Lord Of The Rings: 10 Smartest Changes Peter Jackson Made From The Books

Merry & Pippin gave us some of the most amusing moments in all of Peter Jackson's movies. From Pippin's high pitched shriek, at Bilbo's party, to their boozy consumption of salted-pork, outside the ruins of Isengard - they had some great moments.

Although the book Merry & Pippin are fairly similar in age, they're somewhat less naive and silly, than their film counterparts. But in a film series that becomes fairly dark, it was important to have a few brief moments of comic relief.

This seemed to fall in with Tolkien's original intent for the characters. He describes them as the youngest and perhaps most innocent members of the Fellowship; they're the ones who always seem a little out of the depth, but always manage to pull through due to their good natured hobbit attitude.

At several stages throughout the books the two deliver ridiculous songs - which for the most part Jackson cut - but he retained the carefree attitude of the two halflings.

Jackson encouraged both Dominic Monaghan (Merry) and Billy Boyd (Pippin), to come up with comedy gags in the hopes they could use them in the films. Needless to say, some of their ideas were ridiculous...