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{{short description|Fictional race from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium}}
{{other uses}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox fictional race
| name               = Hobbit
| other_names        = Halflings, ''Holbytlan'', ''Periannath''
| image              = <!--1. No fan art, please. 2. Images in copyright must be of a Hobbit (not a Hobbit-hole, etc.), and must have a specific and validly completed non-free usage rationale for this specific usage: [[WP:NFUR]]-->
| series             = [[Middle-earth]]
| first_major        = [[The Hobbit]]
| creator            = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
| home_world         = [[Middle-earth]]
| capital            = [[Michel Delving]]
| base_of_operations = [[The Shire]], [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree]]
| sub_races          = Harfoots, Fallohides, Stoors
| language           = [[Westron]]
| leaders            = [[The Shire#Government|Thain; Mayor of the Shire; Master of Buckland]]
| members            = {{ubl|[[Bilbo Baggins]]|[[Frodo Baggins]]|[[Samwise Gamgee]]|[[Merry Brandybuck]]|[[Pippin Took]]|[[Gollum]]}}
}}

'''Hobbits''' are a fictional race of people in the novels of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as '''halflings''' in Tolkien's writings, they live barefooted, and traditionally dwell in homely<!--British English--> underground houses which have windows, built into the sides of hills, though others live in houses. Their feet have naturally tough leathery soles (so they do not need shoes) and are covered on top with curly hair.

Hobbits first appeared in the 1937 children's novel ''[[The Hobbit]]'', whose titular Hobbit is the protagonist [[Bilbo Baggins]], who is thrown into an unexpected adventure involving a [[dragon]]. In its sequel, ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the hobbits [[Frodo Baggins]], [[Sam Gamgee]], [[Pippin Took]], and [[Merry Brandybuck]] are primary characters who all play key roles in fighting to save their world ("[[Middle-earth]]") from evil. In ''The Hobbit'', hobbits live together in a small town called Hobbiton, which in ''The Lord of the Rings'' is identified as being part of a larger rural region called [[the Shire]], the homeland of the hobbits in the northwest of Middle-earth. Some also live in a region east of the Shire, [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree-land]], where they co-exist with [[Men in Middle-earth|Men]]. 

The origins of the name and idea of "Hobbits" have been debated; literary antecedents include [[Sinclair Lewis]]'s 1922 novel ''[[Babbitt (novel)|Babbitt]]'', and Edward Wyke Smith's 1927 ''[[The Marvellous Land of Snergs]]''. The word "hobbit" also appears in a list of ghostly beings in [[Denham Tracts|The Denham Tracts]] (1895), though these bear no similarity to Tolkien's Hobbits. Scholars have noted Tolkien's denial of a relationship with the word "[[rabbit]]", pointing to several lines of evidence to the contrary.<!--this is cited in the 'Rabbit' section below--> Hobbits are modern, unlike the heroic ancient-style cultures of [[Gondor]] and [[Rohan, Middle-earth|Rohan]], with familiar things like umbrellas, matches, and clocks. As such they mediate between the modern world known to readers and the heroic ancient world of Middle-earth. 

[[Halfling]]s appear as a race in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', and the works of other fantasy authors including [[Terry Brooks]], [[Jack Vance]], and [[Clifford D. Simak]].

== Origins of the word ==

{{main|Hobbit (word)|l1 = ''Hobbit'' (word)}}
 
Tolkien claimed that he started ''The Hobbit'' suddenly, without premeditation, in the midst of grading a set of student essay exams in 1930 or 1931, writing its famous<ref name="Indie 2017">{{cite news |last=Sommerlad |first=Joe |title=The Hobbit at 80: What were JRR Tolkien's inspirations behind his first fantasy tale of Middle Earth? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/hobbit-80-jrr-tolkien-anniversary-published-lord-rings-middle-earth-fantasy-inspiration-myths-fairy-tales-a7957321.html |access-date=7 February 2021 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=2 October 2017}}</ref> opening line on a blank piece of paper: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit".{{sfn|Carpenter|1978|pp=175, 180–181}}{{sfn|Stanton|2013|pp=280–282}}

=== In English literature ===

{{further|Tolkien's modern sources}}

[[File:Snerg with bow.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|A Snerg with a bow and arrows. ''[[The Marvellous Land of Snergs]]'' is seen by Tolkien scholars as an influence on Tolkien's hobbits.<ref name="GilliverMarshall2009">{{cite book |last1=Gilliver |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Gilliver |last2=Marshall |first2=Jeremy |last3=Weiner |first3=Edmund |title=The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bszM-uwEQOkC&pg=PA54 |date=23 July 2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-956836-9 |page=54}}</ref> ]]

The term "hobbit", however, has real antecedents in modern English. One is a fact that Tolkien admitted: the title of [[Sinclair Lewis]]'s 1922 novel ''[[Babbitt (novel)|Babbitt]]'', about a "complacent American businessman" who goes through a journey of some kind of self-discovery, facing "near-disgrace";<ref>{{ME-ref|Letters|Letter to Harry C. Bauer, 24 November 1966}}</ref> the Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] observes that there are some parallels here with Bilbo's own journey.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}}

According to a letter from Tolkien to [[W. H. Auden]], one "probably ... unconscious" inspiration was [[Edward Wyke Smith]]'s 1927 children's book ''[[The Marvellous Land of Snergs]]''.<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter 163 to W. H. Auden, 7 June 1955 }}</ref> Tolkien described the Snergs as "a race of people only slightly taller than the average table but broad in the shoulders and [who] have the strength of ten men."{{sfn|Carpenter|1978|p=165}}

Another possible origin emerged in 1977 when the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' announced that it had found the source that it supposed Tolkien to have used: James Hardy wrote in his 1895 ''[[Denham Tracts|The Denham Tracts, Volume 2]]'': "The whole earth was overrun with ghosts, boggles ... hobbits, hobgoblins." Shippey writes that the list was of ghostly creatures without bodies, nothing like Tolkien's solid flesh-and-blood hobbits.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}} Tolkien scholars consider it unlikely that Tolkien saw the list.{{sfn|Flowers|2017|pp=2}}

