The Prancing Pony is the inn in Bree visited by Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It is run by Barliman Butterbur.
The inn appears early in The Fellowship of the Ring, after the hobbits leave the Shire. Bree is an important meeting place because it lies on the road between the Shire and Rivendell and is inhabited by both Men and Hobbits.
At the Prancing Pony, Frodo uses the assumed name Underhill. The hobbits meet Strider, later revealed as Aragorn, and receive news that helps move the journey into its next stage. The inn is also where Frodo’s disappearance during the performance causes alarm.
The name is sometimes confused with the Green Dragon, another inn in the Shire. The Green Dragon is associated with Hobbiton-area life, while the Prancing Pony is the prominent inn in Bree.