"You meet a mysterious stranger in a tavern." Origins?

[Deset Gled]

There's a part of Romance of the Three Kingdoms where Lei Bei does the "You all meet at an inn" bit. Which goes to show that it's not just a European/western world thing. The whole world meets at a tavern. Because that's, like, the purpose of a tavern.

Date wise, Romance is typically dated as 15th century and would be just behind Canterbury Tales.

Edit: Dang it, missed it by that much.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In accord with prior suggestions, I’m going to say that the trope probably evolved shortly after the rise of organized trade routes & caravans. IOW, probably before most people were literate and relied on oral tale telling.

 

[Clint_L]

The Canterbury Tales, baby. And it's still never been topped.

Edit: okay, maybe Star Wars.

 

[MarkB]

The origin, is reality, and hence is as old as the invention of inns.

Or older. I'm sure there were tales of strangers meeting at the local watering hole back when it was a literal watering hole.

 

[TiQuinn]

Treasure Island is another novel that starts off with a number of mysterious strangers coming into a rural inn, and setting off a chain of events that leads to Jim Hawkins embarking on an adventure.

 

[Tonguez]

Canterbury Tales is likely the oldest featuring an actual Inn.

But The Odyssey is notable for powerful NPC (goddess) disguised as a traveler gives a “quest hook” to adventurers in a guest-hall

 

[aco175]

It's common knowledge that PCs do not trust anyone from the 1e days of adversarial DMs, so meeting in a public place with lots of people is needed.

 

[MGibster]

If I recall correctly, The Canterbury Tales begins with everyone meeting in an inn to head off on their pilgrimage.

I was going to mention The Canterbury Tales as well. Inns and taverns have been blurred together in the minds of a lot of people, but the two were originally quite different with one offering lodging and the other just drinks and maybe some food. The inn was a public space where people from different walks of life and from different places might rub shoulders with one another. Where else was a knight going to have an opportunity to sit down and share a drink with a cooper or even a nun? If you're going to meet someone to do a little business, the tavern, inn, or pub is a great place to meet. It's got plenty of space and you can drink while you talk.