=== Rabbit ===

An additional connection is with [[rabbit]], one that Tolkien "emphatically rejected",{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}} although the word appears in ''The Hobbit'' in connection with other characters' opinions of Bilbo in several places.<ref name="O'Brien 1989">{{cite journal |last=O'Brien |first=Donald |title=On the Origin of the Name "Hobbit" |journal=Mythlore |date=15 December 1989 |volume=16 |issue=2 |page=Article 19 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol16/iss2/19}}</ref> Bilbo compares himself to a rabbit when he is with the [[Eagle (Middle-earth)|eagle]] that carries him; the [[Eagle (Middle-earth)|eagle]], too, tells Bilbo not to be "frightened like a rabbit".{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}} The giant bear-man [[Beorn]] teases Bilbo and jokes that "little bunny is getting nice and fat again", while the dwarf [[Thorin Oakenshield|Thorin]] shakes Bilbo "like a rabbit".{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}}

Shippey writes that the rabbit is not a native English species, but was deliberately introduced in the 13th century, and has become accepted as a local wild animal. Shippey compares this "situation of [[anachronism]]-cum-familiarity" with the lifestyle of the Hobbit, giving the example of smoking "pipeweed". He argues that Tolkien did not want to write "[[tobacco]]", as it did not arrive until the 16th century, so Tolkien invented a [[calque]] made of English words.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}} 
Donald O'Brien, writing in ''[[Mythlore]]'', notes, too, that [[Aragorn]]'s description of [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]'s priceless ''[[mithril]]'' [[Chain mail|mail]]-shirt, "here's a pretty hobbit-skin to wrap an [[Elf (Middle-earth)|elven]]-princeling in", is a "curious echo"<ref name="O'Brien 1989"/> of the English [[nursery rhyme]] "[[Bye, baby Bunting|To find a pretty rabbit-skin to wrap the baby bunting in]]."<ref name="O'Brien 1989"/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ [[Tom Shippey]]'s analysis of the parallels between "Hobbit" and "Rabbit"{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}}
|-
! Feature !! "Hobbit" !! "[[Rabbit]]"
|-
| [[Neologism]] || Tolkien, 1937 || 1398 ([[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]])
|-
| [[Etymology]] || Doubtful, see text || Unknown before [[Middle English]]
|-
| Familiar<br/>[[Anachronism]] || Smokes "pipeweed", but <br/>[[tobacco]] did not arrive<br/> until 16th century || Introduced species<br/>but accepted as native
|-
| Appearance 
| colspan=2; style="text-align:center; | Small, plump (and also edible)
|-
| Name || Called "rabbit" by Bert the [[Troll (Middle-earth)|troll]], [[Eagle (Middle-earth)|eagle]];<br/>called "little bunny" by [[Beorn]] || (both are common names)
|}

=== Fictional etymology ===

Tolkien has King [[Théoden]] of [[Rohan (Middle-earth)|Rohan]] say "the Halflings, that some among us call the Holbytlan".<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954|loc=book 3, ch. 8 "The Road to Isengard"}}</ref> Tolkien set out a fictional [[etymology]] for the [[Hobbit (word)|word "Hobbit"]] in an appendix to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', that it was derived from ''holbytla'' (plural ''holbytlan''),<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|loc=Appendix F, 2. "On Translation", "Note on three names: ''Hobbit'', ''Gamgee'', and ''Brandywine''"}}</ref> meaning "hole-builder". This was Tolkien's own new construction from [[Old English]] ''hol'', "a hole or hollow", and ''bytlan'', "to build".{{sfn|Clark Hall|2002|pp=63, 189}}{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=76-78}}

{{anchor|Divisions}}

== Description ==

=== Characteristics ===

Tolkien describes hobbits as between two and four feet (0.6–1.2 m) tall, with the average height being {{convert|3|ft|6|in|m|spell=in|sigfig=2}}. They dress in bright colours, favouring yellow and green. They are usually shy, but are nevertheless capable of great courage and amazing feats under the proper circumstances. They are adept at throwing stones. For the most part, they cannot grow beards, but a few Stoor hobbits can. Their feet are covered with curly hair (usually brown, as is the hair on their heads) and have leathery soles, so Hobbits hardly ever wear shoes.<ref name="Prologue" group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc="Prologue"}}</ref> Hobbits are not quite as stocky as the similarly sized [[Dwarves (Middle-earth)|dwarves]], but still tend to be stout, with slightly pointed ears. Tolkien clarified their appearance in a 1938 letter to his American publisher:<ref name="Letter 27" group="T"/>

{{blockquote|I picture a fairly human figure, not a kind of 'fairy' rabbit as some of my British reviewers seem to fancy: fattish in the stomach, shortish in the leg. A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown). The feet from the ankles down, covered with brown hairy fur. Clothing: green velvet breeches; red or yellow waistcoat; brown or green jacket; gold (or brass) buttons; [and specifically for Bilbo, in ''The Hobbit''] a dark green hood and cloak (belonging to a dwarf).<ref name="Letter 27" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=letter 27 to [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin Company]], probably March or April 1938, specifically about Bilbo Baggins }}</ref>}}

Tolkien presented hobbits as relatives of the human race,<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/> or a "variety"<ref name="variety" group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1975|loc=''Firstborn''}}</ref><ref name="Gilliver 2012">{{cite web |last=Gilliver |first=Peter |date=14 August 2012 |title=J.R.R. Tolkien and the OED |url=https://public.oed.com/blog/jrr-tolkien-and-the-oed/ |access-date=23 February 2021 |website=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]}} Note: Gives the OED's definition of "Hobbit", and states it was written by Tolkien, and included almost unchanged.</ref> or separate "branch"<ref name="branch" group="T">{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter 131 to [[Milton Waldman]], late 1951 }}</ref> of humanity.<ref name="Gilliver 2012"/> In Tolkien's fictional world, hobbits and other races are aware of the similarities between humans and hobbits (hence the colloquial terms for each other of "[[Men (Middle-earth)|Big People]]" and "Little People"); nevertheless, hobbits consider themselves a separate people.<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=Book II, Chapter 1 "Many Meetings". "If you can't distinguish between a Man and a Hobbit, your judgement is poorer than I imagined. They're as different as peas and apples."}}</ref>

