The Separation of Merry and Pippin (and the joy of colors! Whee!)

[butterfly]

Just some thoughts before I get to sleep.

The one thing that Return of the King pointed out was a key difference in Merry and Pippin. Now, the Extended Edition will give us more to work with, but even with the lesser Merry that we have in the theatrical, there's room for comparision.

Until the two are separated, they often work as one unit - it takes careful study to note their different approaches to things. After, however, things are made clear. Two key sentences stand out - "I don't want to be in a battle." set against "I want to fight." Merry joins with Theoden to stand with him (I assume, judging from what we have seen). Pippin pledges himself to Denethor to make up for Boromir's death. Wildly different motives.

In battle, Merry is stabbing and such, and he seems to be quite in the spirit of things. Pippin kills a single orc, and it doesn't sit entirely well with him. In the past, Pippin has attacked out of passion or attacked by throwing rocks. In Return, it's still passion for a friend that motivates his actions, but this time, he has time to notice the blood on his blade. And blood is blood, be it red or black. It means death, and death at your own hand. Not liking it doesn't stop Pippin from riding to the Black Gate with Aragorn and party, but his reasons are different. Pippin fights to protect, but it doesn't come naturally to him at all.

Merry gets the lord who gives rousing speeches featuring "death" as a rallying cry. Pippin gets the one who sends his living son off to an almost certain death. Ah, those wacky Men.

We're shown that Pippin is going to be a more major player right near the beginning, when he picks up the Palantir and Merry has no corresponding big moment. This is further illustrated through the cutting - Frodo and Sam are continually linked to Pippin and his journey, and Merry is also linked to Pippin. Since Frodo/Sam is the primary tale, that means that Pippin is going to get more screentime, because it always goes through him to get to Merry, but it can switch from him back to Frodo/Sam without ever showing Merry.

There are many moments in the editing that just make me giddy with joy - a lot of that involves Pippin and how the editing on his parts was done. His journey was used to mirror Sam/Frodo's and Merry's. Pippin is the connection between them, as his tale can be easily twisted to fit both purposes (this, in addition to just cutting out a superfluous character, as they did with Glorfindel, is part of why Beregond wasn't in the story - if Pippin takes that place, the connections are stronger).

And on a different note: Frodo, Merry, and Pippin hold their mugs by the handle, Sam holds it 'round the edge. Subtle way of reminding us of where they started from and how far they've come. And even more so, taking the Extended edition into account - in that one, we see Frodo flit from singing with Merry and Pip to talking to Sam and the Gaffer and Co., now, they're all together, true friends through hardship and loss.

Oh, and throughout the films, Frodo has been in rich brown - after the Quest, Sam is in brown as he returns Frodo's books, while Frodo is in a grey similar to that which Sam wore. And as he takes Bilbo to the Havens, he's wearing light blue, an Elf color if ever there was one - it's Legolas' color, as a matter of fact. Now that's a hint as to Frodo leaving, if any needed one such. Pip is back in green, I think, which really fits as his role of hope - Arwen wears green as she meets with Aragorn again.

One day, I will do the post that I really want to do on color and meaning. Because there's just... it works really well. Pip in green (and black in battle), Merry in yellow (and red in battle), Frodo journeys in brown and switches to blue for his final journey, Sam is first in grey, but then in brown after Frodo gives him all of Frodo's might have beens.

Comments

[grlnamedlucifer.livejournal.com]

::applauds:: I too loved that RotK showcased that Pippin and Merry are two different people. In the first two movies, I'd always read how nobody could tell them appart. They were basically a set: "Merry and Pippin," completely interchangable. But RotK highlighted their differences to make them their own characters. In just the scene where they get seperated, Merry became the one who was more aware of what was going on, while Pippin was shown to be the child/tweenager he is who just doesn't fully get what's happening. It showed (atleast, how I see it) how Merry's always the one to take care of Pip, which made Pip's "I'm going to take care of you now" be alot more meaningful.

(I did like the Beregond/Pippin storyline very much, though it really wouldn't have fit in the movie.)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's a lot to be found - Merry is more grown than Pippin, we see that right away. Which makes me wonder if he hasn't been staying a child at least partly for Pippin's sake. In Towers, Merry tries the direct way of doing things, the adult way, while Pippin sneaks around the edge and tricks Treebeard into fighting.

It's only Pippin that has to grow up - Merry has to grow into himself. With Pippin, we see the painful growing up - finding out about death, finding out about war, finding out that not everyone is trustworthy and good, and knowing that sometimes, he'll need to be the grown-up. Pip's deeds are greater because he's proving himself to himself, while Merry is mostly proving himself to others (Merry doesn't look, Merry doesn't doubt his own ability to fight, Merry doesn't hesitate in battle - all things that Pip does).

(It probably would have been adorable... but PJ doesn't like to introduce characters unless he can use them in more than one movie - note the reuse of Boromir in the TT:EE and here in flashback - in this long a movie, he wants any named character to be around longer than one third, unless their whole purpose is to die.)

[shati.livejournal.com]

Two key sentences stand out - "I don't want to be in a battle." set against "I want to fight."

This post and the previous one remind me of how much I adore Pippin. The scene where he fights, for one thing -- after hours of trained warriors fighting and dying without batting an eye, we see Pippin standing there looking absolutely terrified. That moment and the moment when Eowyn pulls off her helmet were the (battle) parts that hit home the most for me. I like watching people kick ass, but I can identify with Pippin's moment of awkward fighting.

Oh, and thanks for pointing out the "Frodo and Sam" thing. I hadn't noticed, but I'm glad you did. *loves on Pippin*

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I adore Pippin and for many of the same reasons - he reminds us of the ones who aren't used to fighting and who can't get used to it, no matter how often they do it. And Billy Boyd's just brilliant, of course.

And yeah, that's why I was all "and Pippin and Sam become great friends!" - because he remembers Sam, and because I know his Faramir marries Sam's Goldilocks. Therefore, in my mind, they become very good friends post-Quest.