Butturbur's Worst Customers

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

But the ruffians were Saruman's method of just messing with the Shire, to get some revenge on Frodo et. al. He wouldn't have had much of an interest in Bree-beyond just causing more mayhem, but he wanted to destroy as much of the Shire as he could.

True enough. I was mainly defending Butturbur from charges of cowardice in the manner Gandalf took issue with his being described as "stupid" by Frodo.

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

As for general threats, didn't The Fellowship take the (magical?) wolves who attacked them to be at first an "ordinary" wolfpack, implying that such attacks in The Wild were not unknown or unexpected? That and roving orc bands, perhaps riding on wolves, could be some of the dangers---sort of the way Medieval people (and Grimm's Fairy Tales) saw the forests and lands outside settled areas.

I wouldn't think Orcs and Wargs to be the answer. While "white wolves" were not unknown in the area (the Shire having been invaded by them in the Fell Winter), they had apparently not been seen for many years leading up to the War of the Ring.
And if Orcs were in Eriador, surely that would have merited specific mention by someone, if not Aragorn.