Lord of the Rings Literary Analysis: Part Four

 Pippin

    Peregrin Took was a hobbit who lived in the Shire during the Third Age. He was good friends with his cousin, Merry. The two of them found out that two of their friends, Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee had the One Ring and were taking it to Rivendell, Merry and Pippin offered to help them on their quest. Their first step was to meet a Wizard, Gandalf the Grey, at a town called Bree. As they were traveling, the hobbits were being hunted by Black Riders, as well as being attacked by a living tree in the Old Forest and a Wight in the Barrow-downs. Despite these hinderances, they arrived at Bree, only to discover that Gandalf was not there. However, they did meet Aragorn, who was sent in his stead. The five of them continued to Rivendell, but the Nazgul attacked them at Wheathertop. Frodo was stabbed in the ambush, and their quest became more urgent. Luckily, the Frodo was taken to Rivendell in time for him to be healed. Sam, Merry and Pippin were originally denied from attending the Council of Elrond, but the trio snuck in anyway. Because of this, They were able to join the Fellowship of the Ring to help Frodo take the Ring to Mordor to be destroyed. To do this, they must cross the Misty Mountains. They were unable to pass through the Gap of Rohan because it was close to Isengard, where Saruman the White served Sauron. They decided to cross a mountain pass named Caradhras, but a furious snowstorm beat them back. So they had to pass through Moria, which was inhabited by goblins. Pippin mistakenly revealed the Fellowship's presence to the goblins and a Balrog. Gandalf and the Balrog fell into the Mines, and the Fellowship left for Lorien in a hurry. At Lorien they received boats from the Elves in Caras Galadhon, so the Fellowship sailed down the Anduin toward Minas Tirith. At the island of Amon Hen, Uruk-Hai attacked the Fellowship, killed Boromir, and took Merry and Pippin hostage. On their way to Isengard, the Uruk-Hai were halted near the Fangorn Forest when they were attacked by the Rohirrim. Merry and Pippin took their opportunity to flee into the forest where they met Treebeard and the Ents. Merry and Pippin helped the Ents find out that Uruk-Hai were using trees as fuel, so the Ents attacked and destroyed Isengard. Later, Aragorn, Gandalf the White, Legolas, Gimli, Theoden, and the Rohirrim came to Isengard to deal with Saruman. Saruman would not repent, and Wormtongue threw a large stone to stave off the intruders. Pippin caught the stone and Gandalf took it. Later Pippin decided to steal the stone back. Unfortunately, the stone was a palantír, a special seeing-stone taht Saruman used to communicate with the Dark Lord. So Pippin found himself face to face with Sauron. Sauron began to invade Pippin's thoughts and showed him very terrible things. Luckily, Gandalf was able to break Pippin's connection to the stone before it was too late. Though Pippin was traumatized by the event, he did see that Sauron was going to focus his assault on Gondor. Gandalf departed for Minas Tirith, taking Pippin along with him, lest he cause more trouble. When they reached the city, they met with Denethor, the Steward of Gondor (the line of the Stewards was established after King Isildur was killed during the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, so that Gondor would still have a ruler until the return of the kin's heir) and Boromir's father. Pippin swore his allegiance to Denethor and became a knight of Gondor. While he was at Minas Tirith, Pippin learned that the land east of the River Anduin, called Ithilien, had already fallen to Orcs. To defend Gondor, they would have to defend the river north of the city called Osgiliath, and south of the Island of Cair Andros. To do this, Denethor called for all the forces available. He lit beacons to call Rohan, and summoned all of the soldiers in Gondor. This included men from the coastal city Dol Amroth, led by Prince Imrahil, and the Rangers, led by Boromir's brother Faramir. They held the river for as long as they could, but soon had to retreat. Faramir was severely injured during the battle, and many believed that he would not survive. Thus Minas Tirith came under siege by Sauron's army. They broke down the city's gates with a gigantic battering ram called Grond. But before the enemy invaded the city, the Rohirrim came to aid Gondor. Denethor was not not fighting, but rather staying with Faramir. Denethor pronounced Faramir dead, and mourned the loss of both of his sons. He was so despaired that he decided to burn himself alive along with Faramir. Pippin informed Gandalf as soon as he learned this, and the two of them managed to save Faramir. Denethor murdered himself nonetheless. After the battle, Faramir, Merry, and Éowyn were taken into the Houses of Healing, were they recovered. Theoden was slain during the battle, so Éomer, Éowyn's brother and Theoden's nephew, was proclaimed king of Rohan. Aragorn also became king of Gondor, as he was Isildur's last living descendant. In the city, Aragorn, Éomer, and Gandalf decided to launch an attack on the Black Gate. The plan was to draw out Sauron's forces so that Frodo and Sam will not have to contend with them. So the armies from Gondor and Rohan, including Pippin, journeyed north to the Morannon. There, they were ambushed by all of Sauron's army, which included myriads of Orcs, trolls, Easterlings, Haradrim, as well as the Nazgul (excluding the Witch-King who died at Pelennor Fields). Fortunately, Gwaihir, and the Eagles came to fight the Dark Lord as well. Despite this, it was a losing battle. During the so-called Battle of the Black Gate, Pippin stabbed a troll, which fell on him and knocked him out. When all was lost, the Ring was destroyed, destroying the Black Gate and killing all of the Orcs, trolls, and Nazgul. This left only the Easterlings and Haradrim, who then fled. Gandalf, Gwaihir, and two other eagles immediately left to rescue Sam and Frodo. After the battle, Gimli noticed Pippin's foot sticking out out from under the corpse of the troll that he killed, and took the hobbit to safety.

    Although Pippin makes many blunders during the trilogy, the war would have been lost if not for him. Awakening the Balrog meant that Gandalf the Grey became Gandalf the White. This gave the Wizard the power he needed to win the war. Finding out Sauron's plans meant that his friends knew where to direct their defense.