#Barliman Butterbur

[sindar-princeling]

something absolutely lovely about especially the first half of fellowship is that the hobbits keep meeting random kind helpful strangers - the elves, bombadil, butterbur, aragorn (also farmer maggot and his wife, though they're not strangers) - until the book solidifies in you the feeling that these are not really instances of random luck, but rather the inherent nature of the world. kind people are everywhere, and no matter where you are, there is surely someone closer than you think that would offer help if you needed it. it's such a beautiful theme across all of LOTR, and it's very sweet to me that it starts from the very beginning of the journey, on such a 'small' (comparatively), everyday scale

[modernincorrectlotrhobbit]

Barliman Butterbur: We actually have a chip reader now. Gandalf: Oh yeah? Gandalf, pulling a Dorito out of pocket: Hmmm. Barliman: It’s not going to work on that kind of ch- *Chip Reader*: ~Transaction completed.~

[middleearthmistress]

Frodo: Do you know Gandalf the Grey?

Mr Butterbur: There are two things I know of Gandalf the Grey. First, that his name is Gandalf. And second, that he is-

Frodo: Grey?

Mr Butterbur: You know him?

Frodo: No, it was just a wild stab in the dark.

Sam, to Mr Butterbur: Which is what you'll get if you don't start being a bit more helpful!

[velvet4510]

NOTE: I said “LESS famous changes” - which means the more famous ones (Tom Bombadil, Faramir, Gimli, etc) do not apply here.

[eglerieth]

Concerning Hobbit-Friends

nearly every other free people in Middle Earth have such a concept ( ie, Elf-friend, Dwarf-friend, etc.) so I decided that hobbits do it too. Any hobbit can name someone hobbit-friend, but that’s not a guarantee that their fellow hobbits will consider them their own friend. The exception is if the Thain or Mayor formally names someone hobbit-friend on behalf of all Shirefolk, which has only happened once.

here is a list of known hobbit-friends:

• Gandalf. Obviously. He’s the OG hobbit-friend, upon whom all others are based

• Tom Bombadil: he was given the title by Farmer Maggot. It is unknown if Maggot was the only hobbit to name him hobbit-friend, or if others had done so in the past and his proclamation was redundant.

• the entirety of Thorin’s company: Bilbo named them all hobbit-friend when he left Erebor, in the middle of his “tea at four” speech. This included a posthumous hobbit-friending of Thorin, Fìli, and Kìli.

• multiple Breelanders: throughout the long history of Bree and the Breelands, when hobbits and Men lived side by side, there were many individuals named hobbit-friend by their neighbor for various reasons. The line of Butterburs in particular have held the title unbroken from father to son, usually proclaimed by drunk hobbits in the Prancing Pony wanting to thank and honor their host.

• Boromir: thus named by Merry and Pippin. Pippin was honoring that bond/title when he swore allegiance to Denethor.

• Gimli: Frodo named him hobbit-friend when they were mourning Balin together in Moria and Frodo saw his heart.

• Treebeard: sort of named himself such unwittingly when fitting hobbits into his worldview out loud. Merry and Pippin just accepted it, thus binding it.

• Quickbeam: named such by Merry and Pippin as a throwaway comment that nonetheless had all the meaningfulness necessary.

• Thèoden: named such by Merry when he swore himself to him. He intended to teach him about pipeweed; that was a gift for a hobbit-friend not given to merely anyone. The horn Merry was later given was to honor it, and it was later given much honor in return in the Shire.

• Aragorn: surprisingly, it didn’t happen on the quest. He was their friend, sure, but not specifically a hobbit-friend. But as time went on the hobbits in the Fellowship began to treat him more and more like one, and he was finally formally proclaimed hobbit-friend by Thain Paladin himself on behalf of the Shire after he gifted the hobbits Westmarch and passed the law forbidding Big Folk from entering the Shire. The first king of the Fourth Age was long remembered in the Shire for being the first and only Man to be hobbit-friend to all hobbits. Not even Gandalf was accepted by all, *cough*-Disturber-of-the-Peace-*cough*

Finrod: the only person to be named hobbit-friend in Aman. Proclaimed by Bilbo and Frodo, and then again Sam before he realized it had already been done. He earned the title by connecting with them deeply and helping them around the Undying Lands. Come on, guys, you knew he was gonna have to complete the trifecta of races he’s Friends with.

