Goodwill Bunce is the youngest grandson of the Great Patriarch, and Master Meriadoc's respected neighbor and nemesis, Gaffer Bunce. Right away Goodwill was marked as 'different' from all the other children. He was so ugly he was fascinating. He had thick boar-bristle hair that was striped red and brown and bright gold as if a badger had died on his head and he could only contain it by growing it long and wearing it in a dwarf braid down his back. He had one brown eye and one green eye and his skin was impossibly freckled. He fell out of a boat and broke his nose which was crooked to the end of his days. Still, he had a strong and good body, a quick mind and a beautiful sense of humor which earned him many friends. He was also independent and left Gaffer Bunce's home for the Buckland where he joined a small cadre of Brandybuck hunters. He became an expert in the ways of the Old Forest and often braved the ill will of the trees.

One horribly hot and humid day Pug was named Acting Master of Buckland on a whim by Master Meriadoc and everyone was amused. Everyone was much less amused that same day when Pug led his best friend Ardal and Ardal's two brothers into the forest to rescue Master Meriadoc's daughter, Molly, and her friends from being killed by Mirkwood Spider hatchlings. Pug became a great hero and, to his absolute wonder and delight, managed to catch the eye of Elanor the Fair, Mayor Gamgee's incredibly beautiful daughter. The two began a passionate courtship and Pug became Master Meriadoc's chief hunter. But he never forgot the malice of the Old Forest and decided that it was too dangerous to be allowed to continue.

Through Elanor he had access to the Red Book and learned that the heart of the Forest was Old Man Willow, an evil and powerful tree that killed all who passed near. Pug did a great deal of research on Old Man Willow and the strange blasting powders that Gandalf the Grey used in his fireworks and which Saruman the White perfected to breach Helm's Deep. He developed a plan but waited until his beloved Elanor left for a year-long trip to Gondor before he put his plan into effect.

He knew he wouldn't survive. He knew Elanor and his friends and family would be devastated. But some things just had to be done. Goodwill 'Pug' Bunce entered into the Forest and blew Old Man Willow to smithereens with gunpowder. The death throes of that ancient evil could be felt as far as Bag End and the White Downs and Pug was killed instantly. Tom Bombadil himself found and carried out the body and handed it over to Gaffer Bunce who was absolutely heartbroken. He was buried with great honor and hundreds and hundreds of mourners attended. With the death of Old Man Willow the evil of the Old Forest was dissipated. It was still a powerful and dangerous place but its directed malice was gone and good things, like the sons and daughters of The River and even Wood Elves, began to appear among the branches and alongside its clear streams.

Elanor the Fair mourned Goodwill for years until she journeyed into the deeps of the Forest herself. She came across the charred remains of a willow tree and saw, to her wonder, that the ground where Pug fell was covered in tall, beautiful flowers. She dug a few up and carried them out. She grew them in her garden and took them with her when she removed to the beaches of The Towers. At the time of her death they were prolifically growing all through the Forest and all along the shores of the sea, waving in masses of red and brown and bright gold.

~

Pretty Good Year | email Singe