A new essay
Nov. 22nd, 2005 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamflowerHere are the introduction and first part to an essay I have begun, about the relationships of the four hobbits. It's also posted at Stories of Arda.
THREE COUSINS AND A FRIEND: JOURNEY OF LOVE
INTRODUCTION
In 1967, I read for the first time, a book which would change my life, both literally and figuratively. It was a story of adventure, of magic, and wonder, a tale of good versus evil; and a story about love, friendship and loyalty. I think that last was what appealed to me most: the deep and lasting true friendships of the Fellowship, and the way in which all hardships were met and obstacles overcome, not just for some abstract idea of “Good” although that was also important, but for the very real and concrete love of friends. To one who had always been more or less an outsider, with few true friends of her own, this struck a powerful chord with me.
In 2004, I began my first forays into the world of fanfic. I decided to write the stories, first of all because they would not leave me alone, but also as a way to explore the parts of the story that JRRT had left untold.
I very quickly discovered that I was mainly interested in hobbits. And not just any hobbits, but those four hobbits who went on the Quest, and came home to be dubbed the “Travellers”: Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took.
Who were these four hobbits? Why were they special? And what made them so fiercely loyal to one another? Why did they seem so tightly bound together? Most of my stories have come from my efforts to understand these relationships, and I have tried to draw from canon in my characterizations of them.
I’d like now to examine them and their characterizations in the light of both canon and “fanon”--that is, the ideas that are not strictly canon but have become pervasive in the fandom. And most especially to examine the relationships between the four of them.
_________________________________________
PART 1: PRE-QUEST
We are first introduced to Frodo Baggins in “A Long-Expected Party” (1). We are told that when Bilbo was ninety-nine, he adopted as his heir, one Frodo Baggins, age twenty-one (2), an orphaned relative described as his “first and second cousin, once removed either way”. We are told that his parents drowned in mysterious circumstances when he was twelve, and that he has spent the intervening years brought up among his mother’s relations in Buckland. We are told that he was the grandson of the Master of Buckland, and had made his home in the ancestral smial of Brandy Hall, a “regular warren, by all accounts”. We also learn that Frodo and Bilbo share a common birthday. We do not see much of Frodo himself during the early part of the famous eleventy-first birthday party, although we do learn that he seems to be popular among the younger set, as his friends cheer him during Bilbo’s speech (“shouts of ‘Frodo! Frodo! Jolly old Frodo!’ from the juniors.”) This is *his* birthday party as well, and he is coming of age.
We learn a bit more after Bilbo’s vanishment: he was in Bilbo’s confidence about his leaving; he appreciated the joke, but he was unhappy at losing his old guardian; and he leaves the party to get away from the clamor.
He is left to handle a good deal of commotion and consternation caused by his elderly cousin’s unusual manner of leaving.
And now we are introduced to his younger cousin Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck. We see Merry holding the fort for Frodo the next day, as he is besieged by various relatives, including the obnoxious Sackville-Bagginses. At this point in time, according to the date of birth given to him in Appendix C, Merry would have been a mere budding adolescent of nineteen. Yet he displays a poise and confidence beyond his years. Frodo must have placed a good deal of trust in young Merry to allow him to handle these things. We see also, that Merry has a good deal of family pride and a quirky sense of humor in this exchange:
“'You’ll live to regret it, young fellow! Why didn’t you go too? You don’t belong here; you’re no Baggins--you--you’re a Brandybuck!'
'Did you hear that Merry? That was an insult if you like,' said Frodo, as he shut the door on her.
'It was a compliment,' said Merry Brandybuck, 'and so, of course, not true.'"
Now, why would Frodo trust one so young to watch his back for him at a time like this? Who was Merry to him? An examination of the family tree in Appendix C shows us that Merry was related to Frodo in several degrees and through various ancestors, something that seems to have been common among the upper class hobbits, but by far his closest relationship was as Frodo’s first cousin once removed. Merry’s father, Saradoc, was Frodo’s first cousin, and Merry’s grandfather Rorimac was Frodo’s uncle, brother to the late Primula Baggins. Speculation as to *why* this relationship would be considered so close leads us into the area of “fanon”.
It is a more or less accepted convention among many hobbit-writers (although certainly not universal) that Frodo’s guardian after the death of his parents was Saradoc Brandybuck. It is a logical extrapolation from canon: at the time, Saradoc and his wife Esmeralda had no children of their own, and Frodo’s aunts and uncles possibly felt too old or had too many other obligations, to take in a young orphan. If Saradoc and Esmeralda were, then in effect, his foster-parents, when they had a son it would have made him a foster-brother to Frodo. Because they seem very close, even years after Frodo left and moved away to Hobbiton, it also seems logical that Frodo loved the child much as he would have loved a brother of his own. Even those authors who do not make Saradoc and Esmeralda Frodo's guardians usually postulate that he spent a good deal of time with little Merry.
After the Party has ended, life continues for Frodo, who is now Master of Bag End. The story takes up seventeen years later, in “The Shadow of the Past”. In this chapter it is said of Frodo:
"…he had a good many friends, especially among the younger hobbits (mostly descendants of the Old Took)….Folco Boffin and Fredegar Bolger were two of these; but his closest friends were Peregrin Took (usually called Pippin), and Merry Brandybuck…"
It is already established that Merry was fourteen years younger than Frodo. Pippin, who was Merry’s first cousin through his father Paladin Took, brother to Merry’s mother Esmeralda, was eight years younger than Merry. At the time Bilbo left, Pippin would have been a mere child of eleven (only about seven years old in human terms) and a good twenty-two years younger than Frodo.
