Master Bag

As King Théoden prepared to set out from Dunharrow to lead his Riders on the long road to Minas Tirith, he gave orders that Meriadoc the Hobbit should remain behind in the Hold. He had already commanded that his niece Éowyn should take over the ordering of the Hold of Dunharrow after his departure, and he intended that Merry Brandybuck should also remain to aid her. Both Éowyn and Merry, however, were determined to find their way to the battle that awaited the Rohirrim, and both disobeyed the King's orders. Éowyn disguised herself as a Rider named 'Dernhelm' and she secretly carried Merry with her as she rode to war.

How much the other Riders of the éored knew about their disguised companions is unclear, though there seems at least to be have been some kind of arrangement with Elfhelm, the éored's commander. If the other Riders were aware that their fellows had disobeyed the orders of the King, they gave no sign. Merry they treated as if he were simply an item of Dernhelm's baggage, usually pretending to ignore him if he spoke. In the Drúadan Forest, however, when Elfhelm tripped on the Hobbit in the dark, the Marshal did indeed address him, but gave Merry the title of 'Master Bag' as if the illusion still held.

Whatever Elfhelm's reason for allowing Dernhelm and 'Master Bag' to accompany the Riders, it was fortunate that he did so. In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the two succeeded in slaying the Lord of the Nazgûl, commander of Sauron's forces on the field. Long ago it had been prophesied that the Witch-king would not fall by the hand of a man, and so it proved when 'Dernhelm' revealed herself to be the Shieldmaiden Éowyn, aided by the Hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck who had arrived in the battle simply as 'Master Bag'.