Editing Hobbit (section)

== 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/>}}