Gandalf, Pippin, and Guilt
Another underrated thing I love about ROTK is that Gandalf and Pippin bond because…. they’re ultimately going through the exact same thing?.
Gandalf and Pippin both failed to protect someone they loved. They’re both struggling with guilt. And now, they’re both trying to atone for their failure by protecting someone else.
Gandalf failed to protect Frodo, Pippin failed to protect Boromir.
Compare the scene where Saruman mockingly asks: “Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those closest to him, those he professes to love. Tell me– what words of comfort did you give the halfling before you sent him to his doom?”
To the scene Denethor asks: “How did you escape when my son did not, so mighty a man as he was?”
Gandalf tries to atone for his inability to protect Frodo by protecting Pippin. And Pippin tries to atone for his inability to protect Boromir by protecting Faramir.
There’s a moment in Rohan where Pippin is happily singing and Gandalf looks at him like: “aw I love that little hobbit.” That moment is followed by a scene where Gandalf worriedly asks Aragorn if he believes Frodo is still alive. Because Gandalf misses Frodo! And that’s why he’s paying more attention to Pippin!
And the draw of the Palantir is eerily similar to the draw of the Ring–compelling you to look into it just as the Ring compels you to put it on. When Gandalf fails to prevent Pippin from taking the Palantir, he must’ve been reminded of his failure to protect Frodo from the Ring.
In FOTR, Gandalf refers to the Ring as “a burden Frodo should never have had to bear.”
In ROTK, Gandalf is trying to protect Pippin the way he can no longer protect Frodo.
(Altho it is very funny that like. Every time Pippin does/says something stupid you can feel how Gandalf is thinking “FRODO WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO ME!!!!!”)
Pippin, meanwhile, is trying to protect Faramir to make up for his failure to protect his older brother. The scene where Denethor drags Pippin away from a dying Faramir echoes the scene where the Uruk-Hai dragged Pippin away from a dying Boromir.
Pippin felt helpless when Boromir was killed in front of him, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. He’s determined not to let something like that happen again.
Both Gandalf and Pippin are struggling through the same kind of guilt.
And that’s why their subplot centers around Denethor and Faramir– because Denethor and Faramir represent the two extremes of Unhealthy Ways to Cope with Guilt.
Denethor also feels guilty over Boromir’s death– but he redirects all his guilt OUTWARD, blaming everyone else for Boromir being dead and taking out his pain on them. Faramir feels guilty over Boromir’s death– but he redirects all his guilt completely INWARD, blaming himself for literally everything, becoming self-destructive and even suicidal.
Gandalf and Pippin are different from Faramir and Denethor because…. they actually allow themselves to process their own guilt. They don’t redirect their guilt into mindless hatred, the way Denethor does, or redirect their guilt into mindless self-hatred, the way Faramir does. They don’t intentionally self-destruct. Instead they allow themselves to feel guilty, and search for ways they can atone without pointlessly destroying themselves.
Like–contrast the scene where Denethor and Faramir have a vicious argument over Boromir’s death, and don’t come to any kind of understanding because Denethor hides all of his guilt under cruelty…
With the scene where Pippin and Gandalf actually bond over missing Frodo and Sam, over how Gandalf was a “fool” to believe their quest could succeed, and over how little hope is left for them.
I just think that “you need to be honest with yourself about your own emotions, and try to understand them even if they’re painful” is one of the most important themes in LOTR as a whole.
Because it’s not just that Gandalf and Pippin are going through the same thing– I feel like they also understand they’re going through the same thing? Pippin sees how melancholy Gandalf gets when he talks about Frodo, and Gandalf is there when Pippin pledges his service to Denethor.
So when Pippin tells Gandalf that Faramir is about to die– Gandalf doesn’t hesitate. He’s instantly like “LET’S GO SAVE HIM TOGETHER!”
It’s not just that Gandalf cares about Faramir.
Gandalf also understands how important saving Faramir is to Pippin, because he understands how important saving Pippin is to himself.
