- "But, but, lord, I offered you my sword. I do not want to be parted from you like this, Théoden King. And as all my friends have gone to the battle, I should be ashamed to stay behind."
- —Merry addressing King Théoden
Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck was a Hobbit of the Shire and one of Frodo Baggins cousins and closest friends. He loved boats and ponies and had a great interest in the maps of Middle-earth. He was also one of the nine companions of the Fellowship of the Ring, and later became the eighth Master of Buckland.
Biography
Merry was born in TA 2982. He was the only child of Saradoc Brandybuck (TA 2940 - FO 11) the Master of Buckland, and Esmeralda Took (TA 2936 - ?), the younger sister of Paladin II Took. This made him first cousin to Paladin's son Pippin, who was also his closest friend.
War of the Ring
Merry was often considered the most perceptive and intelligent of the hobbits, for example, knowing of the One Ring and its power even before Frodo Baggins left the Shire. He guarded Bag End after Bilbo's party, protecting Frodo from the various and often unwanted guests. He also was the force behind "the Conspiracy" of Sam, Pippin, Fredegar Bolger and himself to help Frodo. Thus, even before the Quest of the Ring began, Merry was well prepared and organized; he assembled their gear and brought ponies. As a Brandybuck he also had a key to the gate in the High Hay. This shortcut through the Old Forest served them well, because they avoided the Black Riders and met Tom Bombadil, who helped them. At the Barrow-downs, Merry acquired his sword, a work of Westernesse.
Merry with his good friend Pippin
At Bree, he was not present in the Prancing Pony when Frodo foolishly put on the Ring; but was outside taking a walk, and was nearly killed by the Nazgûl who arrived. At Rivendell, he was seen studying maps and plotting their path. His approval to the Fellowship came with only a little less reluctance than Pippin's; they were the two selected to relay news to the people of the Shire about Frodo's journey, but in the end Gandalf, believing in the friendship and loyalty shown to Frodo and Sam, requested that Elrond allow the two hobbits to come along. At Amon Hen he was captured along with Pippin by a band of Saruman's fighting Uruk-hai, but he made a good account for himself, and Boromir valiantly defended him, though Boromir died in the attempt.
Merry and Pippin in Fangorn Forest, by Raoul Vitale
After being captured by the Uruks, Uglúk crudely tried to bandage Merry's head wound. Despite this, a scar would remain on Merry's head forever. The Uruks then gave to them an Orc drink, which would keep the Hobbit alive during the fast march towards Isengard. When they neared Fangorn Forest, Grishnákh began searching them, attempting to find the One Ring, which he believed they carried. Before he was able to escape with the hobbits, Éomer's éored attacked and all of the Orcs, including Grishnákh, were slain. During the confusion of the battle Merry and Pippin were able to escape into Fangorn Forest.
Escaping with Pippin into Fangorn Forest, Treebeard and the newly risen Gandalf the White met him. Along with Pippin, he drank significant amounts of Ent-draught, which contributed to speedy gains in height and hair growth. Accompanying Treebeard to the Entmoot, and later to Isengard, he and Pippin were set as guardians following Saruman's fall. It was here that Merry encountered King Théoden of Rohan, and was reunited with the remaining members of the Fellowship (save Frodo and Sam).
Separated from Pippin when Gandalf took the latter to Gondor, Merry swore fealty to Théoden and became his squire. Without permission from his liege,[1] he rode to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in the care of young Dernhelm (who, unbeknownst to Merry, was actually Théoden's niece Éowyn). When the Nazgûl attacked the Riders of Rohan and Théoden was injured, Merry and Éowyn faced the Witch-king of Angmar alone. Here, Merry's companion revealed herself to be Éowyn. Battling both Fellbeast and the Nazgûl alone, Éowyn was well assisted by Merry's crucial move: his sword, was one of the few weapons able to pierce the Ringwraith's form, but at a great expense to himself. He stabbed the Witch-king behind the knee as he was about to kill Éowyn. This was enough to allow Éowyn to finish off the Witch-king. Merry heard Théoden's last words, but went unnoticed by the honor escort of Riders and was found wandering the city by Pippin. He was saved by the healing of Aragorn and recovered fully, leaving Minas Tirith to tend to the wounded Pippin at the Field of Cormallen.
