Bill Ferny

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bill Ferny was a man from Bree. He is known by others residing in Bree as a very unpleasant person. He was disliked by all at birth, and his reputation did not improve with age and so therefore he acquired a bad name and a reputation for nefarious activities. His main area of interest and the source of his income seemed to be information brokerage but at times other mischievous activities.^[1]

When learning of the traveling hobbits, he sold information of their movements to the Nazgûl; an action that Merry had witnessed. He also was probably directly responsible for the letting loose of the ponies that could have been used by the hobbits. Even though he tried to avoid aiding the Fellowship of the Ring as they passed through, he sold a pony named Bill for twelve silver pennies (three times its value) to the hobbits and Aragorn, replacing their five, which had thought to have been stolen the previous night that he had helped to escape.^[2]

Ferny had become a direct supporter of Saruman's mechanization of the Shire. Later, towards the end of the War of the Ring, he became a watchman at the Brandywine Bridge. Bill repaid his former master for his mistreatment by kicking him. His later fate is not recorded, but it is written that he was never heard from again.

He was known to have lived in a house next to the Great East Road that ran through Bree near the Southern Gate and the Gatekeeper's lodge.^[3]

[edit] References

1. ↑ The Lord of the Rings pg. 165
2. ↑ The Lord of the Rings pgs. 173-79
3. ↑ The Atlas of Middle-earth pgs. 124-5