In addition to Merry and Pippin, Frodo also seems to have built a friendship beyond the usual employer/employee relationship with his gardener, Samwise Gamgee. Sam is only two years older than Merry, so the age gap with him is about twelve years.
We are given to understand one of the reasons for his friendship with Sam in “A Long Expected Party”, in which Sam’s father, the Gaffer, says:
“ ‘But my lad Sam will know more about that. He’s in and out of Bag End. Crazy about stories of the old days, he is, and he listens to all Mr. Bilbo’s tales. Mr. Bilbo has learned him his letters--meaning no harm, mark you, and I hope no harm will come of it.’ ”
So, Sam’s friendship was apparently born out of proximity and gratitude for the opportunity to learn. It’s possible that Frodo, missing Merry, would transfer some of that friendship and affection to another child close to his cousin’s age. Merry’s closeness to Frodo of course is understandable, as Frodo and he had lived under the same roof during Merry’s formative years. But why Pippin? And more problematical, *why* are all his closest friends so much younger than he?
For these last two questions, we really are given no overt answers in canon. As regards the first question, the accepted fanon convention is that Merry had made a close friend of the young Peregrin, and that he fell into Frodo’s circle that way. It seems as logical as any other answer.
And as to the second, once more, we are left to speculation.
For one thing, there was the Ring. Frodo did not appear to get any older. He was, in essence, frozen in age at thirty-three, the age of a young adult hobbit only just come into his majority. By the time of the Quest, Merry was in one manner of speaking now three years older, although I am quite sure none of them thought of it this way, for naturally they had no idea of what the Ring was doing. As far as the hobbits were concerned this was simply a Baggins characteristic, though a few who were somewhat jealous of his good fortune found it “unnatural”. (One of the few times the ill-natured gossip was actually correct.)
And the age gap, though not visible to the eye, was still there. A substantial age gap. All the years which had taken place before the Ring was acquired could not be erased by Its power. But if in the time between Bilbo’s leaving and the time of Gandalf’s return with the news of the Ring, Frodo had spent time with his younger relations and friends, mentoring them and caring for them, then by the time they too approach young adulthood their love and admiration will have come to form a steadfast friendship. It is in fact, so strong a bond that they are willing to abandon home and family to follow him into danger.
This seventeen year gap is a gold mine for fanfic writers. The vast majority of pre-Quest hobbit stories are set in this time period. And as JRRT has given us no guidance as to *how* those bonds were forged, we may turn once again to “fanon”, and to modern psychology, to explore this question.
A popular, (though by no means universal), “fanon” notion, is that Frodo bonded with Merry in infancy, and that he and Merry also did so with Pippin. There is a small amount of canon support for this, in that family ties are said to be extremely important to hobbits. This means it would make sense for relatives to journey to see new additions to the family when they are first born.
“Bonding” or “attachment” as it is also known, as a psychological notion has a lot of implications here. Just what is bonding, and how would it have affected the relationships here?
Attachment is one of the fundamental biological processes necessary in most animals for survival of the species like reproduction, care-giving, care-taking, feeding, and environmental awareness. Attachment has been described as operating unnoticed much like the physiological regulators that control our blood pressure and body temperature. The attachment process begins to develop in the first few months of a child's life. In developing the parent-child bond, the attachment process for the infant is the reciprocal behavior to the adult's (primarily but not always the mother figure) care-giving process. Simply stated, it is a process that operates to enhance the safety and security of the infant and to aid the infant in getting his or her needs met in humans: touch, eye contact, smiles, motion, and food. (3)
And in what way would bonding with Frodo have affected his two younger cousins?
"Interesting differences exist between children who had secure versus anxious attachments. Children with secure early attachments are more likely in later years to: - be better problem-solvers - form friendships and be leaders with peers - be more empathetic and less aggressive - engage their world with confidence - have higher self-esteem - be better at resolving conflict - be more self-reliant and adaptable (4)
We often read in fanfiction of the reactions of pleasure the younger cousins have in Frodo’s presence. There is a sound reason behind this in psychology as well.
Research shows that kids who’ve formed a secure bond with their parents are happier. Obvious, right? Yet 20% to 30% of kids haven’t properly bonded. Signs that your child is emotionally secure: Your infant or toddler lights up when you talk to him or walk in a room, enjoys being near you, but doesn’t always cry when you’re not in sight. Best way to insure a healthy bond: plenty of eye contact and snuggling. (5)
Of course, Frodo is not a parent to either of the two younger cousins, yet with Merry it could be argued that he was, at least until Merry was seven, his foster-brother, and could have formed a sibling bond with him. Pippin is more problematical--he lives far from Buckland. This is the reason a good many fanfics depict regular visits from the Brandybuck cousin and vice-versa. Given the importance hobbits place on any blood relationship, it would not be a violation of canon to assume this. The problem is solved in various ways by various authors.