For his bravery in battle, King Éomer, as the new King of Rohan, knighted him and gave him the name of "Holdwine". During the Scouring of the Shire, he was in the forefront of the Battle of Bywater, using the Horn of Rohan presented to him by Éowyn.[2]
Later life
Upon their return he and Pippin both married. They were also the tallest of hobbits - Meriadoc being the slightly taller of the two - taller even than the legendary Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took, due to their having drunk large amounts of Ent-draught. Merry married Estella Bolger some time after the end of the Third Age. He became the Master of Buckland in SR 1432 (FA 11), living at Brandy Hall and Crickhollow. He wrote Old Words and Names in the Shire. Although he was not recorded as having any children within the family trees, he had at least one son. At the age of 102, Merry returned to Rohan and Gondor with Pippin, dying there some time after the year FO 63. He was laid to rest in Gondor, and when Elessar died in FO 120, he and Pippin were entombed beside the great king.[3]
Line of Brandybucks
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| Gormadoc Brandybuck |
| Malva Brandybuck | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hanna Goldworthy |
| Madoc |
| Sadoc |
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| Marmadoc |
| Adaldrida Bolger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Gorbadoc |
| Mirabella Took |
| Two daughters |
| Orgulas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Menegilda Goold |
| Rorimac |
| Five daughters |
| Primula |
| Drogo Baggins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Saradoc |
| Esmeralda Took |
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| Frodo Baggins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Meriadoc |
| Estella Bolger |
| Berilac | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
“All my friends have gone to battle, I would be ashamed to be left behind”
In adaptations
In Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings
Meriadoc Brandybuck (1978)
Simon Chandler voiced Meriadoc, in Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings (1978 film).
Meriadoc Brandybuck (1980)
In Rankin/Bass's Return of the King
Casey Kasem voiced the character of Meriadoc in Rankin/Bass's 1980 animated short of The Return of the King.
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
Meriadoc Brandybuck was played by Dominic Monaghan in all three of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Merry is very close with Pippin, having almost the same relationship as Sam and Frodo do with each other. Merry is mostly used for comedic relief, along with Pippin. His role stays mostly similar to the role he plays in the book.
Voice dubbing actors
| Foreign Language | Voice dubbing artist |
| Spanish (Latin America) | José Gilberto Vilchis |
| Spanish (Spain) | Aleix Estadella |
| Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD) | Marcelo Campos |
| Czech (Czech Republic) | Petr Burian |
| Hungarian | András Stohl |
| Italian (Italy) | Paolo Vivio |
| French (France) | Vincent Ropion |
| Japanese | Manabu Muraji |
| German | Alexander Döring |
| Slovak | Martin Kaprálik |
| Turkish | Volkan Severcan |
In radio
- Michael Collins voiced the character in the 1955 BBC radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
- Pat Franklyn voiced the character in the 1979 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
- Richard O'Callaghan voiced the character in the 1981 BBC Radio serial of The Lord of the Rings.
- Tobias Lelle voiced the character in the 1991-1992 German radio serial adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.[4]
- Miroslav Noga voiced the character in the 2001-2003 three-season Slovak radio serial adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.[5]
In video Games
- In the 1994 SNES game J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1, Merry will join your party as a supporting player after you cross the other side of the river.
