Also known as: Merry, Holdwine Of The Mark, Master Of Buckland
Meriadoc Brandybuck, called Merry, was Frodo's kinsman and friend and one of the four hobbits of the Fellowship -- shrewd, well-read, and full of practical good sense, the planner among them. Captured with Pippin by Saruman's Uruk-hai near Amon Hen, he was carried across Rohan and escaped into Fangorn, where he and Pippin roused the ancient Treebeard and the Ents to march upon Isengard. Parted from Pippin afterward, he gave his service and his sword to King Theoden of Rohan, who came to love him as a son.
Bidden to remain behind when the host rode to war, Merry was taken up in secret by the disguised Eowyn and so came to the Pelennor Fields. There, when the Witch-king had cast down Theoden and no other dared stand, it was Merry who, weeping, drove his Barrow-blade -- forged long ago by the Dunedain against the realm of Angmar -- into the wraith from behind, unknitting the spell that bound him so that Eowyn could deal the final stroke. The deadly chill of the Black Breath withered his sword-arm, and he was healed only by the hands of Aragorn in the Houses of Healing. He fought after in the Scouring of the Shire, and in the years of peace became Master of Buckland and a noted scholar, named Holdwine in the Mark; at the last he rode with Pippin to Gondor, and was laid to rest beside the kings.