(I myself propose that there were lengthy annual visits to and from all three places: Hobbiton, Buckland and Tookland. It is to me the simplest solution. In my fictional version of the Shire, Merry, and later Pippin as well, spend part of the spring with Frodo at Bag End; Pippin then spends some of the early summer in Brandy Hall with Merry; all three cousins converge on the Great Smials for the midsummer celebration of Lithe; Merry remains to visit Pippin in Tookland until Frodo’s birthday; after that Frodo returns to Brandy Hall for a few weeks in the fall, and then again at Yule. While this schedule changes a little as the cousins grow older, it is the basic pattern of life for them in my version of the Shire.)
Other authors come up with their own solutions to the problem, and some of them are very plausible and creative. What all of them have in common is that both Merry and Pippin spent a good deal of their early childhoods in one another’s company, and in Frodo’s company as well.
We also have seen that he has formed somewhat of a friendship with young Sam Gamgee, forged in part by Bilbo’s seeing to young Sam’s education, and possibly also engendered out of Frodo’s loneliness in missing young Merry.
So, why then did he not form friendships of this sort with those his own age?
Again there have been a number of explanations for this, from the idea that young Frodo was shunned by his age peers because he was thought of as odd, and because he was teased for being an orphan; to the idea that he may have been ill as a child. Another explanation may be found in examining the family trees in Appendix C. In Buckland, at least, there appeared to have been few cousins of his own age. This however could be deceptive, as there are a few “incomplete” branches on the Brandybuck tree: we know that Sadoc and Marroc, the younger sons of Gormadoc Brandybuck, and Frodo’s great-great-great-uncles, both had a number of descendants that were not shown, and we also do not know if his uncles Dodinas and Dinodas ever wed and had children. Still, it is a very good explanation.
Others wonder why, once he was in Hobbiton, he did not make friends of his own age there. Again there are a number of possible explanations. There may have been few or no young hobbits of his age and social status there in the Hobbiton area. Or the rampant gossip that accompanied him from Buckland could have discouraged families of his own social standing from allowing friendships with their children. Some have speculated why he did not make friendships with Hamson and Halfred Gamgee, who were closer to his age than little Sam. The simplest explanation for that would be that their father did not approve of them making a friend of his employer’s ward. Sam at that point was young enough that it did not matter as much.
And too, there is nothing to say that he did *not* have some friends his own age. But the truth is that his *closest* friends were much younger. And there, I think may be where the “bonding” comes in.
However it may be explained: Frodo’s closest friends were Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took. That is a stated canon fact.
The relationship between Merry and Pippin is in some ways more explicable--they are somewhat closer in age, and are first cousins on the Took side of the families--and yet more problematical, as we’ve no statements like the one referred to above to guide us. We must instead look to other clues revealed in the text.
Although we meet Merry in “A Long Expected Party”, we do not see Pippin. This would make sense--he would have been a young child of only eleven at the time. He is briefly mentioned by name in “Shadow of the Past”. But we really do not see anything of him until the chapter “Three is Company”. Pippin is one of Frodo’s four friends who have come to help Frodo pack for his supposed move to Buckland. We see little interaction between Merry and Pippin here. Of course, the reason is that JRRT wanted to keep the “conspiracy” a secret from the reader, and any conversation between Merry and Pippin at this point in time might have revealed too much. Merry and Fredegar Bolger leave. Later, Folco Boffin leaves, and only Pippin remains with Frodo at Bag End. Pippin’s now in his late adolescence--twenty-eight, still five years from coming of age, and if one follows the age conversion, he is the equivalent of a Man of about eighteen years of age. Still quite young, but not too young to sometimes take his place among adults.
The first time we really hear anything from his own lips, he’s teasing Frodo a bit about being out of shape for walking. Yet we see that it’s Pippin who tires first, and the group stops to camp.
Pippin wakes up, this time teasing Sam. Frodo good-humouredly but firmly rolls Pippin out of his blankets. When he asks Frodo about water, he’s immediately drafted to help carry the water bottles. After breakfast, they set out once more. Again, it’s Pippin who lags first, and who is hungry first. And after they lunch, he is quite adamant about taking a nap. Notice that Frodo indulges him in this in spite of the urgency of the trip. He is “unsettled” after the first encounter with a Black Rider.
When the small party encounters the Elves, it’s the youngest, Pippin, who interrogates them about the Black Riders, seemingly unintimidated by the Elves. So obviously his submission to his cousin ordering him around does not stem from any lack of self-confidence.
It is in the next chapter, “A Short Cut to Mushrooms” that we get our first insights into Pippin’s relationship with Merry. When Frodo proposes taking a short-cut to Bucklebury Ferry, Pippin displays a remarkable knowledge of the geography of the Marish and the land around it, for one whose home was in Tookland. He explains why a shortcut is not a good idea, and puts in a good word for an inn in Stock, The Golden Perch. Frodo, though he had lived in Buckland itself for many years, seems to show less knowledge of this particular area than his younger cousin who never lived there as far as we know. It’s when they finally encounter Farmer Maggot, that we really get a glimpse of why.
"Pippin laughed. 'Well, it’s time you made it up. Especially if you are coming back to live in Buckland. Old Maggot is really a stout fellow--if you leave his mushrooms alone. Let’s get into the lane and then we shan’t be trespassing. If we meet him, I’ll do the talking. He is a friend of Merry’s and I used to come here with him a good deal at one time.'"
Merry and Pippin used to visit Farmer Maggot a good deal at one time. How else but by Pippin being a frequent visitor to Brandy Hall was that going to happen? And he came a good deal *with Merry*. Here is the first solid evidence of their pre-Quest friendship.
