Spirit Pippin's ability reads:

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"If each hero you control has the Hobbit trait, Pippin gains: 'Response: After an enemy engages you, raise your threat by 3 to return it to the staging area. Until the end of the round, that enemy cannot engage you.'"

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How about when an enemy engages you directly from the encounter deck or discard pile? Examples like the ones copied below. Since Pippin's ability says "return" it to the staging area, I'm guessing you cannot do this (how can you return an enemy to the staging area if it was never there in the first place?). However, I really want his ability to be more useful than it is

I was just wondering that same question, but instead whether or not Lore Pippin's ability triggers in the same event. I assumed yes, but I don't know for sure.

Lore Pippin would certainly be a yes, since the enemy gets "engaged" regardless of where it comes from. Sam's ability would also trigger, as would Mablung's.

Hmmmmmm it does only say After an enemy engages you rather than After an enemy in the staging area engages you so I think you should be able to use it. As much as yes they weren't in staging before, most enemies start off in staging and thats their usual position if not engaged so the return part doesn't necessarily mean they need to have started off in staging. Thats my interpretation at least.

Lore Pippin would certainly be a yes, since the enemy gets "engaged" regardless of where it comes from. Sam's ability would also trigger, as would Mablung's.

Hmm. So you're saying "After an enemy engages you..." may trigger, but "After you engage an enemy..." definitely triggers? I could believe that, but I think an official ruling is warranted.

It's not the "after an enemy engages you part" -- engage is engage (we have a FAQ entry about that). Lore Pippin and Sam are for sure, but as for Spirit Pippin, I'm wondering about the " return it to the staging area" part specifically. If it said "move it to the staging area" you would be able to use the ability regardless of where the enemy came from. Since it says "return," I am wondering if you can use it on an enemy who was never in the staging area to begin with.

The part you are wondering about is here in the FAQ:

Oh, I'm with you now. I should probably read the whole OP before commenting

Answer:

Yes, an effect that returns an enemy to the staging area will work on an enemy that engaged you from some other place (the encounter deck, discard pile, out of play, etc).
Kudos for playing an all Hobbit deck with spirit Pippin!
Cheers,
Caleb

Yay, that means he is viable for avoiding Wights in Barrows...