Gandalf: this ring is bad news, sell your house and meet me in Bree like, next year maybe
Frodo: cool, what are you gonna do
Gandalf: I gotta ride like halfway across the continent to read me a book because I'm an idiot wizard who hasn't invented the internet yet
You know right away that Merry and Pippin are catastrophic dipshits because of all the things they could put their talents to stealing, they chose to steal salad