[ofermod]

Can we talk about Tom Bombadil and Pony Capitalism?

Bill Ferny’s price was twelve silver pennies; and that was indeed at least three times the pony’s value in those parts. It proved to be a bony, underfed, and dispirited animal; but it did not look like dying just yet. Mr. Butterbur paid for it himself, and offered Merry another eighteen pence as some compensation for the lost animals. He was an honest man, and well-off as things were reckoned in Bree; but thirty silver pennies was a sore blow to him, and being cheated by Bill Ferny made it harder to bear. As a matter of fact he came out on the right side in the end. It turned out later that only one horse had been actually stolen. The others had been driven off, or had bolted in terror, and were found wandering in different corners of the Bree-land. Merry’s ponies had escaped altogether, and eventually (having a good deal of sense) they made their way to the Downs in search of Fatty Lumpkin. So they came under the care of Tom Bombadil for a while, and were well-off. But when news of the events at Bree came to Tom’s ears, he sent them to Mr. Butterbur, who thus got five good beasts at a very fair price. They had to work harder in Bree, but Bob treated them well; so on the whole they were lucky: they missed a dark and dangerous journey. But they never came to Rivendell.

So listen. There's a few things going on here, and they're all confusing. Did Tom sell the ponies back to Butterbur? If so, what did he do with the cold hard cash? Use it to buy Yuletide presents for Farmer Maggot? Does Santa Claus come from Farmer Maggot's stories of Tom Bombadil, but he changed the jacket colour? Alternately: Does "send" mean just that--and the "fair price" refers to what Butterbur had already paid--and that a string of ponies just showed up one day at the Inn, possibly with a handwritten note saying "FREE TO A GOOD HOME" or "REJOICE PONIES BE UPON YE"?

And what kind of work do they do? "They had to work harder in Bree"--Butterbur RUNS AN INN. What kind of manual labour do ponies do AT AN INN? These aren't Beorn's horses, who set tables. These are just generic ponies! Are they kept just for taking drunk hobbit guests (who have not arranged for rooms) back to their homes?

Also the part where "Yes, missing a dangerous journey is a good thing, but man did those Ponies miss out on visiting an elf-house." What goes on at Rivendell that it's such a high-profile Pony destination?

Listen, these are all very important questions.

[verecunda]

Following on from The Hobbit, I've started listening to LOTR as my doing-the-dishes-and-laundry accompaniment - only about a chapter or so a day, so I'll probably be here for a couple of months. :P

Anyway, I just love how every reread throws up something new. Like last night, it was the whole Prancing Pony episode, and for the first time I found myself really seriously appreciating Barliman Butterbur. He's just, man, he's such a good dude. Okay, yes, he fucked up majorly by forgetting about Gandalf's letter, but the minute he knows there's real trouble at hand, he's like, "Sure, I'll help you. I have no idea what's going on, but I'll do whatever I can to help, no questions asked." When Strider tells him that the Black Riders are from Mordor, there's no doubt or questioning, no "lol wtf are you on?" He understands what that means, he takes it seriously - even if he doesn't really trust Strider, he takes the warning to heart. He even seems to have a decent idea that he's up against something way beyond his own powers. "'But spooks or no spooks, they'll not get into The Pony so easy.'" Mordor does have human subjects, we know this, but Butterbur seems to twig that the Riders are definitely not human. And he's just a regular guy who runs an inn in the back of beyond, but he still does everything he can to help.

What a Good Dude. It was definitely kind of the book to assure us that he comes out of the situation okay. <3

Also, this is by no means a new thought, but I just love how well Tolkien writes the terror of these chapters. Honestly, he does horror better than many ghost stories. The menace of the Riders, the way the danger of the night outside seems to loom in on Frodo & co., the sense of what a lonely and fragile refuge the Pony seems... brilliant stuff.