The race's average life expectancy is 100 years, but some of Tolkien's main Hobbit characters live much longer: [[Bilbo Baggins]] and the Old Took are described as living to the age of 130 or beyond, though Bilbo's long lifespan owes much to his possession of the [[One Ring]]. Hobbits are considered to "come of age" on their 33rd birthday, so a 50-year-old hobbit would be regarded as entering middle-age.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc="Prologue", 1. "Concerning Hobbits"}}</ref>

=== Types ===

[[File:Hobbit origins map.svg|thumb|upright=2.2|Hobbits are described as being of three types, ''Harfoots'', ''Fallohides'', and ''Stoors'', all deriving from a region to the east of [[the Shire]], in particular the Angle between two rivers, and migrating to the Shire at different times.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=198-199}}]]

Tolkien devised a fictional history with three types of hobbits, with different physical characteristics and temperaments: ''Harfoots'', ''Fallohides'', and ''Stoors''. By the time of Bilbo and Frodo, these kinds had intermixed for centuries, though unevenly, so that some families and regions skewed more towards descent from one of the three groups.<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/><ref name="guide" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1975}}</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2024}}

The '''Harfoots''' were by far the most numerous group of hobbits and were the first to enter the land of [[Eriador]], which contains the Shire and Bree. They were the smallest in stature, "browner of skin" in complexion, and the most typical of the race as described in ''The Hobbit''. They lived in [[Underground living|holes]], or ''smials'', and had closer relations with [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarves]] than other hobbits did. Harfoots tended to live in gentle rolling hill country, and were mostly agrarian. They were the first group to cross the Misty Mountains, settling in the lands around Bree starting in Third Age 1050 (about 2,000 years before the time of Bilbo and Frodo, and five and a half centuries before the founding of the Shire in Third Age 1601). Tolkien coined the term "Harfoot" as analogous to "hairfoot".<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/><ref name="guide" group=T/>

The '''Fallohides''' were the least numerous, and the second group to enter Eriador. They were generally fair-haired, and taller and slimmer than other Hobbits. While the other two types of hobbit were on average about three and a half feet tall, Fallohides were closer on average to four feet. They were more adventurous than the other breeds and preferred living in woodlands, where they became skilled huntsmen, known for their accuracy with ranged weapons. They had closer relations with [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]], who also tended to live in forests. Due to their contact with the Elves, Fallohides were the first hobbits to learn literacy, and therefore were the only ones who preserved even vague knowledge of their past before crossing the Misty Mountains. The Fallohides crossed into Eriador about a century after the Harfoots did, and settled in the pre-existing Harfoot villages of the Bree-land. Never very numerous, the Fallohides intermixed with and were largely absorbed by the Harfoots during this time, though several prominent families such as the Tooks and the Masters of Buckland had a substantial Fallohide descent, unlike many of the people that they led. After about four centuries, a large expedition of hobbits migrated westward from Bree-land led by the Fallohide brothers Marcho and Blancho, who settled and founded the Shire in TA 1601.<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/><ref name="guide" group=T/>

[[Bilbo Baggins|Bilbo]] and three of the four principal hobbit characters in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' ([[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]], [[Pippin Took|Pippin]], and [[Merry Brandybuck|Merry]]) had Fallohide blood through their common ancestor, the Old Took. The one physical description given for Frodo matches this, as Gandalf identifies him as "taller than some, and fairer than most".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=book 1, ch. 10, "Strider"}}</ref> Tolkien created the name from the archaic meanings of English words "fallow" and "hide", meaning "pale skin".<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/><ref name="guide" group=T/>

The '''Stoors''' were the second most numerous group of hobbits and the last to enter Eriador. They were quite different from the other two groups: they were stockier than other hobbits, though slightly shorter, and they were also the only group whose males were able to grow beards. They had an affinity for water, dwelt mostly beside [[river]]s, and were the only hobbits to use boats and swim, activities which other hobbits considered dangerous and frightening. Their hands and feet were also sturdier than those of other hobbits, who generally didn't wear shoes for cushioning their steps, though because the Stoors tended to live near muddy riverbanks they often wore boots to keep their feet dry, making them the only hobbits to use footwear of any kind. Tolkien says they were "less shy of [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]]". The Stoors migrated into Eriador two centuries after the Fallohides did, but instead of settling in Bree-land they headed farther south to Dunland by Third Age 1300, finally migrating to the newly founded Shire in Third Age 1630, the last of the three groups to arrive. The Stoors mostly settled along the banks of the River Brandywine in the east of the Shire, thus many hobbits of [[Buckland (Middle-earth)|Buckland]] and the [[Marish]] were of Stoor descent. Due to the time the Stoors spent living in Dunland before migrating to the Shire, their names have a slight Celtic influence.<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/><ref name="guide" group=T/>

A small group of Stoors did not go as far south as Dunland but settled in the wetlands of the Angle in southern Rhudaur, between Dunland and Bree. When the evil power of Angmar rose in the north many of these Stoors joined their kin in Dunland, but some fled back east over the mountains and settled in the marshes of the Gladden Fields: Déagol and [[Gollum|Sméagol/Gollum]] both belonged to this group.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980|loc=part 3, ch. 4 "The Hunt for the Ring", note 9}}</ref> Tolkien used the Old English word ''stor'' or ''stoor'', meaning "strong".<ref name="Prologue" group="T"/><ref name="guide" group=T/>{{sfn|Clark Hall|2002|p=322}}

