if you magically had the chance to change one thing concerning film pippin (be it action, line or trait) what would it be?
i think it would be his stupidity. i wanna see my sly, clever pip. on a smaller scale, i'd fix the line about "people of intelligence on this mission" so that he sounds less like a moron and more like a smug, spoiled, "i'm the best" kind of kid, but still cute.

extra

can you think of think of any other questions which would be nice here?
0.o... it's already been an hour. maybe something about the scouring of the shire.

anything to say or ask about this site?
i love this site! it's wonderful and your art is amazing. i just wish there was more of it *hint hint* do you still post other's fan art? the navagation window is a wee bit small, but i've gotten used to that, i guess.

who's another favourite character (from anywhere, not just lotr) of yours, and why?
kurt wanger/nightcrawler from x-men. he's a real sweety, he's cute, funny, fuzzy and he has a sexy tail. oh and he's religious, which is really sweet.

lse says!

oh hooray, this had to be one of the best surveys i have ever had, i agree with you on every point you brought up, one hundred percent, all the way down to your kurt wagner comment. i love kurt! you broughtup one of my favourite points, book pippin was wry and witty who was always on top of things (if not "too" on top of things) where as film pippin, though sweet and endearing in his own right, was basically, mmm. well, clueless.
thank you so much!

... x