I had the same doubt. From one side the defaault safe haven for a company is Bree. On the other side if you read the supplement from Bree in 1E people living there never saw an Elf in their life
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Is the
Bree supplement, though, consistent with Tolkien's legendarium? The quote from
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring suggests otherwise.
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The Men of Bree were brown-haired, broad, and rather short, cheerful and independent: they belonged to nobody but themselves; but they were more friendly and familiar with Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and other inhabitants of the world about them than was (or is) usual with Big People.
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Elves may have seldom (or never) been seen within the town, but I would guess that they were at least seen (or heard) passing by, mostly at night or twilight. From the
Bree supplement:
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What the Innkeeper says:
- Elves: "I've never seen one myself, but the stableboy swears he heard them singing out in the woods near Archet. He's half cracked, though. They were going west, he said, west to the Sea. I've never seen the Sea myself, neither, so what does it matter if a folk I'll never meet seek a place I'll never go? Nothing. Not a farthing."
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Perhaps we should not take the opinion of a Butterbur as the final word on the attitudes of all Bree-landers (though it may well be fairly typical).