Pippin clearly has spent a good deal of time with *both* his cousins. In “Three’s Company”, we see Frodo rolling him out of his blankets, and ordering him to help fetch water; when they finally arrive at Crickhollow, and the exuberant tween splashes the water from his bath, Merry orders him to mop it up before he can eat supper. On both these occasions, Pippin seems to take the orders with good cheer and equanimity, not something that would happen for those who were not clearly *very* good friends indeed. His cheeky responses to his older cousins do not draw serious reprimands, either. Clearly they are at home with one another as closest friends would be.
I think the evidence shows, that however it may have come about, Pippin is at least as close a friend to Merry as he is to Frodo, and given they are nearer in age, probably closer.
This leaves the fourth member of the group, and an important member of the Conspiracy.
(There is another member of the Conspiracy, Fredegar Bolger, but as he does not go along on the Quest, he does not come into the scope of this essay. However, it is quite clear that this is another good friendship, and that Fatty Bolger is held in esteem and affection by his fellow Conspirators.)
We have seen evidence that Sam is a friend to Frodo as well as an employee. But what evidence is there for a friendship between Sam and the other two, prior to the Quest?
On the face of it, it seems unlikely. He has established a friendship with Frodo, as shown by both the quotation above about being “in and out of Bag End”, as well as his agreeing to Gandalf’s “punishment” of being sent along with Frodo on this perilous journey. Yet how would he have formed a friendship with his employer’s cousins?
Let us examine the first question: *were* Merry, Pippin and Sam friends before the Quest? There are, as with Merry and Pippin’s friendship, certain obstacles: we are told, for example, that Sam has never set foot across the Brandywine before, and of course, there is the difference in social status.
We see nothing to support this friendship one way or another until the fourth chapter of the book. Story-externally, it made perfect sense to downplay the interaction between those three, so that its revelation in “A Conspiracy Unmasked” would come as more of a surprise to the reader. Thus we see no whispered conversations between Sam and the other two. Not even any moments alone when such might have been presumed to occur.
But in “A Conspiracy Unmasked”, we are given two crucial clues: first, Sam was not only in the Conspiracy, but its chief spy, and secondly, the Conspiracy was enacted *before* Gandalf revealed to Frodo that his Ring was the One Ring, and thus he must leave the Shire.
“ ‘Step forward, Sam!’ said Merry; and Sam stood up with a face scarlet up to the ears. ‘Here’s our collector of information! And he collected a lot, I can tell you, before he was finally caught. After which, I may say, he seemed to regard himself on parole, and dried up!’”
Now we have already been told by Merry that he himself has been observing Frodo in the fear that his older cousin would leave as Bilbo had, for *seventeen years*! In fact, since Merry was only a young adolescent of nineteen. And at *some point* in that time, he confided his fears to Fatty, to Pippin and to Sam (although, as we also heard, not his knowledge of the Ring) and solicited their help in keeping watch on Frodo. And we know that this took place well before there was any reason to suspect the Ring of being anything but a trinket, for all of them learned of it from Sam’s eavesdropping on Gandalf: *after which* as Merry said, Sam “dried up”.
Now, let us look at this. Why would Merry approach Frodo’s gardener to spy on his cousin? Why would he assume a gardener would know anything of value? Why would he think he could trust Sam to do this, and not to tell his employer what Merry had asked of him? And why would Sam agree to such a thing? If Merry only knew Sam rather distantly as his cousin’s employee, it makes no sense at all. Only if there is presumed to be a friendship between *all three* of them do the answers to any of these questions begin to seem logical. Of course, this is leaving Pippin out of the equation. However, presuming his close friendship with Merry, as revealed in “A Shortcut to Mushrooms”, it seems a corollary that Pippin would also have a friendship with Sam.
And if Sam had “dried up” after he was caught, then how did Merry come to know of the information about the Ring? Clearly Sam *had* revealed what he knew from eavesdropping on Frodo and Gandalf, in *spite* of Gandalf’s implied threats. It assumes a great level of trust in Merry and the others for Sam to have given them this information anyway. The kind of trust one would only have for a good friend.
As to the roots of the friendship, that is buried in the seventeen years to which we have not been privy. I do not think it too far fetched to assume that perhaps on young Merry’s visits to Bag End, he may have made a playmate of the gardener’s son who was close to his own age. This possibly could have lasted until Sam grew old enough to take on full-time responsibility for the gardens. And naturally, if Pippin were visiting *with* Merry, he would be included in their times together.
Of course there are other possible ways the friendship could have come about, but that it *did* exist seems clear from the evidence.
It seems then, that by the time the Conspirators reveal to Frodo that he is going to have company on his journey, they have already formed a closely knit friendship. And it is one that will grow only closer as the story continues.
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(1) All quotations from The Lord of the Rings are from the Houghton-Mifflin 2003 one volume paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings.
(2) I am adherent of the idea that hobbits matured and aged at a different rate than Men. The ratio we are given by JRRT is approximately two-thirds, so a twenty-one year old Frodo would be the equivalent of a human child of thirteen, just entering his adolescence. On turning thirty-three, he would be about the same as a Man of twenty-one years of age. I am aware that this idea is not universally accepted. But that is another essay altogether.
(3) http://www.instituteforattachment.org/entry/results.php?article_id=43
(4) http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=34806
(5) Woman’s World Magazine Nov 15, 2005, p. 4
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At any rate, I'm working on the second part, which will be quite long, as it covers the period of the Quest.
