Son of Saradoc Brandybuck, called 'The Magnificent', Merry accompanied Frodo on the Quest of Mount Doom. Captured with his friend Peregrin Took by Orcs, they were separated from the rest of the Company of the Ring, but eventually escaped to become the first mortals for many centuries to encounter the Ents of Fangorn Forest. Merry was present at the destruction of Isengard, and rode to the Battle of the Pelennor with the Rohirrim. There, his deeds won great renown, for with Éowyn of Rohan he defeated and slew the Lord of the Nazgûl.
The names of the male Brandybucks are generally derived from Old Welsh. The name Meriadoc seems to mean something like 'great one', an interpretation that is uncertain, but matches well with his sobriquet of 'the Magnificent'.
We're given practically no information about the progeny or descendants of Meriadoc and Estella, but we can be sure that they had at least one son. In Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings, in the entry for Shire Year 1484, Merry and Pippin '...handed over their goods and offices to their sons'. We know from other sources that the son of Peregrin mentioned here was named Faramir, but there is no comparable reference to Meriadoc's heir.
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