Pippin (Billy Boyd)

Character Analysis

"Fool of a Took"

Pippin is in many ways the exact opposite of Sam. Where Sam is always very serious, Pippin is excited, fun-loving, and not the least bit careful.

We see this in his stealing and lighting of Gandalf's dragon firework and as he's picking Farmer Maggot's crops (probably for fun). He loves beer and he loves gabbing. In Bree, when he should be keeping his lips zipped, he starts running his mouth about the Baggins he knows:

PIPPIN: He's my second cousin once removed on his mother's side and my third cousin twice removed on his father's side.

(We have no idea what he's talking about, but we do know that he's spilling secrets when he really should be shutting up.)

Pippin is perhaps most infamous for his small goof in Moria: he sends an old skeleton down a tunnel and awakens an entire orc horde. Gandalf has some pretty harsh words for Pippin—and he deserves every one of them. There's no denying that Pippin starts out as a complete buffoon.

But there's also no denying that he ends up fighting bravely, and that he harnesses his manic mischief and uses it to kick orc butt.

In fact, Pippin shows a lot of bravery throughout Fellowship (even when its bookended by blockhead maneuvers): he helps stand up to the Nazgûl on Weathertop, he fights off some orcs in Moria, and he acts as a distraction so that Frodo can escape to Mordor.

"Brave" might not be the first word you think of when Pippin does idiotic things like get a tummy ache after eating too many pieces of elf-bread, but you can't deny that when the going gets tough, Pippin gets going.