butterfly | Pippin (his journey; mirroring)

RotK is all about the eyes for me. Somehow, everyone's eyes appear more brilliant, more heart-breaking in this part.

Were Pippin's eyes ever as beautiful as they were as he spoke with Gandalf about death? Were Frodo's ever that tortured shade of bright blue before his skin was torn and bloody in the climb up Mount Doom? Have Sam's eyes ever been as green-streaked as they were when he was in Cirth Ungol with Frodo - or as golden-streaked as they were at the Grey Havens?

This time, looks stood out to me, more and more.

I adore all of Pippin's glances -
that last, longing look towards Gandalf and the palantir
the quick turn toward Merry and his almost 'shrug', as if to imply that nothing important was happening, just go back to bed and stop worrying
his pain and torment and regret during Gandalf's 'interrogation'
his desperate fear when he realizes that Merry isn't coming
his determination when offering up his service to Denethor
that look of something as close to contempt as Pippin can get (when he says, "We have no songs for great halls... or evil times.")
forcing himself not to cry after singing for Denethor
his fear and shock at the horrors of war ("They called us out to fight.")
his expression when he sees the orc's blood on his blade - that look tells us more than any words of Gandalf that a battle isn't where Pippin belongs
his sheer horror when he sees what Denethor plans to do ("He's burning Faramir alive!")
the way his face warms and softens with Gandalf's gentle speech about death ("That's not so bad, then.")
his determined sweetness when he finds Merry ("I'm going to look after you.")
his tears and horror after the mountain explodes and they all realize that Frodo is still there

So much of Pippin's story is about him redeeming himself (whether or not he needed to be redeemed isn't the question - he certainly felt that he did). It starts in TT, when he tells Treebeard to take them to Isenguard, but once he's touched the palantir, all he does is work to redeem himself for the ways he's felt he failed. He pledges himself to Denethor and saves Faramir's life to make up for Boromir dying for his sake. He climbs a frelling high thing to set fires to make up for failing Gandalf before - in the caves in Fellowship and with the palantir. He fights and accepts the reality of death.

But if Pippin's internal story is redemption, his external one is hope. He brings hope by his very presence - his words bring the Ents to where they will fight, his look in the palatir shows Gandalf that they need to protect Minas Tirith, Pippin - via Faramir - is what lets Gandalf know that Frodo and Sam are still moving towards Mordor, Pippin lights the beacon that will bring Rohan to fight, Pippin is the one who realizes that Faramir lives, Pippin is the one finds a living comrade among the fallen on the great battlefield.

Another thing that was fascinating was in the way the editing interwined the stories. Pippin and Merry's parting was mirrored by Arwen and Aragorn's. Faramir/Pippin echoes Frodo/Sam, while Denethor/Faramir/Gandalf shadows Gollum/Frodo/Sam. Pippin's journey is often intermingled with Frodo and Sam's (with the climbing in particular - and with the balcony scene).

Faramir/Pippin & Frodo/Sam - I'm thinking in particular of how Faramir/Frodo are each thought to be dead, and how Pippin/Sam fight to save them from truly dying.
Denethor/Faramir/Gandalf & Gollum/Frodo/Sam - choosing the counsel of the twisted instead of the counsel of the one who is working for the best.

One of the things that hurt so much this time was Frodo sending Sam home. Heartbreaking, because this time I was concentrating firmly on Frodo and it does make sense from his perspective. Sam lost control of himself, beating up Gollum. That must be nigh on terrifying to Frodo, since he'd been using Sam to steady himself. He didn't want Sam to go through the torture that Boromir had - didn't want to see Sam being taken by the Ring. He knew that he and Gollum were already lost to it, but Sam still had a chance, in Frodo's mind. He was thinking of Sam's spirit and not his body. And then his soft, "Sam," in the caves, followed by that determined look. Makes me all sorts of sniffly, just thinking about it.