Merry Brandybuck

## Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck

* Bilbo Baggins (maternal first-cousin twice-removed/second cousin once removed)

## Magical attribution

### Weapon(s):

Burrow-blade (formerly)
Short sword

## Affiliation

### Loyalty:

* Fellowship of the Ring
* Brandybuck family
* Took family

## Production information

### First seen:

*The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring*

### Last seen:

*The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*

"*I know there is not much point now in hoping. If I were a knight of Rohan, capable of great deeds. But I’m not. I’m a Hobbit. And I know I can’t save Middle-Earth. I just want to help my friends. Frodo. Sam. Pippin. More than anything, I wish I could see them again.*"
—Merry to Lady Éowyn

**Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck** is one of the four main protagonists and a main character in The Lord of the Rings. He is portrayed by Dominic Monoghan and appears in *The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers* and *The Return of the King*

## Character overview

**Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck**, was one of the original and youngest members of the Fellowship of the Ring. He was the
husband of Estella Bolger, the younger cousin to Frodo Baggins and the older
cousin and best friend of Peregrin "Pippin" Took.

In the fall of 3018, Merry and Pippin run into Frodo and Sam when they are stealing from Farmer Maggot's crops. They were later pulled into the Quest to destroy the One Ring and save middle-earth. Merry refused to go back to the Shire and would have rather of stuck with Frodo. They later lost Gandalf when he fought the Balrog known as Durin's Bane. He was also gifted with the daggers that Lady Galadriel gave them. After the Fellowship split, Merry was captured along with Pippin after Boromir was mortally wounded. He and Pip ran from their captors, w here they escaped to Fangorn and met Treebeard. They were at first not able to go on, as Treebared almost took them back to their way home. They later sat on top of his branches as they fought the Orcs of Isengard.

Merry was later separated from Pippin for the first time and became an esquire of Rohan from the King Theoden's blessing. He later fought with Lady Eowyn, the King's niece in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, which both of them had been able to defeat the Witch king of Angmar. After the War of the Ring, Merry was reunited with Frodo and Sam, making the Fellowship hole again. When the Hobbits returned home, Merry settled down in the Shire and later married Estella Bolger. They had at least one son.

## Biography

### Early Life

"*He’s always followed me, everywhere I went, since before we were tweens. I would get him into the worst sort of trouble, but I was always there to get him out.*"
—Merry to Aragorn, Referring to Pippin

Merry was born around the year, TA 2982 to Saradoc Brandybuck and Esmeralda Took. Merry's father was to be the next Master of Buckland and his mother also had been a Took. Merry grew close with his baby cousin, Pippin, who always followed Merry wherever he went. He also once saw his cousin and "uncle" Bilbo avoid the Sackville-Bagginses by seeing a glint of gold before slipping it on, disappearing instantly.

## *The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring*

During Bilbo's 111th farewell birthday party, Merry instructs his cousin, Pippin to steal one of Gandalf's fireworks, which takes on the shape of a dragon. However, they stick the firework inside a tent, Merry begins chastising his cousin for not putting it outside with Pippin blaming Merry, as it was his idea. As they bicker, the firework goes up, causing them to fall down the ground. Merry decides for them to get another one but Gandalf catches them in the act and has them wash the dishes.

A couple of nights later, Merry and Pippin visit the Green Dragon with Frodo, Sam and their other friends. Both best friends sing a song while dancing on the table.

Another couple of nights, Merry and Pippin literally run into Frodo and Sam, who were on their way to Bree. As Sam and Frodo yells at their friends, the four hobbits heard Farmer Maggot coming to catch them in the act. Though they are able to get away, the four of them fall down a steep hill after Sam accidentally knocks them down while not looking. Before, Merry felt that he broke something and as he reaches down, it is only just a carrot. When Pippin spots mushrooms, Merry and Sam both run to gather them but are forced to hide when Frodo hears the Nazgûl coming down the road. Luckily, as they are crowded underneath a mini-cave, Merry takes a bag of vegetables and throws it in another direction giving them a long time to escape. When nightfall occurs, Merry analyzes the situation and says that black Rider was looking for something, or someone and knows it was Frodo. The hobbit tells his cousin where he and Sam are going and that they need to get there as fast as possible. Merry leads his friends to Buckleberry Ferry which will take them to the Brandywine Bridge. They encounter the Nazgul but are able to make the escape.

