Weeping Hobbits, Naked Hobbits: Merry and Pippin Recall Their Favorite Moments Making Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings films are filled with incredible characters, but few can bring smiles to the faces of millions around the world like Dominic Monaghan’s Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck and Billy Boyd’s Peregrin “Pippin” Took. Despite it being over 17 years since The Return of the King premiered in theaters, these two have kept very close and have decided now is the perfect time to give back to The Lord of the Rings community by starting their very own podcast, The Friendship Onion.

IGN was able to sit down with the pair to discuss this podcast adventure – which just reached its 11th episode – and they also shared some of their favorite moments from filming The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Regarding undertaking this podcast journey, it turns out they had been talking about starting a project together since The Lord of the Rings wrapped.

“Well, it came from Dom,” Boyd said. “Dom became a fan of podcasts quite early. Since Lord of the Rings, me and Dom have been talking about doing a project together. We’ve done a few little things together. He was like, ‘Podcasts! That’s the way forward. We can change things on a weekly basis and invent little things and tell stories.’ Basically, what we do when we meet up anyway.”

The podcast itself is filled with interviews from the cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings (like Elijah Wood) and stories from two of the hobbits who were actually there. One of the tales has to do with The Grey Havens scene at the end of The Return of the King, which Monaghan says was the most difficult scene for him to film.

“Well, we had to do it three times! If you were to ask all four of us, ‘Pick a scene you can guarantee you only have to do once and not go back to,’ we probably would have said Grey Havens, just cause we were all there weeping like children,” Monaghan explained. “So, doing it three times, I definitely think that the third version that I did, the one that’s in the film, is probably not quite as hysterical in terms of the state that I’m in as the first one, or possibly even the second one. So, that was tough.

“And then, you know, Hobbits are so in touch with the vulnerability of their emotions. It’s not like a human stood there watching a friend leave, where maybe they shed a tear and feel sad. Director Pete[r Jackson] wanted us to kind of be in a mess. It was challenging to do. You don’t often get asked to do that as actors and all four of you are standing there very vulnerable doing it three times. It’s pretty costing.”

Billy places the blame on Sean Astin, the actor who played Samwise Gamgee – and who accidentally forgot to put on his vest after lunch, therefore ruining continuity.

“And for those of you who don’t know why we did it three times… Sean Astin was wearing the wrong costume! After lunch, he took off his vest to eat lunch. When he came back he forgot to put the vest on, so for continuity, it was ruined,” Boyd said. “We came back another day and filmed it again, and the film got destroyed in the factory where it gets processed. So we had to then do it again another day! That’s why we had to do it three times.”

Then there are the moments in The Lord of the Rings trilogy that may have not happened at all. One famous story from the set of the films is related to the song Pippin sings to Denethor in The Return of the King called “The Edge of Night.” That song came to be partly because Boyd was singing Tom Jones’ “Delilah” at karaoke one night and co-writer Philippa Boyens was so surprised by his voice that she felt she had to find a singing part for him in the film.

Monaghan also recalled a memorable story from the filming of the Hobbits and Boromir play-fighting after they leave Rivendell in The Fellowship of the Ring.

“I seem to remember the little play-fighting that took place between myself, Billy and Sean Bean was kind of thought up on the spot, based around the fact that we were always kind of having fun with other castmates and we were always practicing our sword fighting skills,” Monaghan recalled. “So, you would see the four hobbits as the same size, kind of picking up their skill games.

“I think the idea with Pete was, he had said, ‘Now that you’re with these human warriors, maybe they noticed that and they are giving a little extra amount of classes. And, maybe, as being hobbits, you can be a little cheeky with Sean Bean, with Boromir, and it can show a little bonding experience.’ So, you know, do a little three stooges thing – whack him over the head and jump on top of him. I seem to remember that being relatively semi-improvised on the day.’”

Boyd jumped in and said he was upset while shooting that scene because, despite him previously fencing in competitions, he had to act like he wasn’t good at sword fighting.

“Yeah, you’re right! And I hated that we weren’t supposed to be good at swords,” Boyd said. “I used to fence in competitions. So I know how to use a sword. And then we got to work with Bob Anderson, who is probably the greatest sword master ever in movies. He taught Errol Flynn and Darth Vader. I loved being with Bob Anderson, and he said, ‘Remember, you’re not supposed to be good with a sword.’ So, I had to stop [acting like I knew] what to do with a sword. It was awful!”

Then there was the time Peter Jackson was being pressured from above to have one of the four Hobbits die in the film, even though they survived in the books. Luckily, Jackson didn’t succumb to the demands of the producers, but Monaghan had some thoughts on who the unlucky Hobbit could have been if this darker path was taken.

“It’s a good job that didn’t happen, because it would have been me,” he laughed. “It definitely would have. There’s no way they are killing Frodo and Sam, and the only ones that would be left would be Merry and Pippin. They wouldn’t kill Pippin because Pippin has a really strong story with Gandalf. It would have definitely been me. I think Pete quite rightly was like, ‘This is a luminary piece of written work, and we need to stick close to the text.’ So, he stuck by his guns. Yeah, I’m thankful that didn’t happen.”

It turns out the cast made some home videos while filming the trilogy. When asked if these would be part of certain episodes of the podcast, Monaghan said that there may be some footage in there that isn’t suitable for the public…

“I think I have four or five tapes that are labeled ‘New Zealand,'” Monaghan said. “I’ve not looked at them for a long time. I’m sure [we could include it in the podcast] if we told the production company that myself, Billy, Sean, Elijah, maybe Orlando and Viggo, would all pull together stuff and they could have a look at it. But, I think there is probably some slightly nefarious stuff that maybe you don’t want to put into a documentary… like naked Hobbits!”

When not podcasting, the pair have taken up League of Legends during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have to say, for it to be a free game… free-to-download… free-to-play… the amount of hours of enjoyment we’ve got out of it is incredible,” said Monaghan. “And it’s an incredibly difficult game…”

“Not for me,” Boyd jumped in to say. “I am probably one of the world’s great Dr. Mundos!”

“He’s a fantastic Dr. Mundo,” Monaghan agreed. “It’s just so much fun. Not only are you doing your little tasks that you’re supposed to do as your characters… as your champions, but you’re also able to enjoy the triumphs of your teammates or some of the ridiculous failures of your teammates. We’ve laughed, we’ve joked, we’ve had fun. I think I’ll continue to play. I think I’ve now reached a ceiling, Billy hasn’t, but I’ve now reached a ceiling where I know I won’t get better. I’ll remain this average level. For Billy, the sky is the limit.”

Just like Boyd’s League of Legends skills, so is the potential of The Friendship Onion, which most recently had creative director and head of Weta Workshop Sir Richard Taylor on.

Oh, and if you are new to the show and want to start at the beginning, you’ll also get a chance to hear how the pair react to trying their first Twinkie. Priceless.

The Friendship Onion is available on podcast services around the world like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on YouTube.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.