INTRODUCTION
In 1967, I read for the first time, a book which would change my life, both literally and figuratively. It was a story of adventure, of magic, and wonder, a tale of good versus evil; and a story about love, friendship and loyalty. I think that last was what appealed to me most: the deep and lasting true friendships of the Fellowship, and the way in which all hardships were met and obstacles overcome, not just for some abstract idea of “Good” although that was also important, but for the very real and concrete love of friends. To one who had always been more or less an outsider, with few true friends of her own, this struck a powerful chord with me.
In 2004, I began my first forays into the world of fanfic. I decided to write the stories, first of all because they would not leave me alone, but also as a way to explore the parts of the story that JRRT had left untold.
I very quickly discovered that I was mainly interested in hobbits. And not just any hobbits, but those four hobbits who went on the Quest, and came home to be dubbed the “Travellers”: Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took.
Who were these four hobbits? Why were they special? And what made them so fiercely loyal to one another? Why did they seem so tightly bound together? Most of my stories have come from my efforts to understand these relationships, and I have tried to draw from canon in my characterizations of them.
I’d like now to examine them and their characterizations in the light of both canon and “fanon”--that is, the ideas that are not strictly canon but have become pervasive in the fandom. And most especially to examine the relationships between the four of them.
_________________________________________
PART 1: PRE-QUEST
We are first introduced to Frodo Baggins in “A Long-Expected Party” (1). We are told that when Bilbo was ninety-nine, he adopted as his heir, one Frodo Baggins, age twenty-one (2), an orphaned relative described as his “first and second cousin, once removed either way”. We are told that his parents drowned in mysterious circumstances when he was twelve, and that he has spent the intervening years brought up among his mother’s relations in Buckland. We are told that he was the grandson of the Master of Buckland, and had made his home in the ancestral smial of Brandy Hall, a “regular warren, by all accounts”. We also learn that Frodo and Bilbo share a common birthday. We do not see much of Frodo himself during the early part of the famous eleventy-first birthday party, although we do learn that he seems to be popular among the younger set, as his friends cheer him during Bilbo’s speech (“shouts of ‘Frodo! Frodo! Jolly old Frodo!’ from the juniors.”) This is *his* birthday party as well, and he is coming of age.
We learn a bit more after Bilbo’s vanishment: he was in Bilbo’s confidence about his leaving; he appreciated the joke, but he was unhappy at losing his old guardian; and he leaves the party to get away from the clamor.
He is left to handle a good deal of commotion and consternation caused by his elderly cousin’s unusual manner of leaving.
And now we are introduced to his younger cousin Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck. We see Merry holding the fort for Frodo the next day, as he is besieged by various relatives, including the obnoxious Sackville-Bagginses. At this point in time, according to the date of birth given to him in Appendix C, Merry would have been a mere budding adolescent of nineteen. Yet he displays a poise and confidence beyond his years. Frodo must have placed a good deal of trust in young Merry to allow him to handle these things. We see also, that Merry has a good deal of family pride and a quirky sense of humor in this exchange:
“'You’ll live to regret it, young fellow! Why didn’t you go too? You don’t belong here; you’re no Baggins--you--you’re a Brandybuck!'
'Did you hear that Merry? That was an insult if you like,' said Frodo, as he shut the door on her.
'It was a compliment,' said Merry Brandybuck, 'and so, of course, not true.'"
Now, why would Frodo trust one so young to watch his back for him at a time like this? Who was Merry to him? An examination of the family tree in Appendix C shows us that Merry was related to Frodo in several degrees and through various ancestors, something that seems to have been common among the upper class hobbits, but by far his closest relationship was as Frodo’s first cousin once removed. Merry’s father, Saradoc, was Frodo’s first cousin, and Merry’s grandfather Rorimac was Frodo’s uncle, brother to the late Primula Baggins. Speculation as to *why* this relationship would be considered so close leads us into the area of “fanon”.
It is a more or less accepted convention among many hobbit-writers (although certainly not universal) that Frodo’s guardian after the death of his parents was Saradoc Brandybuck. It is a logical extrapolation from canon: at the time, Saradoc and his wife Esmeralda had no children of their own, and Frodo’s aunts and uncles possibly felt too old or had too many other obligations, to take in a young orphan. If Saradoc and Esmeralda were, then in effect, his foster-parents, when they had a son it would have made him a foster-brother to Frodo. Because they seem very close, even years after Frodo left and moved away to Hobbiton, it also seems logical that Frodo loved the child much as he would have loved a brother of his own. Even those authors who do not make Saradoc and Esmeralda Frodo's guardians usually postulate that he spent a good deal of time with little Merry.
After the Party has ended, life continues for Frodo, who is now Master of Bag End. The story takes up seventeen years later, in “The Shadow of the Past”. In this chapter it is said of Frodo:
"…he had a good many friends, especially among the younger hobbits (mostly descendants of the Old Took)….Folco Boffin and Fredegar Bolger were two of these; but his closest friends were Peregrin Took (usually called Pippin), and Merry Brandybuck…"
It is already established that Merry was fourteen years younger than Frodo. Pippin, who was Merry’s first cousin through his father Paladin Took, brother to Merry’s mother Esmeralda, was eight years younger than Merry. At the time Bilbo left, Pippin would have been a mere child of eleven (only about seven years old in human terms) and a good twenty-two years younger than Frodo.
