Archmaesterjimmie: LOTR character article, book-canon (Corvus) + portrait (Wren)

2026-06-13T15:57:30Z

LOTR character article, book-canon (Corvus) + portrait (Wren)

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{{Infobox character
| image = https://archmaester.site/portraits/lotr/peregrin-took.jpg
| name = Peregrin Took
| title = Pippin; Guard of the Citadel; Knight of Gondor; Ernil i Pheriannath (the Prince of the Halflings); Thain of the Shire; Took and Thain
| house = The Fellowship; the Tooks of Tuckborough
| race = Hobbit
| status = Departed
| region = Tuckborough, the Shire
| born = T.A. 2990
| died = Fourth Age, in Gondor (by tradition, with Merry)
| weapon = A barrow-blade of Westernesse; sword and mail of Gondor
| fate = Saved Faramir from the pyre; slew a troll at the Black Gate; became Thain of the Shire
| actor = Billy Boyd
| quote = I didn't think it would end this way. End? No, the journey doesn't end here.
}}

'''Peregrin Took''', called '''Pippin''', was the youngest of the four [[Hobbit]]s of the [[Fellowship of the Ring]], heir to the [[Thain of the Shire|Thain]] of the [[Shire]], and the closest companion of his cousin [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]]. Heir of the great Took family, he began the Quest as the most heedless and boyish of the company, and grew through its trials into a Knight of [[Gondor]] and a leader of his people.

His curiosity twice changed the course of events — once for ill, when he looked into the [[palantír]] of [[Orthanc]], and once for great good, when his swift action saved [[Faramir]] from being burned alive by his maddened father. He took service with [[Denethor]] as a Guard of the Citadel, fought at the [[Black Gate]], and returned home to become [[Thain of the Shire|Thain]].

== Origins ==
Pippin was born in T.A. 2990, son of [[Paladin Took]] II, the [[Thain of the Shire|Thain]], and so heir to the foremost family of the Shire and its hereditary office. The youngest of the hobbit companions by some years, he was lively, irrepressible, and given to mischief and appetite. He was one of the "conspirators" who uncovered [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]'s secret and insisted on sharing his journey, and was inseparable from his elder cousin [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]].

== Biography ==
=== Out of the Shire ===
Pippin set out with Frodo, Sam, and Merry, passing through the [[Old Forest]], the barrow-downs — where he too was given an ancient blade of [[Westernesse]] — [[Bree]], and [[Rivendell]], where [[Elrond]] reluctantly allowed the young hobbit to join the [[Fellowship of the Ring]], saying that friendship might serve better than wisdom. In [[Moria]] it was Pippin's careless dropping of a stone into a well that may have first alerted the enemy to the company's presence.

=== The palantír and Gondor ===
:''Main article: [[Palantír]]''
After the breaking of the Fellowship, Pippin and Merry were carried off by the [[Uruk-hai]] and escaped into [[Fangorn]], helping to rouse [[Treebeard]] and the [[Ents]] against [[Isengard]]. At the ruin of [[Orthanc]], Pippin's curiosity overcame him: he stole and gazed into the [[palantír]] of Orthanc, and was briefly caught in the gaze of [[Sauron]] himself — a perilous folly, though it revealed to [[Gandalf]] something of the Enemy's mind and haste. For his safety Gandalf bore Pippin swiftly to [[Minas Tirith]] on [[Shadowfax]].

=== Guard of the Citadel ===
In [[Gondor]], moved by gratitude for [[Boromir]]'s sacrifice, Pippin offered his service to the Steward [[Denethor]] and was made a Guard of the Citadel, donning the black-and-silver of the Tower. The men of the city, marvelling at a Halfling in arms, named him '''Ernil i Pheriannath''', "the Prince of the Halflings." During the [[Siege of Gondor]], when the despairing [[Denethor]] prepared to burn himself and the wounded [[Faramir]] alive, Pippin alone raised the alarm, fetching [[Gandalf]] and the guard [[Beregond]] in time to drag Faramir from the pyre — saving the life of the future Steward and Prince of Ithilien. He marched with the host to the [[Black Gate]], where he slew a great troll and was buried beneath its body, found alive only afterward.

=== Thain of the Shire ===
Returning home grown tall in his Gondorian mail, Pippin was among the leaders of the [[Scouring of the Shire]] and the [[Battle of Bywater]]. He later succeeded his father as the thirty-second [[Thain of the Shire]], and with Merry kept the Shire's friendships with Rohan and Gondor alive. In old age, after the passing of [[King Elessar]], Pippin rode south with Merry to end his days in [[Gondor]], and the two were laid to rest among the great in the city they had served.

== Character ==
Pippin begins as the most childlike of the company — impulsive, curious, hungry, and apt to land himself in trouble — but he is also warm-hearted, brave, and quick to grow. His rashness with the [[palantír]] is balanced by the decisiveness that saves [[Faramir]], and by manhood he stands as a leader of the Shire. His arc, like Merry's, is one of maturing: the youngest and least likely of the hobbits becomes a knight, a hero, and a Thain.

== Relationships ==
* '''[[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]]''' — his elder cousin and constant companion.
* '''[[Gandalf]]''' — who chastened and protected him after the palantír.
* '''[[Denethor]]''' — the Steward he served, and whose madness he helped thwart.
* '''[[Faramir]]''' — whose life he saved from the funeral pyre.
* '''[[Beregond]]''' — the Gondorian guard who became his friend.
* '''[[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]''' and '''[[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]]''' — his fellow hobbits of the Quest.

== Appearances ==
* ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]''
* ''[[The Two Towers]]''
* ''[[The Return of the King]]''

In Peter Jackson's film trilogy (2001–2003), Pippin was portrayed by '''Billy Boyd''', who also sang the lament before Denethor in ''The Return of the King''. The films cut the [[Scouring of the Shire]] and compress Pippin's growth, though his theft of the palantír and his rescue of Faramir are kept.

== Quotes ==
<blockquote>''Of course, it is likely enough, my friends, that we are going to our doom: the uttermost end of the world. And there we shall stay, in waiting, until all things are accomplished.''</blockquote>
<blockquote>''I am a hobbit no less brave than you... I will not stay behind.''</blockquote>

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Lord of the Rings]]
[[Category:The Fellowship]]
[[Category:Hobbits]]

Peregrin Took - Revision history

Archmaesterjimmie: LOTR character article, book-canon (Corvus) + portrait (Wren)