The secret of Bree

[Annatar]

What is the secret of Bree?

At the beginning of the Third Age, there were many peoples in Eriador. The land was comparatively densely populated.
At the end of the Third Age, there was only the Shire - and Bree. The former was founded relatively late, when Arnor was already quite in decay. But Bree had existed much longer and was spared from all wars and plagues, despite its central location. I find this quite mysterious... Could it be that Tom Bombadil had protected the place somehow?

 

[1stvermont]

What is the secret of Bree?

At the beginning of the Third Age, there were many peoples in Eriador. The land was comparatively densely populated.
At the end of the Third Age, there was only the Shire - and Bree. The former was founded relatively late, when Arnor was already quite in decay. But Bree existed much longer and was spared from all wars and plagues, despite its central location. I find this quite mysterious... Could it be that Tom Bombadil had protected the place somehow?

I think Gandalf said Bombadil does not leave his boundaries which is basically the old forest. My guess is the plague hit them and I am sure when Moria locked its western gate and trade between elves and dwarves slowed that trade towns like Bree were hit the hardest.

 

[Annatar]

A central question here would also be why the Witch King of Angmar did not wipe out the town. Otherwise, he destroyed every place and drove out or wiped out all the inhabitants. Bree's men of military age must also have served in the army.

Edit:
In the course of the Third Age, the entire country was completely depopulated by several wars and catastrophes. Essentially only the hobbits remained. This may also have something to do with the fact that there were first the texts of the Silmarillion and the Hobbit, and then these two worlds got connected via The Lord of the Rings...

 

[Edheldae]

It's a good question. As to why they survived that long, I'd guess being a defensible hill town only a day's march from a major Baranduin crossing had something to do with it. Help was never far away and their northern approach was protected by the fortress-city of Fornost until it fell in the autumn of TA 1973.

Reportedly the Witch King and his forces invested Fornost when Arvedui fled. Bree may have been on the list for being wiped out. However, it's north-eastern approaches were protected by the Weather Hills and the Midgewater Marshes, possibly why Rhudaur and Angmarin troops went around to the north and towards Fornost to begin with. One assumes they would come down what was later called the Greenway in the Spring. There was a heavy winter that year, so the campaign may have waited as Angmar invested/looted Fornost. Of course the Witch King could not know that Gondor would finally answer the summons to aid, sending the future King Earnur north either that autumn or early on 1974. Lindon and Gondor assaulted over the Lune shortly after Arvedui's overthrow, destroying the Witch King's forces.

The Weather Hills and Cardolan Downs continued to be important locations for the Chieftains of the Dunedain, possibly making Bree a valuable island of civilization to protect.

 

[Annatar]

Yes, that sounds pretty plausible.

Here's another very good video from Darth Gandalf about the blatant population loss in Eriador:

 

[Edheldae]

Great resource! Thank you. I'll check out more of his stuff. I've always thought Eriador was a great mostly empty canvas to bring into stories. This brings up an idea about the relationship of the Men of Bree to the other groups that eventually became the Edain, and the men who never went west over the Blue Mountains. The Bree men themselves believed they were the first men to settle in Eriador. While the Numenoreans may have recognized them as related to the House of Beor, Tolkien relates in Appendix F that men who would become Dunlendings had offshoot groups. Some moved south to the Vales of the White Mountains, becoming the Men of Dunharrow. Others of the proto-Dunlending group moved north to the southern Vales of the Misty Mountains, and eventually to the Barrow Downs, of whom the Men of Bree were descended. The possibility that both group's ancestors created primitive stone monoliths is certainly interesting. The Bree men became subjects of Arnor when it was founded, and took up Westron speech and manners, where Dunlendings retained their language and manners. Total speculation - perhaps enough of a kinship and relatedness was recognized in later centuries that human groups allied to Sauron in the mid TA left Bree on the map. Perhaps both the men of the West and the men who had been under the Shadow saw a relatedness to the men of Bree.