Gallery
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Translations
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Amharic | መሪኣዶች ብራንድይቡችክ |
| Arabic | ميريادوك برانديبوك |
| Armenian | Մերիադոծ Բրանդյբուծկ |
| Azerbaijani | Meriyadok "Meri" Brendibuk |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Меріадоц Брандыбуцк |
| Bengali | মেরিয়াডক "মেরি" ব্র্যান্ডিবাক |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Мериадок Брендифук |
| Burmese | မယ်ရီဒေါ့(က်) "မယ်ရီ" ဘရန်ဒီဘပ်က် |
| Catalan | Meriadoc Brandiboc |
| Chinese (Hong Kong) | 梅里·烈酒鹿 |
| Czech | Smělmír "Smíšek" Brandorád |
| Danish | Meriadoc "Merry" Brændebuk |
| Dutch | Meriadoc "Merijn" Brandebok |
| Estonian | Ilomac Kangepukk |
| Faroese | Meriadok Brannbukk |
| Finnish | Meriadoc Rankkibuk |
| French | Meriadoc "Merry" Brandebouc (first translation)
Meriadoc "Merry" Brandibouc (second translation) |
| Galician | Meriadoc Brandigamo |
| Georgian | მერიადოკ ბრენდიბაკი (Meriadok’ Brendibak’i) |
| German | Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybock |
| Greek | Μερίαντοκ "Μέρι" Μπράντιμπακ |
| Hebrew | מריאדוק ברנדיבאק |
| Hindi | मेरियाडॉक "मॅरी" ब्रैन्डीबक |
| Hungarian | Borbak "Trufa" Trufiádok |
| Italian | Meriadoc "Merry" Brandibuck |
| Japanese | メリアドク・ブランディバック |
| Kannada | ಮೆರಯಡೊಕ್ "ಮೆರಿ" ಬ್ರಾಂಡಿಬಕ್ |
| Kazakh | Меріадоц Брандйбұцк (Cyrillic) Meriadoc Brandybuck (Latin) |
| Kurdish | Merîyadok "Merî" Birandîbûk (Kurmanji) |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Мериадок "Мерри" Брэндибак |
| Latvian | Meriadoks Brendibuks |
| Lithuanian | Meriadokas "Meris" Brendibakas |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Мериадоц Брандyбуцк |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Мэриадок "Мэрри" Брэндибак |
| Nepalese | मेरियाडक ब्रैन्डीबक |
| Norwegian | Muntiadok "Munti" Brennibukk |
| Persian | مریادوک برندیباک |
| Polish | Meriadok "Merry" Brandybuck (Skibniewska tr.)
Radostek Gorzaleń (Łoziński tr.) |
| Portuguese | Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck (Portugal) Meriadoc "Merry" Brandebuque (Brazil) |
| Russian | Мериадок Брендибак |
| Serbian | Мериадоц Брандyбуцк (Cyrillic) Meriadoc Brandybuck (Latin) |
| Sinhalese | මරියාඩොක් බ්රෙන්ඩබ්බුක් |
| Slovak | Chicholm "Chicho" Brandylen |
| Slovenian | Merjadok Brendivinski |
| Spanish (Spain and Latin America) | Meriadoc "Merry" Brandigamo |
| Swedish | Meriadoc "Merry" Brännbock |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Мериадоч Брандyбучк |
| Tamil | மெரிடாக் பிராண்டிபேக் |
| Thai | เมอเรียด็อค แบรนดี้บั๊ก |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Меріадок Брендіцап |
| Urdu | میریاڑوک (میری) برینڈیبک |
| Uzbek | Мериадоч Брандйбучк (Cyrillic) Meriadoch Brandybuchk (Latin) |
| Yiddish | מעריאַדאָש בראַנדיבושק |
| The Fellowship of the Ring | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frodo · Sam · Merry · Pippin · Gandalf · Aragorn · Legolas · Gimli · Boromir | ||||||||
| Master of Buckland | ||
| Preceded by Saradoc Brandybuck |
Meriadoc Brandybuck | Succeeded by Unknown |
| FO 10 - FO 63 | ||
| Masters of Buckland | |
|---|---|
| Gorhendad • Gormadoc • Madoc • Marmadoc • Gorbadoc • Rorimac • Saradoc • Meriadoc | |
References
- ↑ Théoden never directly forbade Merry from joining the battle; however, one of his last commands to Merry was for the hobbit to remain behind.
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "Later Events Concerning the Members of the Fellowship of the Ring"
- ↑ Der Herr der Ringe (hörspiel). (German: "The Lord of the Rings (radio play)". Ardapedia.org (German-language wiki of Tolkien's Legendarium). Retrieved/cited 30 May 2021.
- ↑ Pán prsteňov. (Slovak: "The Lord of the Rings) Slovak 2001-2003 radio play. Tolkien Gateway.net (English-language wiki of Tolkien's Legendarium). Retrieved/cited 30 May 2021.