Hobbit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Hobbit (disambiguation).
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, a Hobbit is an individual member of one of the races that inhabit the lands of Arda. According to the author, Hobbits are a "variety"<ref name="variety">Tolkien, J. R. R. Guide to the Names of the Lord of the Rings, "The Firstborn"</ref> or separate "branch"<ref name= "branch">Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #131. ISBN 0-395-31555-7.</ref> of the race of Men, but they consider themselves a separate race. They first appear in the book The Hobbit, and also play a major role in The Lord of the Rings. They are briefly mentioned in The Silmarillion, the work concerning itself more with Elves and Men.
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[edit] Description
"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; a dark green hood and cloak (belonging to a dwarf)." <ref>The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, #27. The description specifically refers to Bilbo Baggins.</ref>.Elsewhere he wrote that they dress in bright colors, favoring yellow and green.
Their feet are furry with leathery soles, so most Hobbits hardly ever wear shoes. They are fond of an unadventurous bucolic life of farming, eating, and socializing. Hobbits can sometimes live for up to 130 years (with 100 years average). The time at which a young Hobbit "comes of age" is 33. Thus a fifty-year-old Hobbit would only be middle-aged.
Hobbits enjoy at least six meals a day, not including snacks, when they can get them - breakfast, (arguably) second breakfast, elevenses, lunch, tea, and dinner/supper.<ref>The Peter Jackson film adaptations names seven meals - breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. However, it is questionable whether Tolkien considered "second breakfast" as the name of a meal, as its only occurrence is in "he was just sitting down to a nice little second breakfast in the dining-room by the open window" (The Hobbit, Chapter 2).</ref> They like simple food such as bread, meat and cheese, have a passion for mushrooms, and also like to drink ale and beer, often in inns — not unlike the English countryfolk, who were Tolkien's inspiration.
Hobbits also enjoy an ancient variety<ref>Middle-earth is a fictional prehistoric Earth.</ref> of tobacco, which they referred to as "pipe-weed" (for Tolkien's linguistic reasons), something that can be attributed mostly to their love of gardening and herb-lore. We can also see that in the name Tolkien chose for the part of Middle-earth where the Hobbits live, "the Shire" is clearly reminiscent of the English Shires.
The Hobbits of the Shire developed the custom of giving away gifts on their birthdays instead of receiving them.<ref>This custom was not universally followed among Hobbit cultures or communities; the ancient hobbit Gollum refers to the One Ring as his "birthday present" in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.</ref> They use the term mathom for old and assorted objects, which are invariably given as presents many times over or are stored in a museum (mathom-house).
Interestingly, Hobbits (and derivative Halflings in other fantasy settings) are often depicted with large feet for their size, perhaps to visually emphasize their unusualness. This is especially prominent in illustrations by the Brothers Hildebrandt (who may have helped propagate this detail) and the large prosthetic feet used in the Peter Jackson films. Tolkien himself never specifically describes this, aside from describing a member of the Proudfoot family of hobbits, who had exceptionally hairy and large feet.
[edit] Origin
In the context of Tolkien's legendarium, Hobbits are evidently related to Men and are represented as a pygmy offshoot of that race. Tolkien writes in the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings:
It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered. The beginning of Hobbits lies far back in the Elder Days that are now lost and forgotten.
Later Tolkien writes in a private letter:
The Hobbits are, of course, really meant to be a branch of the specifically human race (not Elves or Dwarves) -- hence the two kinds can dwell together (as at Bree), and are called just the Big Folk and Little Folk. They are entirely without non-human powers, but are represented as being more in touch with 'nature' (the soil and other living things, plants and animals), and abnormally, for humans, free from ambition or greed of wealth.<ref name= "branch" />
Tolkien also writes in a guide he prepared for use by translators in translating the names in The Lord of the Rings:
Firstborn, The. Title of the Elves. Translate. ('Firstborn', since the Elves appeared in the world before all other 'speaking peoples', not only Men, but also Dwarves, of independent origin. Hobbits are of course meant to be a special variety of the human race).<ref name= "variety" />
[edit] Etymology
Main article: Hobbit (word)
Hobbits are also called Halflings (in Sindarin, perian singular and periannath collective) because of their small stature. However, the term is slightly offensive to Hobbits; they do not consider themselves 'half' of anything and usually do not use the term to refer to themselves. Tolkien's etymology for 'Hobbit' is interesting as well: obviously constructed without prior intent, it would have been natural for him to connect it to the German prefix hob meaning small. However this prefix dates back only to the 13th century, too late by Tolkien's standards, and so he constructed an alternative etymology, from Old English hol-bytla, "hole-dweller".