In addition to Merry and Pippin, Frodo also seems to have built a friendship beyond the usual employer/employee relationship with his gardener, Samwise Gamgee. Sam is only two years older than Merry, so the age gap with him is about twelve years.
We are given to understand one of the reasons for his friendship with Sam in “A Long Expected Party”, in which Sam’s father, the Gaffer, says:
“ ‘But my lad Sam will know more about that. He’s in and out of Bag End. Crazy about stories of the old days, he is, and he listens to all Mr. Bilbo’s tales. Mr. Bilbo has learned him his letters--meaning no harm, mark you, and I hope no harm will come of it.’ ”
So, Sam’s friendship was apparently born out of proximity and gratitude for the opportunity to learn. It’s possible that Frodo, missing Merry, would transfer some of that friendship and affection to another child close to his cousin’s age. Merry’s closeness to Frodo of course is understandable, as Frodo and he had lived under the same roof during Merry’s formative years. But why Pippin? And more problematical, *why* are all his closest friends so much younger than he?
For these last two questions, we really are given no overt answers in canon. As regards the first question, the accepted fanon convention is that Merry had made a close friend of the young Peregrin, and that he fell into Frodo’s circle that way. It seems as logical as any other answer.
And as to the second, once more, we are left to speculation.
For one thing, there was the Ring. Frodo did not appear to get any older. He was, in essence, frozen in age at thirty-three, the age of a young adult hobbit only just come into his majority. By the time of the Quest, Merry was in one manner of speaking now three years older, although I am quite sure none of them thought of it this way, for naturally they had no idea of what the Ring was doing. As far as the hobbits were concerned this was simply a Baggins characteristic, though a few who were somewhat jealous of his good fortune found it “unnatural”. (One of the few times the ill-natured gossip was actually correct.)
And the age gap, though not visible to the eye, was still there. A substantial age gap. All the years which had taken place before the Ring was acquired could not be erased by Its power. But if in the time between Bilbo’s leaving and the time of Gandalf’s return with the news of the Ring, Frodo had spent time with his younger relations and friends, mentoring them and caring for them, then by the time they too approach young adulthood their love and admiration will have come to form a steadfast friendship. It is in fact, so strong a bond that they are willing to abandon home and family to follow him into danger.
This seventeen year gap is a gold mine for fanfic writers. The vast majority of pre-Quest hobbit stories are set in this time period. And as JRRT has given us no guidance as to *how* those bonds were forged, we may turn once again to “fanon”, and to modern psychology, to explore this question.
A popular, (though by no means universal), “fanon” notion, is that Frodo bonded with Merry in infancy, and that he and Merry also did so with Pippin. There is a small amount of canon support for this, in that family ties are said to be extremely important to hobbits. This means it would make sense for relatives to journey to see new additions to the family when they are first born.
“Bonding” or “attachment” as it is also known, as a psychological notion has a lot of implications here. Just what is bonding, and how would it have affected the relationships here?
Attachment is one of the fundamental biological processes necessary in most animals for survival of the species like reproduction, care-giving, care-taking, feeding, and environmental awareness. Attachment has been described as operating unnoticed much like the physiological regulators that control our blood pressure and body temperature. The attachment process begins to develop in the first few months of a child's life. In developing the parent-child bond, the attachment process for the infant is the reciprocal behavior to the adult's (primarily but not always the mother figure) care-giving process. Simply stated, it is a process that operates to enhance the safety and security of the infant and to aid the infant in getting his or her needs met in humans: touch, eye contact, smiles, motion, and food. (3)
And in what way would bonding with Frodo have affected his two younger cousins?
"Interesting differences exist between children who had secure versus anxious attachments. Children with secure early attachments are more likely in later years to: - be better problem-solvers - form friendships and be leaders with peers - be more empathetic and less aggressive - engage their world with confidence - have higher self-esteem - be better at resolving conflict - be more self-reliant and adaptable (4)
We often read in fanfiction of the reactions of pleasure the younger cousins have in Frodo’s presence. There is a sound reason behind this in psychology as well.
Research shows that kids who’ve formed a secure bond with their parents are happier. Obvious, right? Yet 20% to 30% of kids haven’t properly bonded. Signs that your child is emotionally secure: Your infant or toddler lights up when you talk to him or walk in a room, enjoys being near you, but doesn’t always cry when you’re not in sight. Best way to insure a healthy bond: plenty of eye contact and snuggling. (5)
Of course, Frodo is not a parent to either of the two younger cousins, yet with Merry it could be argued that he was, at least until Merry was seven, his foster-brother, and could have formed a sibling bond with him. Pippin is more problematical--he lives far from Buckland. This is the reason a good many fanfics depict regular visits from the Brandybuck cousin and vice-versa. Given the importance hobbits place on any blood relationship, it would not be a violation of canon to assume this. The problem is solved in various ways by various authors.
(I myself propose that there were lengthy annual visits to and from all three places: Hobbiton, Buckland and Tookland. It is to me the simplest solution. In my fictional version of the Shire, Merry, and later Pippin as well, spend part of the spring with Frodo at Bag End; Pippin then spends some of the early summer in Brandy Hall with Merry; all three cousins converge on the Great Smials for the midsummer celebration of Lithe; Merry remains to visit Pippin in Tookland until Frodo’s birthday; after that Frodo returns to Brandy Hall for a few weeks in the fall, and then again at Yule. While this schedule changes a little as the cousins grow older, it is the basic pattern of life for them in my version of the Shire.)