=== Lifestyle and culture ===

[[File:Hobbit holes reflected in water.jpg|thumb|left|Hobbit holes or smials as depicted in Peter Jackson's [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'']] film trilogy]]

In his writings, Tolkien depicted hobbits as fond of an unadventurous, bucolic and [[simple living|simple life]] of farming, eating, and socializing, although capable of defending their homes courageously if the need arises. They would enjoy six meals a day, if they could get them.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/> They claimed to have invented the art of smoking [[pipe-weed]].<ref name="Prologue on Pipe-weed" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc="Prologue", 2. "Concerning Pipe-weed"}}</ref> 
They were extremely "clannish" and had strong "predilections for [[genealogy]]"; accordingly, Tolkien included several [[Tolkien's Middle-earth family trees|Hobbit family trees]] in ''The Lord of the Rings''.<ref name="Drout2007">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Fisher |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Fisher |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |chapter=Family Trees |title=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2007 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-0-415-96942-0 |pages=188–189}}</ref> Most hobbits married and had large families, although Bilbo and Frodo were exceptions to this general rule.

The hobbits of [[Shire (Middle-earth)|the Shire]] developed the custom of giving away gifts on their birthdays, instead of receiving them, although this custom was not universally followed among other hobbit cultures or communities.{{efn|Gollum refers to the One Ring as his "birthday present" in ''The Hobbit''.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc=ch. 5 "Riddles in the Dark"}}</ref>}} The term ''[[wiktionary:mathom|mathom]]'' is used for old and useless objects, but which hobbits are unwilling to throw away. ''Mathoms'' are invariably given as presents many times over, sometimes returning to the original owner, or are stored in a museum (''mathom-house'').<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/>

The hobbits had a [[Shire Calendar|distinct calendar]]: every year started on a Saturday and ended on a Friday, with each of the twelve months consisting of thirty days. [[Intercalary day|Some special days]] did not belong to any month—[[Yule]] 1 and 2 (New Year's Eve & New Years Day) and three Lithedays in mid-summer. Every fourth year there was an extra Litheday, most likely as an adaptation, similar to a [[leap year]], to ensure that the calendar remained in time with the seasons.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|loc=Appendix D}}</ref>

[[File:Tolkien_tree_waistcoat.jpg|thumb|upright|Tolkien stated that he liked gardens, [[Trees and forests in Middle-earth|trees]], and wearing waistcoats, just as hobbits did; he was often photographed with trees.<ref name="I am a hobbit" group=T/>]]

Hobbits traditionally live in "hobbit-holes", or ''smials'', [[earth house|underground homes]] found in hillsides, downs, and banks, though others lived in houses.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/> It has been suggested that the soil or ground of the Shire consists of [[loess]] and that this facilitates the construction of hobbit-holes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smalley |first1=I.J. |last2=Bijl |first2=S. |year=2003 |title=Hobbit holes as loess dwellings and the Shire as a loess region |journal=New Zealand Soil News |volume=51 |pages=158–159 |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/61253539/Hobbit-Holes-as-Loess-Dwellings-and-the-Shire-as-a-Loess-Region}}</ref> Loess is a yellow soil, which would explain the colour of the Brandywine River, and the nature of the bricks made at Stock, the main Shire brickyard.{{efn|A [[stock brick]] is a handmade yellow brick from Southeast England.<ref name="British Brick Society">{{cite journal |last=Hounsell |first=Peter |title=Up the Cut to Paddington: The West Middlesex brick industry and the Grand Junction Canal |journal=The British Brick Society |date=February 2004 |volume=93 |pages=11–16 |issn=0960-7870}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smalley |first1=I. J. |last2=Bijl |first2=S. |year=1995 |title=Bricks and brickmaking in the Shire |journal=Amon Hen |volume=128 |pages=18–19}}</ref> [[Architecture in Middle-earth|Hobbit architecture]] favours round doors and windows.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/>

Tolkien likened his own tastes to those of hobbits in a 1958 letter:<ref name="I am a hobbit" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter 213 to Deborah Webster, 25 October 1958 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|I am in fact a Hobbit in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humour (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.<ref name="I am a hobbit" group=T/>}}

== Fictional history ==

=== In Rhovanion ===

In their earliest [[fable|folk tales]], hobbits appear to have lived in [[Rhovanion]], in the [[Anduin|Valley of Anduin]], between [[Mirkwood]] and the [[Misty Mountains]]. According to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', they had lost the genealogical details of how they are related to the [[Man (Middle-earth)|Big People]]. Still, Tolkien clearly states in "Concerning Hobbits" that hobbits are not technically a distinct race from Men, the way that Elves or Dwarves are, but branched off from other humans in the distant past of the Elder Days. Many eons later, but still early in the Third Age, the ancient hobbits lived in the valley of the [[Anduin River]], close by the [[Éothéod]], the ancestors of the Rohirrim. This led to some contact between the two, and as a result many old words and names in "Hobbitish" are derivatives of words in [[Rohirric]] (which Tolkien "translated" into his text by presenting it as Old English).<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/>

The Harfoots lived on the lowest slopes of the Misty Mountains in Hobbit-holes dug into the hillsides. They were not only smaller and shorter, but also beard- and bootless. The Stoors lived on the marshy [[Gladden Fields]] where the Gladden River met the Anduin, and were broader and heavier in build; and the Fallohides preferred to live in the woods under the Misty Mountains. They were described as fairer of skin and hair, as well as taller and slimmer than the rest of the hobbits.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/>

=== Migration to the West ===

[[File:Anglo-Saxon Homelands and Settlements.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|The three peoples who founded England included those who came from the Angle between [[Flensburg Fjord]] and the [[Schlei]], from the East (across the [[North Sea]]), hence the name "England". The migrations of these three peoples are reflected in those of the three types of Hobbits.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=198-199}}]]

