Meriadoc Brandybuck
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Meriadoc Brandybuck, Merry, Holdwine |
| Occupation: | Hobbit of The Shire |
| Relationships: | close friend and relative of Frodo and Pippin, husband of Estella Bolger and father of a son |
| Fandom: | The Lord of the Rings |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Meriadoc Brandybuck, known to his friends as Merry, is a character from The Lord of the Rings, a hobbit who accompanies Frodo on his journey out of the Shire to destroy the Ring. He is separated from his friends at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring but they are reunited in Minas Tirith at the end of The Return of the King.
He was played by Dominic Monaghan in Peter Jackson's film trilogy.
Fandom
Fanfiction about Merry, whether gen or slash, very often focuses on his relationships with his cousins Frodo and Pippin. It has become a piece of fanon that Frodo was raised by Merry's parents Saradoc and Esmeralda Brandybuck after the death of his own parents, Drogo and Primula Baggins, when Frodo was a small child and before Merry was born. Because of this many fans have written about Frodo and Merry as foster brothers and Frodo as a role model for his younger cousins.
In the books, Merry and Pippin were close friends before and after the Quest, and took care of each other after their separation from the rest of the Fellowship. After their return to the Shire Merry and Pippin shared the house at Crickhollow for some years before marrying. And in their old age, the two of them went back to Minas Tirith together. Needless to say, their relationship has inspired many Merry/Pippin slash fics.
Some fans who appreciated Merry's intelligence, thoughtfulness, and devotion to his friends in the books were disappointed to find his role reduced in the films so that his character and Pippin's were not very clearly distinguished and the two of them provided little more than comic relief, particularly in the first movie. These fans were not pleased to see Merry and Pippin run into Frodo and Sam by accident and decide to travel with them, whereas in the books Merry had involved Pippin, Sam, and Fredegar Bolger in a Conspiracy to keep track of when Frodo was planning to leave to make sure they could go with him, since they knew Frodo would surely try to leave alone.[citation needed]
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- Rose Riddle by Stultiloquentia. Merry & Celeborn futurefic (2003)
- A Secret Gate by Elanor. Futurefic novel, based on the Appendix material (~2006; WiP)
- Gift of Life by Fileg. Merry & Gimli (2003)
- Characterization in Fanfic: Using Canon as the DNA for Your Characters by Dreamflower. Meta covering Merry's character (2010)