Barliman Butterbur

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Barliman Butterbur is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings.

Butterbur was the owner of the Inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree. He was a fat, bald man, but as Bree was inhabited by both "Big Folk" and "Little Folk", i.e. hobbits , he had two hobbit employees: Bob, who worked in the stables, and Nob, a servant.

Butterbur appeared to have had a rather bad memory, "One thing drives out another," as he put it. He forgot to send Gandalf's letter to Frodo, leaving Frodo uncertain as to Gandalf's fate and causing him to start his journey much later than the letter indicated. He did not remember it until Frodo and his companions arrived to stay at the inn, and even then it was long before the connection was made. He did, however, remember in time to produce Strider's credentials. Even so, he was somewhat put out that the Hobbits left Bree with him. When Gandalf arrives in Bree fearful that the Black Riders had captured Frodo (or worse) and mindful of the innkeeper's nature, he swears he will "roast him...melt all the butter out of him" and indeed, Barliman is so terrified at the sight of Gandalf that he collapses. Gandalf is so overjoyed to hear that the Hobbits are alive and well, however, that he actually embraces the old fellow and puts a blessing on his beer. In The Return of the King, Butterbur was amazed to learn that Strider, a former patron of the Prancing Pony, had become king of Gondor and Arnor.

Butterbur appears in both Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (1978) and Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), but in both adaptations most of his scenes, including the references to Gandalf's letter, are cut. Alan Tilvern voiced Butterbur (credited as "Innkeeper") in the animated film, while David Weatherley played him in Jackson's epic. Unlike in the book, where Barliman does show a little backbone, he is left cowering in the corner when the Black Riders storm the inn.

James Grout played Butterbur in BBC Radio's 1981 serialization of The Lord of the Rings.