Archet

From Tolkien Gateway
Archet
Village
The Lord of the Rings Online - Archet map.jpg
Map of Archet from The Lord of the Rings Online
General Information
LocationIn Bree-land northeast of Bree on the edge of the Chetwood in Eriador
TypeVillage

Archet was a village in Bree-land.[1] It was located northeast of Bree,[1] north of the East Road north of Combe among the trees probably on the southern[2][3] edge of the Chetwood[1].

History[edit | edit source]

When Aragorn, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took left the Prancing Pony inn in Bree in the morning of 30 September, T.A. 3018[4] even many inhabitants from Archet were crowded on the road in Bree to watch their departure.[5] On that day Aragorn and the Hobbits left the East Road and turned to the north in the direction of Archet and on the next day turned right before they reached Archet to pass it on the east through the Chetwood.[2]

When Frodo and his companions returned to Bree on 28 October, T.A. 3019,[6] Barliman Butterbur told them that Bree had been raided early in the year by ruffians from the south during the War of the Ring. Barliman Butterbur believed that they had been let into Bree by Harry Goatleaf and Bill Ferny, which had been on the side of the ruffians and which had fled Bree with them after they had lost the fight against the inhabitants of Bree, but three Men and two Hobbits from Bree were killed. The defeated ruffians fled to the woods beyond Archet and the wilds where they lived as robbers so that travelling on the road was no longer safe. As a result the inhabitants of Breeland locked up their dwellings early, kept watchers all around the hedge and guarded the gates with a lot of men during the night. He also informed them that the Bree-landers had not understood how much the Rangers of the North had done for their safety, because after they all left (to fight in the War of the Ring in the south) wolves had howled around the fences in the winter and there were dark shapes in the woods, dreadful things that make the blood run cold when he thought of them.[7]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Archet is an "English place-name of Celtic origin.[8]

The name Archet has been modelled on a relic of a "British" (i.e. Celtic) name that was chosen for its meaning, because the survival of traces of the older language of the Bree-men resembled the survival of Celtic elements in England. The element chet means "wood".[9][8] J.R.R. Tolkien stated that the name Archet was descended from British *ar(e)cait- and that Welsh argoed means "trees" or "edge of forest".[10]

Mark T. Hooker suggests that the element Ar- is a prefix meaning "nearby", found in several Welsh place-names. The meaning of Archet would thus be "near the woods", which Hooker notes describes its geographic position "on the edge of the Chetwood".[11]

David Salo suggests that Archet means "by the wood" and that it is equivalent to Welsh Argoed.[12]

The real-life Welsh place-name Argoed means "by a wood".

Portrayals in Adaptations[edit | edit source]

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

Archet is the settlement players start at if they are Hobbits or of the Race of Man. During the Introduction of the Shadows of Angmar it comes under attack by Blackwold brigands who burn many of the homes to the ground. The settlement is commanded by Captain Brackenbrook, a retired sell-sword, but command passes on to his son, Jon Brackenbrook, when his father is killed in the attack.

References