uhhh more of my thoughts about pippin because i am still trying to get the hang of tumblr!!
we often see pippin being, as gandalf puts it, a “fool of a took.” he acts before he thinks, he’s incredibly reckless, and often too curious for his own good, leading to a good chunk of the fandom to the belief that he’s unserious and just likes to muck about.
of course he likes to muck about — he’s not even an adult yet. but that’s not all there is to him.
pippin has always known the severity of the journey he was on. he knew the power of the ring, he knew he was supposed to be going to mordor, he knew he was constantly risking his life alongside his friends and experienced that several times. he watched frodo nearly succumb to a morgul wound, he had merry run to him after he had nearly been taken by a ringwraith, he watched boromir die, he was abducted and abused by uruk-hai for several days. so why was he so careless on one too many occasions?
the answer is simple. he was scared.
he was terrified. who wouldn’t be if they were on a mission like that, especially given his age, his inexperience, his immaturity? he wanted to be there to support his friends; he was an incredibly loyal person. so, unconsciously, his mind downplays what he knows to be true. his mind downplays the danger, the severity, the risk, because it’s the only way to make him feel safe. it’s the only way to comfort his young mind during the scariest, most traumatic, and most uncomfortable time of his short life.
that is why he drops the pebble in the well in moria — childish curiosity comforts him in a dark and dangerous place he was unfamiliar with. that is why he touches the palantír — he is frustrated that gandalf refuses to tell him what it exactly is, and it triggers that desperation to know for his own comfort, to get rid of the terrifying mysteriousness.