Q: Who Are the Foes Who Live Within a Day’s March of Bree?
ANSWER: In “The Council of Elrond” Aragorn falls into a sort of pissing match with Boromir, who has just spoken passionately about the vital role Gondor has played in the defense of the West. Aragorn says:
`If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?
`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.
Many readers ask who these foes are who would freeze Butterbur’s heart, that they live so close to Bree. In fact, how is it that the Rangers are not able to drive these foes away? Isn’t that what the Rangers are supposed to be doing? Butterbur himself seems to offer a little more information when he speaks with Gandalf and the Hobbits after they have returned to Bree from their great adventures:
‘How long will that be?’ said Butterbur. ‘I’ll not deny we should be glad to have you about for a bit. You see, we’re not used to such troubles; and the Rangers have all gone away, folk tell me. I don’t think we’ve rightly understood till now what they did for us. For there’s been worse than robbers about. Wolves were howling round the fences last winter. And there’s dark shapes in the woods, dreadful things that it makes the blood run cold to think of. It’s been very disturbing, if you understand me.’
The dark shapes in the woods could be Orcs but I think it more likely that the Barrow-wights may have been trying to frighten the people of Bree. They had, after all, been roused by the Nazgul (according to “The Hunt for the Ring”, which was published in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth). The only references to Orcs living in Eriador place them far to the east, near the Misty Mountains. Trolls, too, seem to be limited to dwelling in the east near the northern mountains above Rivendell. The only evil creatures (besides Old Man Willow, who doesn’t seem to get up and walk around much) said to be in the vicinity of Bree are the Barrow-wights.
Of course, speaking of walking trees, the trees of the Old Forest do appear to move around, as they closed in on the Hobbits (Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam) when they left the Buckland. Also, Sam’s cousin Hal had seen a walking tree near the border of the Shire at some point, as well. So it is also possible that walking trees might have been these foes Aragorn referred to. The trees, while frightening and dangerous, would not have been as frightful and dangerous as a Barrow-wight — and Bombadil seems to have kept a more careful watch over the wights than over the trees anyway.
So while we cannot say for sure what these horrible foes were, I suggest the two best candidates would be the Barrow-wights and the trees of the Old Forest. Rangers might have had trouble dealing with wights but they probably could have handled most of the occasional stray trees traipsing across the landscape.
See also:
- Why Did the Bree-land Survive the Decline of Eriador?
- How Deserted Was Eriador in the Late Third Age?
- Strange As News From Bree (Essay Archive)
- Who Attacked the Inn and Slashed the Bolsters in Bree?
- Where Did the Refugees in Bree Come From?
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