Merry Brandybuck

**Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck** is one of the main protagonists in *The Lord of the Rings* trilogy. He is portrayed by Dominic Monaghan in the series.

## Background

### 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.

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

### Appearance

Merry has blond, curly hair and green eyes. He used to wear a brown jacket with a yellow waistcoat over his plain white shirt. Merry also wears a greyish-green Elven cloak.

### Abilities

* **Sword-fighting:** Merry is capable of using a sword and became an expert swordsman, being able to defend himself against an Orc. It could also be because he was taught how to sword-fight by Boromir.
* **Leadership:** Merry has a sense of leadership, as the other members of the Army's forces.

## *The Lord of the Rings* film trilogy

Merry appears in all three *Lord of the Rings* films. He is portrayed by Dominic Monaghan.

### *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.

## Possessions

Merry wore armor and a helmet provided for him by the king Théoden. the first weapon he wielded was a Barrow blade that was given to him by Aragorn and had a dagger given to him by Lady Galadriel. However, Merry lost both his weapons when he and Pippin were captured by the Orcs.

He was provided with a short sword when he was a squire of Rohan. He used it during the Battle of Pelennor Fields and used it when stabbing the Witch-king of Angmar in the back. He later gained another sword that he used during the Battle of the Black Gates.

Merry was given an elven cloak that would match his surroundings.

## Relationships

### Éowyn

Upon meeting Lady Eowyn, Merry and her developed a strong friendship during the time Merry separated from Pippin, even saving her from the Witch-king and allowed her to give the final deadly blow to him.

### Pippin Took

Merry and Pippin are cousins through Merry's mother, Esmeralda, and Pippin's father, Paladin and have a relationship not unlike Frodo and Sam. They were inseparable since childhood and often got into trouble with other Hobbits and pulled pranks together. Merry feels obliged to look after and protect his younger cousin, and the feeling is mutual.

### Frodo Baggins

Merry's exact relationship to Frodo is that they are first cousins, once removed, as Frodo is the cousin of Merry's father, Saradoc. He has a strong sense of loyalty towards Frodo, even going on the quest to destroy the One Ring to protect him from further threats. Frodo is also mentioned as one of the friends Merry hates being separated from and hoped to one day see him and Sam again.

### Samwise Gamgee

Sam is implied to have been friends with Merry for a long time, essentially knowing that one should never trust a Brandybuck or a Took. However, despite this, they treat each other like equals, despite Sam's mistrust in Merry and Pippin.

Sam is one of the friends Merry hoped seeing again.

### Aragorn

Merry and his friends initially did not like Aragorn, was suspicious of him and doubted he was a friend of Gandalf. However, after traveling with Aragorn to Rivendell, Merry began to slowly trust him. In *Return of the King*, Merry confided to Aragorn on how he felt when being separated from Pippin for the first time in their lives.

## 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's *Hobbit*counterpart is Fíli, one of the dwarven companions to Bilbo Baggins. They are both older brother figures to a younger protagonist. For Merry, it is his cousin Pippin and for Fili, it is his younger brother Kili. They both are extremely close and loyal to their friends and family and both often act as the voice of reason of the trouble-making twosome. Both Merry and Fíli are companions to the protagonist and the deuteragonist of the series (Frodo and Sam and Bilbo and Thorin Oakenshield, respectively), as well as companions of Gandalf.
* 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.