When later he began to work out the language relations further, Hobbit was to be derived from the Rohirric (actually Anglo-Saxon — which Rohirric parallels in Tolkien's universe) Holbytlan (hole builders). In the original Westron, the name was Kuduk (Hobbit), derived from the actual Rohirric kûd-dûkan (hole dweller).
According to Tolkien, the word hobbit was the first element of the story that became The Hobbit. While correcting reports, he started scribbling on a piece of paper and wrote, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit", and the story sprang from that.
The name hobbit had previously appeared in an obscure "list of spirits" by Michael Denham, which includes several repetitions. There is no evidence to suggest Tolkien used this as a source — indeed he spent many years trying to find out whether he really did coin the word. Denham's "hobbit spirits" (which are never referenced anywhere except in the long list) have no obvious relation to Tolkien's Hobbits, other than the name: Tolkien's Hobbits are small humans, not spirits. Nonetheless, some few people have suggested that the reference in the Denham list should invalidate the trademark.
[edit] Some well-known Hobbits
- Bilbo Baggins
- Frodo Baggins
- Samwise "Sam" Gamgee
- Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck
- Peregrin "Pippin" Took
- Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger
- Otho, Lobelia and Lotho Sackville-Baggins
- The Old Took
- Bullroarer Took
- Rosie Cotton
- Elanor Gamgee
- Sméagol
- Déagol
Though in The Hobbit it is mentioned that Gandalf "was responsible for so many quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures," no female Hobbits are depicted in Tolkien's stories explicitly doing so; however Hobbit women do appear in his works, such as the formidable Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
[edit] History
Historically, the Hobbits are known to have originated in the Valley of Anduin, between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. According to The Lord of the Rings, they have lost the genealogical details of how they are related to the rest of mankind. At this time, there were three Hobbit-kinds, with different temperaments (Fallohides, Stoors and Harfoots). While situated in the valley of the Anduin River, the Hobbits lived close by the Éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim, and this led to some contact between the two. As a result many old words and names in "Hobbitish" are derivatives of words in Rohirric.
The Harfoots, the most numerous, were almost identical to the Hobbits as they are described in The Hobbit. They lived on the lowest slopes of the Misty Mountains and lived in holes, or Smials, dug into the hillsides. The Stoors, the second most numerous, were shorter and stockier and had an affinity for water, boats and swimming. They lived on the marshy Gladden Fields where the Gladden River met the Anduin (there is a similarity here to the hobbits of Buckland and the Marrish in the Shire. It is possible that those hobbits were the descendants of Stoors). The Fallohides, the least numerous, were an adventurous people that preferred to live in the woods under the Misty Mountains and were said to be taller and fairer (all of these traits were much rarer in later days, and it has been implied that wealthy, eccentric families that tended to lead other hobbits politically, like the Tooks and Brandybucks, were of Fallohide descent).
About the year T.A. 1050, they undertook the arduous task of crossing the Misty Mountains. Reasons for this trek are unknown, but they possibly had to do with Sauron's growing power in nearby Greenwood, which was later named Mirkwood because of the shadow that fell on it as Sauron searched the area for the One Ring. The Hobbits took different routes in their journey westward, but as they began to settle together in Bree-land, Dunland, and the Angle formed by the rivers Mitheithel and Bruinen, the divisions between the Hobbit-kinds began to blur.
