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Strange as news from Bree... - Page 3

© Michael Martinez

After the war of 1409 Cardolan became a part of the reunited Arnor, but its people were few and hardly any of the Dunedain remained there. Bree was probably the first large town north of Tharbad. There must have been traffic between Fornost Erain and Tharbad, where Arnor had once maintained a garrison alongside a Gondorian garrison, and probably Cardolan's kings had retained the garrison under their control. But Arnor only had 200 years in which to recover from the devastating war before the Great Plague came rolling north. Beyond Tharbad there dwelt in the hills of northern Dunland a large community of Stoors. Some of the Stoors had lived there since their ancestors crossed the Misty Mountains around TA 1150, but others had migrated south from Rhudaur in 1300 when Angmar first rose in the north. The Stoors of Dunland don't seem to have had much interaction with the Harfoots and Fallohides of Arthedain, but there was some communication as many Stoors migrated north when the Shire was founded by Marcho and Blanco in 1601. It is hard to imagine what Bree must have been like before the hobbits came west from Rhudaur. It was probably a quiet little border town, enjoying the benefits of being at the crossroads of two kingdoms. The Hobbits probably took one look at the hill and fell in love with it. Many of them settled on the eastern side of the hill, in the town of Staddle. For all we know, Staddle was founded at this time. Travellers passing through Bree would have included Dunedain, Dwarves, Elves, and various men of other kindreds. The east-west traffic probably consisted mostly of Elves and Dwarves, and the north-south traffic probably consisted mostly of Men and Hobbits. Hobbits (and Men) probably also lived north of the Bree-land. The lands along the northern road must have been fairly populous. All that began to change in 1601. First the Hobbits migrated west, settling in the lands beyond the Baranduin river. Marcho and Blanco set out from Bree, but not all the Bree Hobbits left for the new land. And since there were other Hobbit communities at the time most of the colonists may have come from outside Bree. Why would the Hobbits decide to colonize new lands? Tolkien writes in the Prologue that the Harfoots were "the most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place, and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes."

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