Strange as news from Bree... - Page 4
© Michael Martinez
My feeling is that the Hobbits were suffering a population explosion. All of Arnor's people may have been increasing, and King Argeleb II may have felt the time had come to start reclaiming some of the long-abandoned lands. Elendil's army suffered grievous losses during the War of the Last Alliance (Second Age 3329-41). The main part of the surviving army returned to Arnor in Third Age year 1, but Isildur stayed in Gondor until the next year and he was subsequently ambushed along with his three elder sons and 200 Dunadan soldiers. So Arnor entered the Third Age with far fewer men than it had started out with when Elendil founded the kingdom in SA 3320.
It wasn't simply that many families went without fathers. Many young men must have died before taking wives, or before they could bring forth many children. Whole families must have died out both among the Dunedain and the other Men of Arnor. Valandil, Isildur's youngest son, lived in Annuminas, Elendil's chief city, during the years of his reign (TA 10-249). But Tolkien writes that his heirs (presumably starting with Amlaith of Fornost, eldest son of the last High King of Arnor and first king of Arthedain) moved the royal residence to Fornost Erain.
It is reasonable to infer that most of the Dunedain were by that time living in the North Downs, east of the Hills of Evendim. Annuminas was situated in the Hills of Evendim, just north of the lands which eventually became the Shire. Elendil may have recruited heavily from the families of this region, and these soldiers may have formed the core of his army. The assumption that men from the Hills of Evendim and the royal demesne between Baranduin and the Lune bore the brunt of Arnor's losses in the war suggests one reason for why the region became depopulated.
We do know the kings moved east to Fornost because there were too few people to live in Annuminas. Presumably there were few people living near the city as well. So Dunadan culture became centered in the North Downs. Other Men of Beorian descent had once lived in the lowlands between the North Downs and Bree. Sauron overran these lands during the War of the Elves and Sauron (Second Age 1695-1701) but if any of the Beorians survived the war they probably resettled the lands they had lost.
Owing to the fact the Dunedain possessed the North Downs, and that no one chose to live in the Weather Hills (which formed the frontier between Arnor and Angmar), it appears the Hobbits had few places in which to dig their tunnels. Bree would have been an ideal location, but it could not have supported all the Hobbits. Hence, Argeleb II probably had to figure out what to do with all the Hobbits who wanted to live in tunnels in hills.
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