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 River Brandywine and settle on the other side. Many Hobbits followed them, and most of the territory they had settled in the Third Age was abandoned. Only Bree and a few surrounding villages lasted to the end of the Third Age. The new land that they founded on the west bank of the Brandywine was called the Shire.
A map of the Shire and surrounding regions may be found at Eriador.
Originally the Hobbits of the Shire 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 absence of the king, the Hobbits elected a Thain of the Shire from among their own chieftains.
The first Thain of the Shire was Bucca of the Marrish, 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 (Indeed, 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 led entirely peaceful, uneventful lives the office of Thain was seen as something more of a formality.
The Hobbits' numbers dwindled, and their stature became progressively smaller after the Fourth Age. However, the prologue "Concerning Hobbits" in The Lord of the Rings states that they have survived into Tolkien's day.
[edit] Theology
Characters within Tolkien's works consider Hobbits to be a separate race from Men, but Tolkien made it clear that they are actually an offshoot of the race of Men; they and the "Big Folk" are far more closely related to each other than to either Elves or Dwarves. Thus Hobbits are among the Younger Children of Ilúvatar and are the result of the same act of creation as Men. This would imply that Hobbits have the Gift of Men to pass entirely beyond Arda, which also means that the avoidance of the Gift of Men in Hobbits, like in Men, can be physically and morally destructive. Sméagol, who had originally been a Hobbit, was transformed into the monster Gollum by a combination of the evil of the One Ring and the resulting avoidance of the Gift of Men. Bilbo Baggins became "thin and stretched" from the immortality that the One Ring granted to him, since neither Men nor Hobbits are intended for immortality in this world. Men and Hobbits appear to have the same theological nature.
[edit] Symbolism
Hobbits represent pre-industrial rural English life. A theme throughout Tolkien's stories is the intrution of industrialization - with Saruman as the symbolic representation in the famous The Lord of the Rings. Saruman directly confronted nature and natural life (Ents) with fire, wheels and even combustion. After losing control of Orthanc, Saruman and Wormtounge traveled to Hobbiton where they bullied the simple rural hobbits into a dictatorship with new rules, positions and titles. "Old world" artifacts such as the party tree were destroyed and often (such as the Mill) replaced with bland, unattractive and unproductive machinery. The hobbit peasantry eventually revolted and restored Hobbiton to its original existence.
Hobbit characters were removed from idyllic, simple life and presented with the horrors of the outside world, similar to Tolkien's experience as a soldier in WWI. The emphasis made is wide-eyed naivete meets cold-hard reality. The reader can then connect directly with the unfamiliarity of the new places and people.
Hobbits, in sum, represent simplicity. They exist in a world isolated from world complexities and conflict, where the social environment is the favorite topic - along with a pint or two of ale. They are the lives we gave up for industrialization and education - appreciated in a world of shrinking borders and ideological conflict.
[edit] Adaptations
Hobbits in the 1978 animated film version of The Lord of the Rings |
Frodo and Sam in the 1980 animated film version of The Return of the King |
Frodo (Elijah Wood) in the 2001-2003 live-action The Lord of the Rings film trilogy |
Merry (David Hyden) in the 2003 Cincinnati production of The Return of the King. |
[edit] Usage outside Tolkien
"Hobbit" is a trademark owned by the Tolkien estate, as are most of the names, places and artifacts included in books by J. R. R. Tolkien. For this reason Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy tend to refer to Hobbits and Hobbit-like races rather as Halflings (hin in the Mystara universe, hurthlings in Ancient Domains of Mystery).
Fossils of diminutive humans discovered on the island of Flores in 2004 were informally dubbed "hobbits" by their discoverers. There is some dispute over whether the fossils represent an extinct species of humans, or homo sapiens who suffered from microcephaly.
Hobbit is a class in the Quiz Magic Academy video game series by Konami.
In the video game "Lufia: The Ruins of Lore", hobbits live in the underground Jida Village.
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Were Hobbits a sub-group of Humans? from the Tolkien Meta-FAQ, compiled by Steuard Jensenbs:Hobiti
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