Who Done it?

[Mad Baggins]

The Riders would probably be untrustful of Ferny. After all, he is a Man and Men are easily swayed by the Ring; ergo, they probably thought he would be lured by the Ring and take it.

[Thalionyulma]

Hmmmm... although its been some time that I've dug up the LoTR books, I remember that although the Riders were at the Prancing Pony it was in RoTK that, along with the burning of the Shire, the mention of the raiding of the Inn (or Bree) was done by the Men.

Any other opinion on this?

[Knight of Gondor]

I recall reading in Unfinished Tales that the Nazgul themselves did the raiding. I don't think Ferny and his ilk were stout enough to want to try raiding the rooms...and I don't think they would have the blades, which I assume were used to slash the bolsters. Also, the Dark Riders were lurking outside the Inn, Merry sort of ran into them. I'd have to check and read it for sure, but I never doubted that it was the Ringwraiths that perpetrated the break-in.

Here's another question, though, one small enough that it isn't worthy of its own post. Do you think Butterbur was awake all night? One would guess not, since Tolkien added that little "he said" bit to make us doubt him. But if he HAD been awake, it would further make me think that it was the Nazgul, because they would probably be a little more stealthy about it.