[aguythatlikesstuff]

I stan a forgetful king

[gnomescarfcomics]

Middle-earth shots of the week

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (noncanon) ADHD character?

SPECIFICALLY FROM THE BOOKS, HE'S BARELY IN THE MOVIES

Evidence below the cut!

In "Fellowship", Barliman is the owner of the Prancing Pony, and he is shown to be easily distractible - "There now, it's gone again but it will come back when I have time to think" and he talks about how "one thing after another drove it out of his mind".

Gandalf has this to say about Barliman in his letter to Frodo: "PPPS. I hope Butterbur sends this promptly. A worthy man, but his memory is like a lumber-room: thing wanted always buried. If he forgets, I shall roast him." (Spoiler: he forgor)

Despite this, Gandalf considers Butterbur trustworthy and corrects Frodo when Frodo calls Barliman stupid after Frodo has met him and received the delayed letter, Gandalf saying "you don't know much about [Big People] if you think Barliman is stupid… He can see through a brick wall in time, as they say in Bree".

[frodo-with-glasses]

Forgive, but never forget!

[hwestalas]

On a certain Friday night, on the border of September and October of 3019, Gandalf arrived in Bree and heard some news from Barliman Butterbur. (To the relief of all who are fond of our favorite innkeeper, Gandalf did not take this news the same way Mr. Butterbur had expected him to.)

This is not that Friday night. This is a random Friday night. But here is a semi-symbolic drawing I did of that encounter:

The funny sizzly-looking pink thing represents the filter between Butterbur's perception of the situation and Gandalf's. Meaning that Butterbur's words sounded one way to him, and another to Gandalf. Because, you know, they have different background info.

(This encounter is recounted only once, by Gandalf during the famously extensive Council of Elrond. It was very amusing.)

[thelordofgifs]

Obscure Tolkien Blorbo: Round 2

Bill the pony vs Barliman Butterbur

Bill the pony:

Sam Gamgee’s pony.

HE'S SUCH A GOOD AND KIND PONY

Barliman Butterbur:

The innkeeper at The Prancing Pony.

Genuinely nice guy! If perhaps a bit scattered. He does his best and he means well.

Round 2 masterpost

[middleearthmistress]

Pippin: I notice that you offer soup and a half sandwich. Where exactly does the half sandwich come from? Are you giving me half of someone else's sandwich? Or do I have to wait for someone else to order the other half?

Mr Butterbur: No, they just make a half sandwich.

Pippin: You can't make a half sandwich. If it's not half of a whole sandwich, it's just a small sandwich.

Mr Butterbur: OK, fine. It's soup and a small sandwich. Is that what you want?

Pippin: No, I'll just have ale.

[kindlythevoid]

I came across a quote while reading FotR (as per usual) that made me think.

“…so on the whole they were lucky: they missed a dark and dangerous journey. But they never came to Rivendell.”

The Fellowship of the Ring pg. 203

Now this isn’t a particularly memorable quote, and certainly not often quoted, but the passage around it, and others like it, have been pointed out in the past. In context, Tolkien is pausing the story for a moment in order to assure us, dear readers, that the horses that had been lost are alive and well and that poor Barliman Butterbur comes out the other end in a good spot. It’s often been pointed out that this is what makes these books so beloved: that the whole world belongs to each character in the book, that Tolkien reassures us by letting us know the fates of every minor character.

But what I find interesting about this quote is the tacked on sentence at the end. They never came to Rivendell. Like, he reassures us that they remain safe and sound, that it’s okay to stay behind, but he also points out what they miss. The darkness and the danger, yes, but also the light and joy of Rivendell. In missing the journey, they miss the highs as well as the lows.

I guess I just find it extremely interesting because… Tolkien isn’t saying it’s bad to not want to go on the journey, but to consider what you would be missing by skipping out.

After all, the ponies were treated well, but they never came to Rivendell.