In the [[History of Arda#Third Age|Third Age]], hobbits undertook the arduous task of crossing the Misty Mountains—a migration period they refer to as the "Wandering Days", the earliest remembered time in their history. Reasons for this trek are unknown, but they possibly had to do with [[Sauron]]'s growing power in nearby Greenwood, which later became known as [[Mirkwood]] as a result of the shadow that fell upon it during his search of the forest for the One Ring. Hobbits took different routes in their journey westward, but as they began to settle together in [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree-land]], [[Dunland]], and the Angle formed by the rivers Mitheithel and [[Bruinen]], the divisions between the hobbit-kinds began to blur. Shippey explains that the name "Angle" has a special resonance, as the name "England" comes from the Angle (Anglia) between the [[Flensburg Fjord]] and the [[Schlei|River Schlei]], in the north of Germany next to Denmark, the origin of the [[Angles (people)|Angles]] among the [[Anglo-Saxons]] who founded England. Further, the migrations of the three types of hobbit mirror those of England's founders.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=198-199}}

=== Foundation of the Shire ===

{{further|The Shire}}

In the year 1601 of the Third Age (year 1 in the Shire Reckoning), two Fallohide brothers named Marcho and Blanco gained permission from the King of Arnor at Fornost to cross the [[Baranduin|River Brandywine]] and settle on the other side. The new land that they founded on the west bank of the Brandywine was called The Shire.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/> Many hobbits followed them, and by the end of the Third Age most hobbits outside The Shire could be found in their village of Staddle on the southeastern slopes of Bree-hill. However, some also lived with Men in the village of Bree itself and in nearby Archet and Combe.<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=At the Sign of ''The Prancing Pony''}}</ref>

Originally the hobbits of the Shire [[Feudal allegiance in The Lord of the Rings|swore nominal allegiance to the last Kings of Arnor]], being required only to acknowledge their lordship, speed their messengers, and keep the bridges and roads in repair. During the final fight against [[Angmar]] at the Battle of Fornost, the hobbits maintain that they sent a company of archers to help but this is nowhere else recorded. After the battle, the kingdom of Arnor was destroyed, and in the absence of the king, the hobbits elected a [[Thain (Middle-earth)|Thain]] of the Shire from among their own chieftains.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/>

The first Thain of the Shire was Bucca of the Marish, who founded the Oldbuck family. However, the Oldbuck family later crossed the Brandywine River to create the separate land of Buckland and the family name changed to the familiar "Brandybuck". Their patriarch then became Master of Buckland. With the departure of the Oldbucks/Brandybucks, a new family was selected to have its chieftains be Thain: the Took family (Pippin Took was son of the Thain and would later become Thain himself). The Thain was in charge of Shire Moot and Muster and the Hobbitry-in-Arms, but as the hobbits of the Shire generally led entirely peaceful, uneventful lives the office of Thain came to be seen as something of a formality.<ref name="Prologue on Hobbits" group=T/>

Hobbits first appear in ''The Hobbit'' as the rural people of the Shire; the book tells of the unexpected adventure that happened to one of them, Bilbo, as a party of Dwarves seeks to recover an ancient treasure from the hoard of a dragon. They are again central to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', an altogether darker tale, where Bilbo's younger cousin Frodo sets out from the Shire to destroy the Ring that Bilbo had brought home.{{sfn|Kocher|1974|pp=22, 29-30}}

== Analysis ==

=== Moral significance ===

The Tolkien critic [[Paul H. Kocher]] notes that Tolkien's literary techniques require readers to view hobbits as like humans, especially when placed under moral pressure to survive a war that threatens to devastate their land.{{sfn|Kocher|1974|pp=106, 119}} [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] becomes in some ways the symbolic representation of the conscience of hobbits, a point made explicitly in the story "[[Leaf by Niggle]]" which Tolkien wrote at the same time as the first nine chapters of ''The Lord of the Rings''.{{sfn|Kocher|1974|pp=144–151}} Niggle is a painter struggling against the summons of death to complete his one great canvas, a picture of a tree with a background of forest and distant mountains. He dies with the work incomplete, undone by his imperfectly generous heart: "it made him uncomfortable more often than it made him do anything".<ref name="Dublin Leaf" group=T>{{cite journal |author=Anon |title=[Review:] Tolkien, J. R. R. ''Leaf by Niggle'' |journal=[[The Dublin Review]] |year=1945 |issue=January 1945 |page=216}}</ref> After discipline in [[Purgatory]], however, Niggle finds himself in the very landscape depicted by his painting which he is now able to finish with the assistance of a neighbour who obstructed him during life. The picture complete, Niggle is free to journey to the distant mountains which represent the highest stage of his spiritual development.<ref name="Dublin Leaf" group=T/> Thus, upon recovery from the wound inflicted by the Witch-King of Angmar on [[Weathertop]], [[Gandalf]] speculates that the hobbit Frodo "may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can".{{sfn|Kocher|1974|p=108}} Similarly, as Frodo nears [[Mount Doom]] he casts aside weapons and refuses to fight others with physical force: "For him struggles for the right must hereafter be waged only on the moral plane".{{sfn|Kocher|1974|p=108}}

=== Modern mediators ===

{{further|Anachronism in Middle-earth}}

[[File:Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Clock Tower, Exmouth.jpg|thumb|Tolkien dated [[the Shire]] to the time of the [[Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria]], 1897, when [[Exmouth]]'s Jubilee clock was built.<ref name="Tolkien Jubilee" group=T/>]]

Tolkien scholars including Shippey and [[Dimitra Fimi]] have stated that the hobbits are misfits in Middle-earth's heroic cultures like [[Gondor]] and [[Rohan, Middle-earth|Rohan]]. Those have a basis in ancient societies such as [[ancient Rome]] and the [[Anglo-Saxons]].<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/> In contrast, Tolkien placed the Shire in a society he had personally experienced, "more or less a [[Warwickshire]] village of about the period of the [[Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria|Diamond Jubilee [of Queen Victoria, in 1897]]]".<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian">{{harvnb|Fimi|2010|loc=10 "Visualizing Middle-earth" "Victorian countryside and relics of the industrial revolution: the material culture of the Shire, pp. 179–188}}</ref><ref name="Tolkien Jubilee" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#178 to [[Allen & Unwin]], 12 December 1955 }}</ref> Shippey described hobbit culture, complete with tobacco and potatoes,{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=47–48}} as a "creative anachronism" on Tolkien's part.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=74–80}} In his view, [[anachronism]] is the "essential function" of hobbits, enabling Tolkien to "bridge the gap" by mediating between readers' lives in the modern world and the dangerous ancient world of Middle-earth.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=47–48}} 

