The Prancing Pony Inn in Bree is run by the perpetually absent-minded and harried Barliman Butterbur, a good and honest sort but prone to forgetting which way is up. As a result, Butterbur relies heavily upon his two hobbit assistants, Bob and Nob.
Nob spends most of his time at the Pony in the kitchen, serving guests, or running errands for old Butterbur, while Bob, as well as working in the kitchen, tends the Pony’s stables. Bob is also a family-hobbit and has to keep a constant eye out for his precocious daughter, Lalia. Barliman chides them both constantly, calling them woolly-pated slowcoaches, but it is a friendly sort of scolding. All three know that the Pony would cease to function without their constant minding to the details that slip by Barliman.
Bob and Nob, whose surnames remain unrecorded, first appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In LOTRO, Nob can be found wandering on an errand outside The Prancing Pony, while Bob is working in the kitchen inside.
Bob
Quick Facts
A hand at the Prancing Pony
One of the servants of Barliman Butterbur at the inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree. He was apparently its stablehand; at least, every time he is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, his duties seem to involve stabling of horses and ponies.
Nob
Quick Facts
One of the servants of Barliman Butterbur
With Bob, one of the two servants of Barliman Butterbur at the inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree.
