| Meriadoc Brandybuck | |
|---|---|
| In-universe information | |
| Aliases | Merry, Master ofBuckland |
| Race | Hobbit |
| Affiliation | Company of the Ring |
| Spouse | Estella Bolger |
| Book(s) | The Lord of the Rings |
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Westron:Kalimac Brandagamba; usually calledMerry) is aHobbit, a fictional character fromJ. R. R. Tolkien'sMiddle-earthlegendarium, featured throughout his most famous work,The Lord of the Rings.Merry is described as one of the closest friends ofFrodo Baggins, the main protagonist. Merry and his friend and cousin,Pippin, are members of theCompany of the Ring. Theybecome separated from the rest of the group and spend much ofThe Two Towers making their own decisions. By the time ofThe Return of the King, Merry has enlisted in the army ofRohan as an esquire to KingThéoden, in whose service he fights during theWar of the Ring. After the war, he returns home, where he and Pippin leadthe Scouring of the Shire, ridding it ofSaruman's influence.
Commentators have noted that his and Pippin's actions serve to throw light on the characters of the good and bad lordsThéoden andDenethor,Steward of Gondor, while their simple humour acts as a foil for thehigher romance involving kings and theheroicAragorn.
Merry appeared inRalph Bakshi's animated filmLord of the Rings, the animated version ofThe Return of the King byRankin/Bass, and in the live actionfilm series byPeter Jackson.
Meriadoc, ahobbit, known as Merry, was the only child of Saradoc Brandybuck, a Master ofBuckland, and Esmeralda (née Took), the younger sister of Paladin Took II, making him a cousin to Paladin's son, his friendPippin.[T 1] His grandfather Rorimac Brandybuck's sister Primula was the mother of Frodo Baggins, the main protagonist of the book. Merry and Frodo were thus first cousins once removed.[T 1] Hobbits ofthe Shire saw Bucklanders as "peculiar, half foreigners as it were"; the Bucklanders were the only hobbits comfortable with boats; and living next to theOld Forest, protected from it only by a high hedge, they locked their doors after dark, unlike hobbits in the Shire.[T 2]
Merry learned of theOne Ring and its power of invisibility beforeBilbo Baggins leftthe Shire. He guardedBag End after Bilbo's party, protecting Frodo from unwanted guests.[T 3] Merry was a force behind "the Conspiracy" ofSam,Pippin, Fredegar Bolger and himself to help Frodo.[T 2] He assembled the company's packs and brought ponies.[T 4] His shortcut through theOld Forest distanced them from the Black Riders, theNazgûl, for a time.[T 5] In theBarrow-downs, he is given his sword, a dagger forged in the kingdom of Arthedain.[T 6] Arriving atBree, Merry was not celebrating in thePrancing Pony when Frodo put on the Ring; he was outside taking a solitary walk, and was nearly overcome by aNazgûl.[1][T 7] AtRivendell, he was seen studying maps and plotting their path.Elrond reluctantly admitted him and Pippin to theCompany of the Ring.[T 8]
Halted at the entrance toMoria, Merry askedGandalf the meaning of the door inscription "Speak, friend, and enter". When Gandalf, having unsuccessfully tried many door-opening spells, discovered the true interpretation, he said "Merry, of all people, was on the right track".[T 9]AtAmon Hen, the Hill of Seeing, the Company hesitated in confusion, and scattered. Merry and Pippin were captured by a band ofSaruman'sUruk-hai, despiteBoromir's defence.[T 10] Escaping with Pippin intoFangorn forest, they were rescued by the leader of theEnts,Treebeard, and given an Ent-draught to drink: it made them both grow unnaturally tall for hobbits.[T 11] Accompanying Treebeard to theEntmoot and later to the wizardSaruman's fortress ofIsengard, which the Ents destroyed, they took up residence in a gate-house, meetingKing Théoden ofRohan, and were reunited with the Fellowship.[T 12][2]Merry swore allegiance to Théoden and became his esquire.[T 13] Against Théoden's orders, he rode toGondor with the King's nieceÉowyn, who disguised herself as a common soldier.[T 14] In theBattle of the Pelennor Fields, while theleader of the Nazgûl was preoccupied with Éowyn, Merry stabbed him behind his knee. The Black Captain stumbled, enabling Éowyn to kill him. This fulfilled the prophecy thathe would not be killed "by the hand of man", as it was a hobbit and a woman that ended his life.[T 15]Éomer made Meriadoc a Knight of the Mark for his bravery,[1] and gave him the name Holdwine.[T 16]
After the War of the Ring, Merry and Pippin returned home as the tallest of hobbits, only to find that Saruman had taken over the Shire. Merry and Pippin roused the hobbits to revolt. During the resultingScouring of the Shire, Merry commanded the hobbit forces, and killed the leader of Saruman's "ruffians" at the Battle of Bywater.[1][T 17] Sometime afterwards, Merry married Estella Bolger.[T 18] Merry inherited the title Master of Buckland at the start of theFourth Age. He became a historian of the Shire.[T 19][T 20] At the age of 102, Merry returned to Rohan and Gondor with Pippin; they died in Gondor, and were laid to rest among the Kings of Gondor in Rath Dínen, the street of tombs, then moved to lie next toAragorn. His son succeeded him as Master of Buckland.[T 21]