[[File:RoyalFireworks.jpg|thumb|[[Fireworks]] (England's [[Music for the Royal Fireworks|Royal Fireworks]] of 1749 pictured) are among the [[anachronistically]] modern material features of hobbits' lives.<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/>]]

Fimi comments that this applies both to the style of language used by hobbits, and to their [[material culture]] of "umbrellas, camping kettles, matches, clocks, pocket handkerchiefs and fireworks", all of which are plainly modern, as are the [[fish and chips]] that [[Sam Gamgee]] thinks of on his journey to [[Mordor]].<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/> Most striking, in her view, however, is Tolkien's description of the enormous dragon firework at Bilbo's party which rushed overhead "like an express train".<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/> Tolkien's drawing of the hall of Bilbo's home, [[Bag End]], shows both a clock and a [[barometer]] (mentioned in an early draft), and he had another clock on his [[mantelpiece]].{{sfn|Hammond|Scull|1995|p=146 "The Hall at Bag-End"}}<ref name="Roast Mutton" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc=Chapter 2. Roast Mutton. "If you had dusted the mantelpiece you would have found this just under the clock,' said Gandalf, handing Bilbo a note" [from Thorin].}}</ref><ref name="Tolkien barometer" group=T>[[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien, J. R. R.]] [https://archive.org/stream/BilbosLastSongJ.R.R.Tolkien/The%20Return%20of%20the%20Shadow%20%28Not%20retail%29/The%20Return%20of%20the%20Shadow_%20The%20H%20-%20J.%20R.%20R.%20Tolkien_djvu.txt Bilbo's last Song]: (for "XIV. Return to Hobbiton" note 21) "the Hornblower who received the barometer now changes from Cosimo (by way of Carambo) to Colombo." (A Long-expected Party): "For Cosimo Chubb, treat it as your own, Bingo: on the barometer. Cosimo used to bang it with a large fat finger whenever he came to call. He was afraid of getting wet, and wore a scarf and macintosh all the year round."</ref> To arrange a party, hobbits rely on a daily [[postal service]].{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=5–6}} The effect, the scholars <!--Shippey, Fimi--> agree, is to bring the reader comfortably into the ancient heroic world.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|p=48}}<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/>

{| class="wikitable" 
|+ The Hobbits' "strikingly anachronistic" [[material culture]]<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/>{{sfn|Shippey|2001|p=48}}{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=5–6}}
|-
! Object !! First existed !! Notes 
|- 
| [[Tobacco]] || After 1492 || [[Columbian exchange]] brought it to Europe<ref name="Wills 2019">{{cite web |last1=Wills |first1=Matthew |title=The Columbian Exchange Should Be Called The Columbian Extraction |url=https://daily.jstor.org/columbian-exchange-columbian-extraction/ |publisher=[[JSTOR]] Daily |access-date=20 January 2024 |date=14 October 2019}}</ref>
|-
| [[Potato]] || After 1492 || As for tobacco<ref name="Wills 2019"/>
|-
| [[Umbrella]] || 18th century || Folding umbrellas, Paris<ref>{{cite book |last=Fierro |first=Alfred|title=Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris |year=1996 |publisher=Robert Laffont |isbn=2-221--07862-4 |page=1047}}</ref>
|-
| [[Camping]] kettle || After 1880s || Camping trips on [[River Thames]];<ref name="Wenham 2015">{{Cite journal |last=Wenham |first=Simon M. |url=https://www.oxoniensia.org/volumes/2015/Simon%20Wenham.pdf |title=The River Thames and the Popularisation of Camping, 1860–1980 |date=2015 |journal=[[Oxoniensia]] |volume=LXXX |pages=57–74}} {{open access}}</ref><br/>[[Kelly Kettle]] from end of 19th century<ref name="Turner 2015">{{cite web |last=Turner |first=Damian |title=Product Review - Ghillie Kettle |url=https://www.crossaxle.com/product-review-ghillie-kettle/ |publisher=Crossaxle.com Magazine |access-date=20 January 2024 |date=14 February 2015 |quote=The chimney or volcano kettle, call it what you will, dates back to the late 1800’s in western Ireland}}</ref>
|-
| [[Safety match]] || 1850s || [[Johan Edvard Lundström|Lundström brothers]], Sweden<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crass |first=M. F. Jr. |pages=316–319 |title=A history of the match industry. Part 5  |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |volume=18 |year=1941 |issue=7 |url=http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/issues/1941/Jul/jceSubscriber/JCE1941p0316.pdf |doi=10.1021/ed018p316 |bibcode=1941JChEd..18..316C }}</ref>
|-
| [[Clock]] || 13th century || [[History of timekeeping devices#13th century|First clocks]] in church towers<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=Lynn Townsend |author-link=Lynn Townsend White Jr. |title=Medieval Technology and Social Change |date=1964 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-01950-0-266-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/medievaltechnolo00whit/page/n9/mode/2up?q=mainspring |url-access=registration |pages=120–121}}</ref>
|-
| [[Pocket handkerchief]] || 19th century || In pocket of [[two-piece suit]]<ref>{{cite web |title=The History Of The Pocket Square |url=https://www.rampleyandco.com/pages/the-history-of-the-pocket-square |publisher=Rampley & Co |access-date=20 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201171025/https://www.rampleyandco.com/pages/the-history-of-the-pocket-square |archive-date=1 December 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Fireworks]] || 10th century || Made in Europe by 14th century<ref name="Griffiths 2017">{{Ullmann |author1=Griffiths, T. T. |author2=Krone, U. |author3=Lancaster, R. |title=Pyrotechnics |year=2017 |doi=10.1002/14356007.a22_437.pub2}}</ref>
|-
| [[Express train]] || 19th century || "certainly unimaginable in Middle-earth"<ref name="Fimi 2010 Victorian"/>
|-
| [[Fish and chips]] || 1860s || First fish and chip shops in England<ref name="Rayner 2005">{{cite news |last=Rayner |first=Jay |title=Enduring Love |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 November 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/jan/19/foodanddrink.restaurants}}</ref>
|-
| [[Royal Mail|Postal service]] || 1840 || [[Uniform Penny Post]]<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Postal Services  |location=Bath |publisher=Postal Museum|url=http://brlsi.org/proceed04/lunch200404.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524151409/http://www.brlsi.org/proceed04/lunch200404.htm |archive-date=24 May 2011}}</ref>
|}