During the breaking of the Fellowship, Merry realized that Frodo was missing, as well as Boromir missing. Merry and Pippin both ran to find him, where they found Frodo hiding behind a tree. Merry was the one who realized that Frodo was not coming with them and going to continue the quest alone. Pippin yelled at them as a distraction with Merry joining him. He shot one look to Frodo and told his cousin to run as he and Pippin ran to lead the Uruks away from Frodo as he made his escape. Boromir died defending them in battle, which resulted in Merry and Pippin being carried off by the Uruk-Hai

## *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*

*In* *The Two Towers*, Merry falls ill during his and Pippin's capture by Orcs and Uruk-Hai but the two are able to escape when the Rohirric people attack and are protected by Treebeard at the behest of Gandalf.

Merry later presses on to the Ents to go to war. He is successful when Treebeard sees that half the trees he knew was cut down. He and Pippin later find Saruman's storeroom and steals longbottom leaf. However, when Pippin asks if they should share the smoking leaves with Treebeard but Merry says they must keep it to themselves before pulling out a pipe and imitates Treebeard, unaware he is watching them from outside.

## *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*

While he and Pippin are guarding Isengard, they are reunited with Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli. He was sadly separated from Pippin as he and Gandalf accompanied each other to Gondor while Merry stayed at Rohan, where Merry befriended Lady Éowyn and became an esquire of Rohan in order of the King. However, while Théoden intends to leave him behind, Éowyn secretly takes him with her.

During the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Merry noticed the Witch-king attacking Éowyn. He helped her by stabbing the Witch-king's leg, which enabled her to kill the evil servant of Sauron. However, in doing so, Merry is poisoned with the Black Breath and was separated from Éowyn while losing his Elven cloak in the process. Later that night, Merry is found by Pippin. He tells his best friend that he knew that he would find him and then asks if he is going to leave him again, but Pippin says he is not going to leave Merry, but look after him.

Aragorn later heals Merry from the Black Breath, as he is seen accompanying the army to the Black Gate. During the confrontation between Sauron's emissary, the Mouth of Sauron and the company, Merry believes Frodo to be dead but Aragorn doubts that he is gone.

Fighting and surviving in the Battle of the Black Gate, Merry is reunited with Frodo and joyously hug one another.

## Personality

Before journeying through all of Middle-earth, Merry used to be something of a troublemaker, and he was the one who got Pippin in trouble, notably his idea to steal a firecracker from Gandalf's cart. However, he felt a sense of responsibility over Pippin, saying he was always the one to get him out of trouble.

Merry was also well versed in Middle-earth lore. For example, when Pippin heard sounds in the trees, Merry claimed that the trees could come alive and talk and knew to call them "treehearders" when they met Treebeard for the first time.

Over the course of the journey, Merry develops a sense of maturity and loyalty to his friends, to both the friends he has known forever and his newer ones. For example, he joined the Fellowship of the Ring immediately after Sam, showing his unwillingness to abandon Frodo. When the Ents would not help the fight with Sauron, Merry was unwilling to abandon them in their time of need. He even tells Éowyn that his only hope is seeing Frodo, Sam and Pippin again and didn't want Frodo to be found by the Orcs. Merry also grew to care for Éowyn, and immediately came to rescue her by stabbing the Witch-king in the back before he hurt her any further.

Merry is a very lovable person who is willing to protect the ones he loves and cares for

## Possessions

* **Barrow-blade**
* **Noldorin dagger:** A gift from the Lady Galadriel

## Trivia

* It was rare for hobbits to have blonde hair or any other fair hair colors, as most of them had dark brown curls. Merry is one of those rare cases to have light blonde hair.
* Merry is Fili's *Lord of the Rings* counterpart.
	+ They are both older brother figures to their best friend or relative. Merry is to Pippin as Fili is to his little brother, Kíli.
	+ Set as comic relief along with the ir friend.
	+ Both are mischevious
	+ have saved or tried to save a friend.
		- Fíli tried to save Bilbo from Thorin and Merry saved Frodo from the Orcs trying to capture the Hobbits and saved Éowyn from being killed by the Witchking of Angmar.
* Merry is fluent at throwing rocks and other objects. He shares those traits with Pippin and Bilbo.
* Merry has yellow waistcoat in The Lord of the Rings similar to the one Bilbo wears in the beginning of An Unexpected Journey, except in different patterns.
* He is one of the very few hobbits to have light colored hair.
* Merry is the second youngest member in the Company of the Ring.