When Merry first appeared in Tolkien's early drafts, his name was Drogo Took. He was later renamed Vigo, and the name Drogo reassigned toFrodo's father. After that, he was renamed Marmaduke, and finally Meriadoc Brandybuck.[T 22]
The nameMeriadoc has sometimes been seen as an allusion to the noblemanConan Meriadoc, legendary founder of the medievalHouse of Rohan inBrittany,[3] since Tolkien's Meriadoc is closely associated with his fictional kingdom of Rohan. Tolkien denied that the Breton name had any connection with his fictional kingdom.[T 23] The name Meriadoc isBrittonic (for example, Welsh); Tolkien stated that he had given characters from Bree and Buckland names with a "Celtic cast", so that they appear different from plainly English names in the Shire.[T 24]
In the prefaces and appendices toThe Lord of the Rings, Tolkien employed theconceit thathe was the modern translator of a unique manuscript, theRed Book of Westmarch, and that his stories of Middle-earth derived from that.[T 25] In this guise of translator, he maintained that the character's real name was notMeriadoc Brandybuck, but ratherKalimac Brandagamba. This was said to be an actual phonetic transcription of the name in Tolkien'sinvented language ofWestron, which Tolkien pretended that he was transliterating to English. The nickname "Merry" then represented his actual nicknameKali, meaning "handsome, happy", and "Meriadoc" served as a plausible name from which a nickname meaning "happy" could be derived.[T 26] The name given to Merry inthe language of Rohan,Holdwine, is based on theOld English for "faithful friend".[4]
The Tolkien scholarJane Chance discusses the role of Merry and his friend Pippin in illuminating the contrast between the "good and bad Germanic lordsThéoden andDenethor". She writes thatboth leaders receive the allegiance of a hobbit, but very differently: Théoden, King of Rohan, treats Merry with love, which is reciprocated, whereas Denethor, Steward of Gondor, undervalues Pippin because he is small, and binds him with a harsh formal oath.[5]
The Tolkien scholarTom Shippey notes that Tolkien uses the two hobbits and their low simple humour as foils for the much higher romance to which he was aspiring with the more heroic and kingly figures of Théoden, Denethor, and Aragorn: an unfamiliar and old-fashioned writing style that might otherwise, Shippey writes, have lost his readers entirely.[6] He notes that Merry and Pippin serve, too, as guides to introduce the reader to seeing the various non-human characters, letting the reader know that anent looks like an old tree stump or "almost like the figure of some gnarled old man".[7] The two apparently minor hobbits have another role, Shippey writes: it is to remain of good courage when strong men start to doubt whether victory is possible, as when Merry encourages Théoden when even he seems to be succumbing to "horror and doubt".[8]
Another purpose, writes the Tolkien criticPaul Kocher, is given by Tolkien himself, in the words of the wizardGandalf: "the young hobbits ... were brought to Fangorn, and their coming was like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains."[9] Kocher observes that Tolkien is describing Merry and Pippin's role in the same terms as he spells outGollum's purpose andGandalf's "reincarnation"; in Kocher's words, the "finger of Providence"[9] can be glimpsed: "All are filling roles written for them by the same great playwright."[9]
Julaire Andelin, in theJ.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes thatprophecy in Middle-earth depended on characters' understanding of theMusic of the Ainur, the divine plan forArda, and was often ambiguous. Thus, Glorfindel's prophecy "not by the hand of man will [the Lord of the Nazgûl] fall" did not lead the Lord of the Nazgûl to suppose that he would die at the hands of a woman and a hobbit (Merry).[T 27][10]Shippey states that the prophecy, and the Witch-king's surprise at finding Dernhelm to be a woman, parallel the witches' statement toMacbeth that he may "laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4, scene 1), and Macbeth's shock at learning that Macduff "was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (as Macduff was born byCaesarean section: Act 5, scene 8). Thus, Shippey notes, despite Tolkien's stated dislike ofShakespeare's treatment of myth,he readMacbeth closely.[11]
InRalph Bakshi's 1978animated version ofThe Lord of the Rings, Merry was voiced bySimon Chandler.[12] In the 1980Rankin/Bass animated version ofThe Return of the King, made for television, the character was voiced by the radio personalityCasey Kasem.[13] In the 1981BBC radioserial ofThe Lord of the Rings, Merry was played byRichard O'Callaghan.[14] He was portrayed by Sergey Shelgunov in the 1991 Russiantelevision playKhraniteli,[15] and byJarmo Hyttinen in the 1993 FinnishminiseriesHobitit.[16]InPeter Jackson's 2001–2003film trilogy adaptation of the books, Merry was portrayed byDominic Monaghan as a cheerful prankster full of fun and practical jokes.[17]