Other authors come up with their own solutions to the problem, and some of them are very plausible and creative. What all of them have in common is that both Merry and Pippin spent a good deal of their early childhoods in one another’s company, and in Frodo’s company as well.
We also have seen that he has formed somewhat of a friendship with young Sam Gamgee, forged in part by Bilbo’s seeing to young Sam’s education, and possibly also engendered out of Frodo’s loneliness in missing young Merry.
So, why then did he not form friendships of this sort with those his own age?
Again there have been a number of explanations for this, from the idea that young Frodo was shunned by his age peers because he was thought of as odd, and because he was teased for being an orphan; to the idea that he may have been ill as a child. Another explanation may be found in examining the family trees in Appendix C. In Buckland, at least, there appeared to have been few cousins of his own age. This however could be deceptive, as there are a few “incomplete” branches on the Brandybuck tree: we know that Sadoc and Marroc, the younger sons of Gormadoc Brandybuck, and Frodo’s great-great-great-uncles, both had a number of descendants that were not shown, and we also do not know if his uncles Dodinas and Dinodas ever wed and had children. Still, it is a very good explanation.
Others wonder why, once he was in Hobbiton, he did not make friends of his own age there. Again there are a number of possible explanations. There may have been few or no young hobbits of his age and social status there in the Hobbiton area. Or the rampant gossip that accompanied him from Buckland could have discouraged families of his own social standing from allowing friendships with their children. Some have speculated why he did not make friendships with Hamson and Halfred Gamgee, who were closer to his age than little Sam. The simplest explanation for that would be that their father did not approve of them making a friend of his employer’s ward. Sam at that point was young enough that it did not matter as much.
And too, there is nothing to say that he did *not* have some friends his own age. But the truth is that his *closest* friends were much younger. And there, I think may be where the “bonding” comes in.
However it may be explained: Frodo’s closest friends were Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took. That is a stated canon fact.
The relationship between Merry and Pippin is in some ways more explicable--they are somewhat closer in age, and are first cousins on the Took side of the families--and yet more problematical, as we’ve no statements like the one referred to above to guide us. We must instead look to other clues revealed in the text.
Although we meet Merry in “A Long Expected Party”, we do not see Pippin. This would make sense--he would have been a young child of only eleven at the time. He is briefly mentioned by name in “Shadow of the Past”. But we really do not see anything of him until the chapter “Three is Company”. Pippin is one of Frodo’s four friends who have come to help Frodo pack for his supposed move to Buckland. We see little interaction between Merry and Pippin here. Of course, the reason is that JRRT wanted to keep the “conspiracy” a secret from the reader, and any conversation between Merry and Pippin at this point in time might have revealed too much. Merry and Fredegar Bolger leave. Later, Folco Boffin leaves, and only Pippin remains with Frodo at Bag End. Pippin’s now in his late adolescence--twenty-eight, still five years from coming of age, and if one follows the age conversion, he is the equivalent of a Man of about eighteen years of age. Still quite young, but not too young to sometimes take his place among adults.
The first time we really hear anything from his own lips, he’s teasing Frodo a bit about being out of shape for walking. Yet we see that it’s Pippin who tires first, and the group stops to camp.
Pippin wakes up, this time teasing Sam. Frodo good-humouredly but firmly rolls Pippin out of his blankets. When he asks Frodo about water, he’s immediately drafted to help carry the water bottles. After breakfast, they set out once more. Again, it’s Pippin who lags first, and who is hungry first. And after they lunch, he is quite adamant about taking a nap. Notice that Frodo indulges him in this in spite of the urgency of the trip. He is “unsettled” after the first encounter with a Black Rider.
When the small party encounters the Elves, it’s the youngest, Pippin, who interrogates them about the Black Riders, seemingly unintimidated by the Elves. So obviously his submission to his cousin ordering him around does not stem from any lack of self-confidence.
It is in the next chapter, “A Short Cut to Mushrooms” that we get our first insights into Pippin’s relationship with Merry. When Frodo proposes taking a short-cut to Bucklebury Ferry, Pippin displays a remarkable knowledge of the geography of the Marish and the land around it, for one whose home was in Tookland. He explains why a shortcut is not a good idea, and puts in a good word for an inn in Stock, The Golden Perch. Frodo, though he had lived in Buckland itself for many years, seems to show less knowledge of this particular area than his younger cousin who never lived there as far as we know. It’s when they finally encounter Farmer Maggot, that we really get a glimpse of why.
"Pippin laughed. 'Well, it’s time you made it up. Especially if you are coming back to live in Buckland. Old Maggot is really a stout fellow--if you leave his mushrooms alone. Let’s get into the lane and then we shan’t be trespassing. If we meet him, I’ll do the talking. He is a friend of Merry’s and I used to come here with him a good deal at one time.'"
Merry and Pippin used to visit Farmer Maggot a good deal at one time. How else but by Pippin being a frequent visitor to Brandy Hall was that going to happen? And he came a good deal *with Merry*. Here is the first solid evidence of their pre-Quest friendship.
