Peregrin Took

Peregrin Took, better known to his friends as Pippin, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's universe of Middle-earth; a hobbit, and one of Frodo Baggins's youngest but best friends. In Peter Jackson's film trilogy commencing with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, he is played by Billy Boyd.

The Took family was an old and venerable one in the history of the Shire, descending from the Old Took. They also had quite a reputation for "queerness", a quality not exactly valued by most hobbits. They were always going off on adventures and such, a quite un-hobbitlike thing to do.

Pippin accompanied Frodo on the mission to destroy the One Ring. He was not invited to go, but he and Merry refused to let their friend go off on a dangerous quest alone. Even though he is a small hobbit, he still plays an important role.

The hair on his head and his feet (which are exceptionally hairy, even for a hobbit) is brownish and curly. He's smaller than the rest of the hobbits because he is the youngest.

Pippin was impulsive and ran afoul of Gandalf a couple of times. Once he threw a stone down a deep hole in Moria. It may be that this may have alerted the unfriendly Orcs to the Fellowship's presence in Moria. Along with Merry, he befriended old Treebeard, leader of the Ents. This indirectly resulted in the Ents being aroused to fight against Saruman.

It was Pippin who picked up the Palantír of Orthanc after Wormtongue foolishly threw it as a missile; later, in an almost equally foolish act, Pippin actually stole it out of Gandalf's hands while the wizard slept. Looking into the stone, he had a terrifying encounter with Sauron himself. Because of this, Gandalf separated him from his friends and brought him to the city of Minas Tirith. Meeting Denethor, Steward of Gondor, he volunteered for service in the army of Gondor. This amused Denethor, who accepted. It was Pippin who later rushed to get Gandalf when Denethor, driven to despair by Sauron's deception, set out to burn his son Faramir alive.

During the last battle before the Morannon, Pippin managed to slay a troll before being knocked unconscious. After the restoration of the Monarchy he was knighted by King Elessar, who then granted him indeterminate leave to return home. Later he and Merry were instrumental in overthrowing Saruman's forces during the Scouring of the Shire.

In the year 14 of the Fourth Age he became 32nd Thain of the Shire, a position he held for 50 years before retiring and revisiting Rohan and Gondor with Merry. He remained in Gondor for the rest of his life.