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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth The Green Dragon is a fictional building in the Shire.
The Green Dragon is an inn at Bywater. The Green Dragon was the last building on the side of Bywater nearest to Hobbiton. Hobbits from Bywater, Hobbiton, and the surrounding area came to the Green Dragon for pints of beer and gossip. On April 27, 2941, at the beginning of the quest to the Lonely Mountain, Thorin and Company went ahead to the Green Dragon to make preparations and await Bilbo Baggins.
One evening in early April of 3018, Samwise Gamgee and Ted Sandyman, the miller's son, were at The Green Dragon. Sam spoke of strange things that had been happening, such as queer folk passing through the Shire and the Tree-man his cousin Hal claimed to have seen on the North Moors. Sam was particularly sad about the passing of the Elves westward as they left Middle-earth. Ted Sandyman scoffed at Sam's tales.
When Sam and the others returned to Bywater after the quest on November 2, 3019, they found that the windows of the inn were broken and the building looked lifeless. Six rough-looking Men lounged against the inn-wall, but the Hobbits drew their swords and the Men ran to Hobbiton for reinforcements. The next day the Men were defeated by the Hobbits in the Battle of Bywater.
In the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , The Green Dragon is the employer of Rose "Rosie" Cotton, who works there as a bar maid. This is where Samwise Gamgee approaches her following the Fellowship's return from Gondor. The Green Dragon was also not vandalized by Saruman's men in the films, because the Scouring of the Shire is only shown as an alternate future in Galadriel's mirror. It is featured twice, in brief interludes near the beginning and end of the three movies. The largest size of ale featured by the Green Dragon is half a pint.
Merry and Pippin sing a song about The Green Dragon in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:
Oh, you can search far and wide
You can drink the whole town dry
But you'll never find a beer so brown
But you'll never find a beer so brown
As the one we drink in our hometown
As the one we drink in our hometown
You can drink your fancy ales
You can drink 'em by the flagon
But the only brew for the brave and true
Comes from the Green Dragon!
The song is mostly invented by the film's writers, though the phrase "a beer so brown" appears in "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late", an actual Tolkien poem found in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, the inn is not simply vandalized, but utterly destroyed by the goblins led by Gorkil, the Goblin King, in the Evil Campaign. The Green Dragon Inn is also seen in the Shire map for Skirmish mode, where it functions as a normal inn once captured.
Namesakes
At Cornell University the student coffeeshop serving the College of Architecture, Art and Planning is named "The Green Dragon."
The oldest pub in Cambridge, England, which was built in the 16th century, is located on the banks of the river Cam and is called "The Green Dragon".
A popular gaming shop in North Charleston, South Carolina is named "The Green Dragon".
At the website LibraryThing, the most popular group (by post count) is a social group named "The Green Dragon."
References
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). "Roast Mutton". ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0.
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a). The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. "The Shadow of the Past". OCLC 9552942.
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. "The Scouring of the Shire". OCLC 519647821.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King DVD, "Return to Edoras"