Alkanoonion
Thain
Posts: 270
(1/21/04 8:33 am)
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The importance of the Bree Inn
Mr Underhill
Town Local
posted June 23, 2003 07:12 PM
If Bree was so importance in terms of its location why did any military forces not control it?
Please remember - all of you - that the name of Baggins must NOT be mentioned. I am Mr Underhill, if any name must be given.
Posts: 155 | From: Vic | Registered: January 05, 2003
elenna
Keen Eyed Wanderer
Shirriff
posted June 30, 2003 05:00 PM
Well, how do you mean? If you mean that it was sort of the midpoint between the Wide World and the Shire, one must keep in mind that the Shire wasn't important to anyone until it was too late. As far as the forces in the Third Age were concerned, it was a sleepy little part of the world inhabited by sleepy little people of no consequence. So why bother controlling a town that has a road going there? Bree wasn't particularly important to the Wide World at any point.
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Love is like a snowmobile racing across the tundra when suddenly, it flips over and pins you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
Posts: 654 | Registered: December 12, 2002
Sister Bigfoot
The Artist
Shirriff
posted July 01, 2003 11:36 PM
quote:
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it was a sleepy little part of the world inhabited by sleepy little people of no consequence.
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Wasn’t Bree surrounded by a protective wall?
The wall around the township of Bree and the presence of a watch stationed at this wall suggests that Bree was not that sleepy!
You only invest that much labour and wealth on something that is important to the community and a wall around a whole town would have been expensive to construct.
The presence of the wall can also be used to suggest some sort of leadership in Bree. Someone had to pay for its construction, and someone had to organise its commission and construction. Could this suggest a militant presence in the surrounding area of Bree (or at least at some point in the past)?
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Yes I am a Hobbit, and a fat one at that!
Posts: 669 | From: Adelaide Australia | Registered: December 12, 2002
elenna
Keen Eyed Wanderer
Shirriff
posted July 02, 2003 09:21 AM
I was talking about the Shire in the sleepy sense, Sister.
And you're right, but if you look at the times, even sleepy little Middle Ages towns had a wall, just in case. There must have been some sort of leadership in Bree. Just as long as it wasn't Butterbur...
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Love is like a snowmobile racing across the tundra when suddenly, it flips over and pins you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.
Posts: 654 | Registered: December 12, 2002
Neithan
new Born
posted August 31, 2003 09:40 PM
Bree was too small to bother with.
Although they grew excellent pipe weed and an interesting beer (I hope), there really would not have been much in the way of wealth. So why bother raiding and looting the place. They have nothing to offer the light-fingered masses.
"We have set on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horison we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and brotherhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible - a more human face". Steve Biko
Posts: 30 | Registered: August 31, 2003
Thain
Master of Bree
Chief Shirriff
posted September 01, 2003 12:16 AM
Welcome to Bree Neithan.
I think Bree had a lot of items worth looting. Just look at all the food and wine that a band could use for previsions, not to mention the rich hobbits that lived in the district.
"The essence of knowledge is, having it, too apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance."
Posts: 889 | From: Australia | Registered: December 11, 2002
Neithan
new Born
posted September 01, 2003 07:09 PM
But why would a'band' of looters bother coming to the district in the first place. There has to be something valuable locally to attract looters!
"We have set on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horison we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and brotherhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible - a more human face". Steve Biko
Posts: 30 | Registered: August 31, 2003
Mr Underhill
Town Local
posted September 01, 2003 07:37 PM
The shire / Bree region was famous for it tabbac and wine. Not to mention all the gold left in the Barrow-downs, which was only a step away from bree.
Please remember - all of you - that the name of Baggins must NOT be mentioned. I am Mr Underhill, if any name must be given.
Posts: 155 | From: Vic | Registered: January 05, 2003
Neithan
new Born
posted September 01, 2003 10:54 PM
But the Barrow-downs were an extremely dangerous place. The barrows were inhabited by evil Barrow-wights (evil spirits from Angmar) who would entrap people in the barrows so that they could be sacrificed. Who in their right mind would tempt such a fate?
As for the shire and Bree's tobacco and wine, these could so easily have been gotten from areas of more wealth and population. I'm not disputing the value of these two commodities; I'm just saying that Bree and the Shire are too beneath the commons notice. If it were not for the pipe weed and wine, most of the peoples of Middle Earth would not even be aware of their existence.
"We have set on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horison we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and brotherhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible - a more human face". Steve Biko
Posts: 30 | Registered: August 31, 2003
Dancing_Hobbit
Adolescent
posted September 07, 2003 09:27 AM
If you remember, the whole reason Rangers would sometimes hang around that area was to keep it safe from brigands, so there must have been some. Also, any settlement, however small is likely to have a few brigands around it. The fact that there really was a fair bit of traffic coming along the road (as is mentioned once or twice and evidenced by the fact that there were men and dwarves from other areas staying at the inn) would only serve to attract more thieves and such. A person need not be filthy rich to be worth robbing. So there were probably enough outlaws around for it to be worth having a wall to keep the town safe.
"I'm being followed by a moonshadow, moonshadow moonshadow; a leaoing and a hopping like a moonshadow, moonshadow moonshadow."
Posts: 69 | From: A fairyland of mists and shadows deep in the emerald woods. | Registered: June 13, 2003
Neithan
new Born
posted September 17, 2003 08:55 PM
I’ll admit that Bree had once been important. However, by the time of the WR the settlements importance had dwindled considerably. It was only due to the Prancing Pony that Bree was worth mentioning (this inn was a great source of information for those few peoples who were travelling in the area). As the town only had a Hundred houses there would not be that many people around the area, but there were still enough to make Bree important to those smaller farming communities situated close by and thus there would have been something for thieves to stele. However, I never thought that Bree was important enough for the rangers to bother with it. The locals were well capable of looking after themselves and their properties.
They did not need the rangers.
[Talk about over- kill! ]
I always put it down to Gandalf’s influence that the rangers were even in the area. He always was sentimental about the area.
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The power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed change the habits of people. This change is not the result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion.
Steve Biko
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Posts: 30 | Registered: August 31, 2003
HerenIstarion
posted October 06, 2003 03:13 AM
quote:
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And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. "Strider" I am to one fat man who lives within a day's march of foes that would freeze his heart or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown
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So rangers were guarding all the territory of their former kingdom (presumably whole of the Eriador, frome the spot where Gondro/Rohan authority ended), at every spot where some population was preserved,
George Lashkhi
Visit me in the Prancing Pony http://breeunderbreehill.com/6/ubb.x |
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