Editing Hobbit (section)

=== 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}}