Lord Of The Rings: 10 Ways Pippin Got Worse & Worse

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films continue to enchant audiences years after they debuted with their stunning visuals, epic music, and cast of memorable characters. Of all the members of the Fellowship who so nobly risked their lives to take the Ring of Power to Mordor, Peregrine Took was the youngest and least experienced with the forces of darkness.

An aristocrat by hobbit standards, and barely out of his “tweens”, Pippin was more concerned with filling his belly than staying out of the path of Sauron and his Nazgul minions. He routinely put the lives of his friends in danger, and even after admonishment from sagacious figures like Gandalf and Aragorn, continued to be reckless. Here are 10 ways Pippin got worse & worse.

10 HE NEVER STOPPED EATING

Hobbits are known for their voracious appetites, and Pippin (and to the same extent his cousin Merry) was known to pack away honey cakes and hash with the best of them. His incessant need to eat gave away the hobbits’ position on Weathertop, all because, as he explained to Aragorn, he needed “second breakfast.”

Even after visiting Lothlorien, where the Fellowship picked up lambas bread to use as rations from the Galadhrim, Pippin ate two loaves, when Legolas informed him he should have been satiated by two bites. In The Two Towers, Pippin delights in stealing from the bountiful Isengard Storeroom.

9 HE NEVER STOPPED TALKING

Like many hobbits, Pippin enjoyed a good gab session with a pint of beer and a pipe of weed. His inability to verbally contain himself continued throughout the quest to destroy the One Ring, even when it would have been better to keep his mouth shut.

In Bree, when Frodo was in danger of being found by Sauron’s spies, he name-drops him loudly in the Prancing Pony. In The Two Towers, when Gandalf expressly tells him not to tell Denethor about Boromir’s death, Pippin marches up to him and announces it openly.

8 HE KEPT STEALING

One of the first introductions to Pippin’s stealthy behavior in the films involves him and Merry stealing from Farmer Maggot’s field. Not only did they make off with carrots and cabbages, but they’d already stolen three bags of potatoes and mushrooms.

He clearly hadn’t learned his lesson in thievery, because he decides to infiltrate Gandalf’s sleeping quarters while the Fellowship is a guest of King Theoden and abduct the Palantir for himself.

7 HE NEVER STOPPED BEING NOSY

Hobbits are curious by nature, but Peregrine Took was abnormal in that regard for a Halfling. He wasn’t invited to the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring, yet he charged into the middle of the meeting like he’d been given a seat at the table.

In The Two Towers, his insistence on investigating the Palantir after the fall of Isengard led to his almost fatal contact with it while a guest of King Theoden in Return of the King. Touching it allowed the Eye of Sauron to see his whereabouts and potentially endanger the Fellowship.

6 HE ALMOST GOT FRIENDS KILLED

By their nature, hobbits are more inclined to break bread than break bones, and they aren’t known for fighting. Still, Pippin needed to learn how to defend himself, considering many of his actions had dangerous consequences that almost ended up getting his friends killed.

In The Fellowship of the Ring when they’re traveling through the Mines of Moria, he’s the “fool of a Took” who drops the skeleton down the well and disturbs the Balrog. Just like it’s he who looks into the Palantir in Rohan and almost reveals everything to Sauron.

5 HE WAS CONTINUOUSLY CARELESS

It was almost as though Pippin (and his pal Merry) couldn’t help but be immature hobbits in both the Shire and all during the Fellowship’s quest. Not only do they set off all the fireworks at Bilbo’s birthday, Pippin calls Frodo by name at the tavern in Bree despite knowing enemies were lurking about.

He lights the campfire when the hobbits are camping on Weathertop to cook when there are Ringwraiths hunting them, and he causes the stir at the Mines of Moria, in all probability waking the Balrog from its slumber in the deep.

4 HE AGGRAVATED HIS ELDERS

From the moment he set off the fireworks in Hobbiton on Bilbo’s birthday and incurred the wrath of Gandalf, Pippin was a thorn in the side of those older and wiser than him. There was a reason he wasn’t invited to the Council of Elrond in Rivendell.

Elrond had great misgivings about the youngest hobbit being worldly enough to undertake the quest to Mordor in Fellowship of the Ring, and in The Two Towers, Denethor in Minas Tirith was annoyed at having to host the hobbit his favorite son Boromir died protecting.

3 HE THOUGHT HE WAS MORE INTELLIGENT THAN HE WAS

Despite being the youngest of the four hobbits in the Fellowship, Pippin often thought himself more wise to the ways of the world than he truly was, having grown up in close proximity to the Shire all his life.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, he actually believes that the apples Strider tosses him during their trek to Rivendell are coming from the sky, which makes it all the more amusing when he explains to Elrond that he must let him go on the quest to destroy the One Ring because he needs “people of intelligence”.

2 HE RELIED ON OTHER PEOPLE TO SAVE HIM

When the Uruk-hai attacked the Fellowship at Amon Hen in The Fellowship of the Ring, it took Boromir valiantly sacrificing his life to save Merry and Pippin, who were kidnapped regardless and taken to Isengard by the orcs.

After he foolishly gazed into the Palantir in The Two Towers, the orb Saruman had used to communicate with the dark lord Sauron, Gandalf had to spirit him away to Minas Tirith because he knew that Sauron now thought Pippin had the Ring of Power.

1 HE RELIED ON OTHERS FOR INFORMATION

It’s hard to imagine Pippin functioning without relying on others for information. Throughout The Fellowship of the Ring, he had to ask Merry about where they were going and when they would be eating (including during their investigation of the Mines of Moria).

When he was separated from Merry in The Two Towers, Gandalf was forced to field all his questions, as well as Treebeard on the march to Isengard and Denethor once he reached Gondor.

About The Author

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1342 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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