== In popular culture ==

=== Fantasy ===

{{multiple image
|image1=Harfoots_Rings_of_Power.jpg
|width1=220
|caption1=Harfoots in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power|The Rings of Power]]''
|image2=John Leech's cartoon 'Justice to Ireland'.jpg
|width2=160
|caption2=[[John Leech (caricaturist)|John Leech]]'s cartoon "Justice to Ireland", {{circa|1845}}
|footer=The harfoots in ''The Rings of Power'' speak in Irish accents and have been said to resemble Leech's "wildly unflattering" Irish peasants.<ref name="Heritage 2022"/>}}

''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' began using the name ''[[halfling]]'' as an alternative to ''hobbit'' for legal reasons.<ref name=weinstock2014>{{cite book |title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters |editor-first=Jeffrey |editor-last=Weinstock |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=978-1409425625 |page=193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NI1zBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 }}</ref><ref name=langford2005>{{cite book |last=Langford |first=David |author-link=David Langford |title=The Sex Column and Other Misprints |page=188 |publisher=Wildside Press |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n78kYbvUd_8C&pg=PA188 |isbn=1930997787 }}</ref> Fantasy authors including [[Terry Brooks]], [[Jack Vance]], and [[Clifford D. Simak]] use races of halflings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vance |first=Jack |title=Lyonesse: Book I: Suldrun's Garden |year=1983 |publisher=Grafton Books |isbn=0-586-06027-8 |chapter=Glossary II: The Fairies}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Clute |first1=John |last2=Grant |first2=John |title=The Encyclopedia of Fantasy |date=1999 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |isbn=978-0312198695 |page=447 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mfjAjibERF0C&q=halfling }}</ref><ref name="Lyall2020">{{cite book |last=Lyall |first=Francis |title=Clifford Donald Simak – An Affectionate Appreciation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1fMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 |year=2020 |publisher=Paragon Publishing |isbn=978-1-78222-730-4 |page=117 }}</ref>

[[Peter Jackson]]'s [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|films of ''The Lord of the Rings'']] and [[The Hobbit (film series)|''The Hobbit'']] made extensive use of [[Prosthetics in fiction|prosthetics]]. [[Wētā Workshop]] spent a year creating hobbit feet to look like large, furry feet, yet act as shoes for the actors. In total, 1,800 pairs were worn by the four lead hobbit actors during production. In addition, actors went in for face casts to create pointed ears and false noses.<ref name="FOTR SEE">{{cite video |title=The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Appendices |medium=DVD |publisher=[[New Line Cinema]] |year=2002}}</ref>

''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power]]'', a series screened from 2022, has attracted "fierce debate" about its handling of race,<ref name="Thielman 2022">{{cite news |last=Thielman |first=Sam |title='The history of fantasy is racialized': ''Lord of the Rings'' series sparks debate over race |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/feb/20/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-series-race |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=20 February 2022}}</ref> and racism aimed at the actors playing the Harfoots.<ref name="Duggins 2022">{{cite news |last=Duggins |first=Alexi |title=Lord of the Rings stars speak out against racist 'threats, harassment and abuse' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/08/lord-of-the-rings-stars-speak-out-against-racist-threats-harassment-and-abuse |access-date=8 September 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 September 2022}}</ref> The fantasy author [[Neil Gaiman]], defending the casting, commented that "Tolkien described the Harfoots as "browner of skin" than the other Hobbits. So I think anyone grumbling is either racist or hasn't read their Tolkien."<ref name="Stewart 2022">{{cite news |last=Stewart |first=Sara |title='Neil Gaiman Gives Tolkien Lesson to 'Rings of Power' Racists |url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/neil-gaiman-gives-tolkien-lesson-to-rings-of-power-racists/ |access-date=25 October 2022 |work=[[Los Angeles (magazine)|Los Angeles Magazine]] |date=6 September 2022}}</ref> Commentators have observed that the hobbit-like Harfoots speak in Irish accents, behave as friendly peasants, and are accompanied by [[Celtic music]]; and that they resemble the 19th century caricaturist [[John Leech (caricaturist)|John Leech]]'s "wildly unflattering" depictions of the Irish in [[Punch (magazine)|''Punch'' magazine]].<ref name="Heritage 2022">{{cite news |last=Heritage |first=Stuart |title=The backlash to rule them all? Every controversy about The Rings of Power so far |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/05/the-backlash-to-rule-them-all-every-controversy-about-the-rings-of-power-so-far |access-date=5 September 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=5 September 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Hobbit feet (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|Hobbit feet used in ''The Hobbit'' films served as shoes for the actors.<ref name="FOTR SEE"/>]]

