Staddle Battle of Five Armies & The Third Age of Middle-Earth The current year for our Middle-Earth campaign is set during the year of 2946 of the Third Age. Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien

The founding of Staddle predates the mass migration of Hobbits across the Brandywine River. Long before the Shire was a cohesive political entity, small, adventurous bands of Stoors had settled the eastern dales of the region known as Eriador. They found the eastern slopes of the isolated Bree-hill appealing. The existing Men of Bree, accustomed to having quiet neighbors, allowed the little folk to dig their burrows into the soft, sun-drenched hillsides, establishing a peaceful co-existence that would endure for centuries. Staddle was thus a community of two peoples from its very beginning.

Life in Staddle was dictated by the land itself. The men built sturdy stone cottages along the lanes, while the hobbits carved out comfortable smials that dotted the southern face of the hill. Unlike the bustling, central crossroads of Bree town, where travelers from across Middle-earth mingled, Staddle remained a quieter, more agriculturally inclined place. Its people were farmers who preferred to stay close to home, focusing their efforts on the fertile fields that stretched out towards the brooding Midgewater Marshes to the east.

A defining feature of Staddle’s existence was its unique relationship with agriculture, specifically the cultivation of pipe-weed. The warm, well-drained slopes of the Bree-hill proved ideal for the plant, producing a superior leaf highly prized across the region. The Hobbits of Staddle took particular pride in their green thumb, perfecting curing methods that became a local secret. While Bree had the famous Prancing Pony inn, Staddle had The Lamplighter, a smaller, homelier establishment where locals gathered to smoke their home-grown weed, swap gossip, and enjoy a quiet pint away from the noise of the Great East Road.

The settlement maintained a strong sense of independence from its larger neighbor, Bree. While all the settlements of the Bree-land looked to the town for matters of defense and trade organization, the people of Staddle cherished their village identity. They were not "Bree-folk" in the same way the townsfolk were; they were "Staddlers." As the centuries rolled on and the world outside grew darker and wilder with the waxing of the Shadow, Staddle hunkered down. Trade routes became dangerous, and the communities of Bree-land became increasingly isolated islands of civilization.

Staddle remained fundamentally unchanged right up to the defining events of the War of the Ring. Its history was not written in the deeds of kings, but in the soil it tilled and the simple peace its inhabitants maintained. It stands in the lore of Middle-earth as a symbol of the enduring power of community and the quiet importance of home, a small, warm light in the vast wilderness of Eriador that persisted long after the great kingdoms of Men had fallen to ruin.