Pippin clearly has spent a good deal of time with *both* his cousins. In “Three’s Company”, we see Frodo rolling him out of his blankets, and ordering him to help fetch water; when they finally arrive at Crickhollow, and the exuberant tween splashes the water from his bath, Merry orders him to mop it up before he can eat supper. On both these occasions, Pippin seems to take the orders with good cheer and equanimity, not something that would happen for those who were not clearly *very* good friends indeed. His cheeky responses to his older cousins do not draw serious reprimands, either. Clearly they are at home with one another as closest friends would be.
I think the evidence shows, that however it may have come about, Pippin is at least as close a friend to Merry as he is to Frodo, and given they are nearer in age, probably closer.
This leaves the fourth member of the group, and an important member of the Conspiracy.
(There is another member of the Conspiracy, Fredegar Bolger, but as he does not go along on the Quest, he does not come into the scope of this essay. However, it is quite clear that this is another good friendship, and that Fatty Bolger is held in esteem and affection by his fellow Conspirators.)
We have seen evidence that Sam is a friend to Frodo as well as an employee. But what evidence is there for a friendship between Sam and the other two, prior to the Quest?
On the face of it, it seems unlikely. He has established a friendship with Frodo, as shown by both the quotation above about being “in and out of Bag End”, as well as his agreeing to Gandalf’s “punishment” of being sent along with Frodo on this perilous journey. Yet how would he have formed a friendship with his employer’s cousins?
Let us examine the first question: *were* Merry, Pippin and Sam friends before the Quest? There are, as with Merry and Pippin’s friendship, certain obstacles: we are told, for example, that Sam has never set foot across the Brandywine before, and of course, there is the difference in social status.
We see nothing to support this friendship one way or another until the fourth chapter of the book. Story-externally, it made perfect sense to downplay the interaction between those three, so that its revelation in “A Conspiracy Unmasked” would come as more of a surprise to the reader. Thus we see no whispered conversations between Sam and the other two. Not even any moments alone when such might have been presumed to occur.
But in “A Conspiracy Unmasked”, we are given two crucial clues: first, Sam was not only in the Conspiracy, but its chief spy, and secondly, the Conspiracy was enacted *before* Gandalf revealed to Frodo that his Ring was the One Ring, and thus he must leave the Shire.
“ ‘Step forward, Sam!’ said Merry; and Sam stood up with a face scarlet up to the ears. ‘Here’s our collector of information! And he collected a lot, I can tell you, before he was finally caught. After which, I may say, he seemed to regard himself on parole, and dried up!’”
Now we have already been told by Merry that he himself has been observing Frodo in the fear that his older cousin would leave as Bilbo had, for *seventeen years*! In fact, since Merry was only a young adolescent of nineteen. And at *some point* in that time, he confided his fears to Fatty, to Pippin and to Sam (although, as we also heard, not his knowledge of the Ring) and solicited their help in keeping watch on Frodo. And we know that this took place well before there was any reason to suspect the Ring of being anything but a trinket, for all of them learned of it from Sam’s eavesdropping on Gandalf: *after which* as Merry said, Sam “dried up”.
Now, let us look at this. Why would Merry approach Frodo’s gardener to spy on his cousin? Why would he assume a gardener would know anything of value? Why would he think he could trust Sam to do this, and not to tell his employer what Merry had asked of him? And why would Sam agree to such a thing? If Merry only knew Sam rather distantly as his cousin’s employee, it makes no sense at all. Only if there is presumed to be a friendship between *all three* of them do the answers to any of these questions begin to seem logical. Of course, this is leaving Pippin out of the equation. However, presuming his close friendship with Merry, as revealed in “A Shortcut to Mushrooms”, it seems a corollary that Pippin would also have a friendship with Sam.
And if Sam had “dried up” after he was caught, then how did Merry come to know of the information about the Ring? Clearly Sam *had* revealed what he knew from eavesdropping on Frodo and Gandalf, in *spite* of Gandalf’s implied threats. It assumes a great level of trust in Merry and the others for Sam to have given them this information anyway. The kind of trust one would only have for a good friend.
As to the roots of the friendship, that is buried in the seventeen years to which we have not been privy. I do not think it too far fetched to assume that perhaps on young Merry’s visits to Bag End, he may have made a playmate of the gardener’s son who was close to his own age. This possibly could have lasted until Sam grew old enough to take on full-time responsibility for the gardens. And naturally, if Pippin were visiting *with* Merry, he would be included in their times together.
Of course there are other possible ways the friendship could have come about, but that it *did* exist seems clear from the evidence.
It seems then, that by the time the Conspirators reveal to Frodo that he is going to have company on his journey, they have already formed a closely knit friendship. And it is one that will grow only closer as the story continues.
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(1) All quotations from The Lord of the Rings are from the Houghton-Mifflin 2003 one volume paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings.
(2) I am adherent of the idea that hobbits matured and aged at a different rate than Men. The ratio we are given by JRRT is approximately two-thirds, so a twenty-one year old Frodo would be the equivalent of a human child of thirteen, just entering his adolescence. On turning thirty-three, he would be about the same as a Man of twenty-one years of age. I am aware that this idea is not universally accepted. But that is another essay altogether.
(3) http://www.instituteforattachment.org/entry/results.php?article_id=43
(4) http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=34806
(5) Woman’s World Magazine Nov 15, 2005, p. 4
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At any rate, I'm working on the second part, which will be quite long, as it covers the period of the Quest.