=== Popular music ===

The comic horror rock band [[Rosemary's Billygoat]] recorded a song and video called "Hobbit Feet", about a man who takes a girl home from a bar only to discover she has horrifying "hobbit feet". According to lead singer Mike Odd, the band received over 100 pieces of hate mail from angry Tolkien fans.<ref name=Koudounaris-2013-01-16-HobbitGoat>{{cite web |last=Koudounaris |first=Paul |date=16 January 2013 |title=Rosemary's Billygoat: A big hairy kick in the behind from ''Hobbit'' fans |newspaper=[[L.A. Record]] |url=http://larecord.com/staff-blog/2013/01/16/rosemarys-billygoat-a-big-hairy-kick-in-the-behind-from-hobbit-fans |access-date=14 October 2020 }}</ref>

=== Fossil hominids ===

The skeletal remains of several diminutive [[paleolithic]] [[Hominina|hominids]] were discovered on the [[Indonesia]]n island of [[Flores]] in 2004. The fossils, of a species named ''[[Homo floresiensis]]'' after the island on which the remains were found,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morwood |first1=M.J. |last2=Soejono |first2=R.P. |last3=Roberts |first3=R.G. |last4=Sutikna |first4=T. |last5=Turney |first5=C.S.M. |last6=Westaway |first6=K.E. |last7=Rink |first7=W.J. |last8=Zhao |first8=J.-X. |last9=van&nbsp;den Bergh |first9=G.D. |last10=Awe Due |first10=Rokus |last11=Hobbs |first11=D.R. |last12=Moore |first12=M.W. |last13=Bird |first13=M.I. |last14=Fifield |first14=L.K. |display-authors=5 |date=28 October 2004 |title=Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia |journal=Nature |volume= 431 |issue=7012 |pages=1087–1091 |doi=10.1038/nature02956 |pmid=15510146 |bibcode=2004Natur.431.1087M |s2cid=4358548 }}</ref> were informally dubbed "Hobbits"<ref name="NYT-20160620">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Zimmer |title=Are Hobbits real? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/insider/are-Hobbits-real.html |date=20 June 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=21 June 2016 }}</ref> by their discoverers in a series of articles published in the scientific journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=P. |last1=Brown |first2=T. |last2=Sutikna |first3=M.J. |last3=Morwood |first4=R.P. |last4=Soejono |author5=Jatmiko |first6=E. |last6=Wayhu Saptomo |first7=Rokus |last7=Awe Due |title=A new small-bodied hominin from the late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |year=2004 |volume=431 |issue=7012 |pages=1055–1061 |doi=10.1038/nature02999 |pmid=15514638|bibcode=2004Natur.431.1055B |s2cid=26441 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15287/files/PAL_E2586.pdf }}: {{cite journal |last1=Morwood |first1=M.J. |last2=Soejono |first2=P. |last3=Roberts |first3=R.G. |last4=Sutikna |first4=T. |last5=Turney |first5=C.S.M. |last6=Westaway |first6=K.E. |last7=Rink |first7=W.J. |last8=Zhao |first8=J.-X. |last9=van den Bergh |first9=G.D. |last10=Due |first10=Rokus Awe |last11=Hobbs |first11=D.R. |last12=Moore |first12=M.W. |last13=Bird |first13=M.I. |last14=Fifield |first14=L.K. |display-authors=5 |date=28 October 2004 |title=Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=431 |issue=7012 |pages=1087–1091 |doi=10.1038/nature02956 |pmid=15510146 |bibcode=2004Natur.431.1087M |s2cid=4358548 |ref=none}}</ref> The excavated skeletons reveal a hominid that (like a Hobbit) grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child and had proportionately larger feet than modern humans.<ref>{{cite web |last=McKie |first=Robin |title=How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/feb/21/hobbit-rewriting-history-human-race |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=21 February 2010 |access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Hobbit Day]]

== Notes ==

{{notelist}}

== References ==

=== Primary ===

{{reflist|25em|group=T}}

=== Secondary ===

{{reflist|25em}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book |first=Humphrey |last=Carpenter |author-link=Humphrey Carpenter |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography |publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]]
 |orig-year=1977 |year=1978 |isbn=0-049-28039-2 }}
* {{ME-ref|Letters}} <!--Carpenter 1981-->
* {{cite book |last=Clark Hall |first=J. R. |author-link=John Richard Clark Hall |title=[[A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary]] |date=2002 |orig-year=1894 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |edition=4th}}
* {{cite book |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |title=Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2010 |orig-year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-21951-9 |oclc=222251097}}
* {{cite journal |last=Flowers |first=Michael |date=2017 |title= "Hobbits?...And what may they be?" |url=https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol4/iss1/2 |journal=[[Journal of Tolkien Research]] |volume=4 |issue=1 |at=Article 2}}
* {{ME-ref|A&I}} <!--Hammond Scull 1995-->
* {{cite book |first=Paul H. |last=Kocher |author-link=Paul H. Kocher |title=Master of Middle Earth. The Achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien |title-link=Master of Middle-earth |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=1974 |isbn=0-14-003877-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century |date=2001 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261-10401-3}} 
* {{ME-ref|ROAD}} <!--Shippey 2005-->
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Stanton |first=Michael N. |title=Hobbits |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D.C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout
 |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=280–282}}
* {{ME-ref|TH}} <!--Tolkien, The Hobbit-->
* {{ME-ref|FotR}} <!--Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring-->
* {{ME-ref|TT}}
* {{ME-ref|RotK}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |year=1975 |chapter=Guide to the Names in ''The Lord of the Rings'' |editor-last=Lobdell |editor-first=Jared |editor-link=Jared Lobdell |title=A Tolkien Compass |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company|Open Court]] |pages=155–201 |isbn=978-0875-48316-0 |chapter-url=http://www.tolkien.ro/text/JRR%20Tolkien%20-%20Guide%20to%20the%20Names%20in%20The%20Lord%20of%20the%20Rings.pdf}}
* {{ME-ref|UT}}

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{{Middle-earth}}
{{The Lord of the Rings}}
{{Hobbit}}
<!--Please do not add anything here until you have consensus among editors on the talk page, thanks-->
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Middle-earth Hobbits|*]]
[[Category:The Hobbit]]
[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]
[[Category:Fictional species and races]]