Merry & Pippin's Deaths After The Lord Of The Rings Couldn't Be More Perfect
Published Aug 22, 2026, 5:45 PM EDT
Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy.
Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones).
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It's terrible to imagine The Lord of the Rings' Merry and Pippin ever passing away, but J.R.R. Tolkien truly wrote the pair the most perfect deaths. In both the original books and Peter Jackson's film franchise, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took served as key members of the Fellowship of the Ring, and great friends to Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. Though the pair often provided comedic relief, both Merry and Pippin made moves that significantly contributed to the victory over Sauron in the War of the Ring, and they were both regarded as heroes for it.
The ending of Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy saw Merry and Pippin stand alongside Frodo and Sam as the people of Gondor, including the king, Aragorn (King Elessar), bowed before them in honor of all they had done for the greater continent of Middle-earth. From there, we see the four Hobbits return to a largely unchanged Shire and resume their lives as best they could. Aside from saying goodbye to Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, that was about the extent of things for Merry and Pippin in The Lord of the Rings movies, but Tolkien had more to say.
In Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the Hobbits don't have so easy a return to the Shire. The place has been overridden by Saruman and his many thugs, and they have to band together with their kin to fight them off. This ultimately makes Merry and Pippin even more of heroes than they were before. Both went on to marry and have children, and maintained their close relationships with the Elves, Men, and Dwarves they met along their wider journey. Of course, they inevitably grew old, and this opened the door to a final adventure to Gondor.
Merry & Pippin Dying In Gondor Was Their Perfect Ending
Merry married Estella Bolger and became the Master of Buckland, while Pippin married Diamond of Long Cleeve and became the 32nd Shire-thain. Pippin's own son, whom he named after Faramir, went on to marry Samwise Gamgee's (now the mayor) daughter, Goldilocks. It was a happy life for them all, and after about 60 years, following the deaths of their spouses, Merry and Pippin decided their time in the Shire had come to a close.
Merry and Pippin headed to Rohan to visit their loved ones there before permanently settling in Gondor as beloved guests of King Elessar, his wife, Queen Arwen, and their children. Little is known about how they spent their retirement, or even precisely how long they lived in Gondor. Tolkien implies that it was only a few, short, peaceful years. Both Merry and Pippin died in Gondor, just as they desired, and were laid to rest in the tombs of Minas Tirith.
A few years before Merry and Pippin left for Gondor, Samwise Gamgee (Gardner) left the Shire and sailed West for the Undying Lands. He was permitted this honor as a temporary bearer of the One Ring. It's uncertain whether Frodo was still alive when Sam arrived, but it's nice to think they had a heartwarming reunion. At the very least, Sam would have been reunited with Gandalf, though he might not have recognized the wizard in his true form as a shapeshifting Maia.
Gondor Bestowed A Great Honor On Merry & Pippin
Being buried in the tombs of Minas Tirith was already a great honor for Merry and Pippin. Aragorn always paid immense respect to his dear Hobbit friends, and their final resting place reflected this. Even more meaningful, however, is the fact that, about half a century later, Aragorn Elessar himself chose to be buried alongside Merry and Pippin. The great king of Gondor died at the age of 210, and his wife, Arwen, saw to his wishes that his body be laid near his Hobbit companions.
Arwen herself died a year later after traveling to her grandmother's domain of Lothlórien. She was buried at the tree-crowned hill of Cerin Amroth, where the king and queen of Gondor first vowed their love to one another. This ultimately means that it was Merry and Pippin who served as Aragorn's eternal companions in death. For the centuries that followed The Lord of the Rings, any respect paid to the tomb of King Elessar went to those of the Hobbits Merry and Pippin as well. Aragorn shared the glory and honor with his friends—a perfect ending.
Created by J.R.R. Tolkien
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