Hobbits

The smial Bolsón Cerrado, one of the typical homes excavated in the land that inhabit the hobbits.

The hobbits, also known as halflings, are a fictional race of anthropomorphic beings belonging to the legendarium of the British writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Their story is told mainly in the novel The Lord of the Rings, especially in the prologue, which is dedicated to them and the land where they lived, the Shire. However, their first appearance was in The Hobbit and they are also mentioned in The Silmarillion.

They are related to men and are characterized by their short stature, abundant hair growth on the insteps of their feet, slightly pointed ears, and a normally plump figure. Before arriving in the Shire in the middle of the Third Age of the Sun, the hobbits lived in the valleys of the river Anduin and were divided into three branches: White, Strong and Hairy. In love with their new land, they gave less and less importance to foreign affairs and lived in peace until during the War of the Ring the wizard Saruman invaded the Shire.

The main influence that J. R. R. Tolkien took when creating the hobbit race was the children's book by E. A. Wyke-Smith, The Wonderful Land of the Snergs, where there are creatures similar to them called snergs. However, and although at first the author had no intention of further developing the idea of hobbits, the success of The Hobbit led his editor Stanley Unwin to ask him for a continuation and he began to write The Lord of the Rings, from whose composition the history of the race emerged.

Description

Hobbits are related to men, in such a way that they have a common origin and could be considered as a pygmy branch of this race.

It is indeed evident that in spite of a further removal, the hobbits are our relatives: they are closer to us than to the elves and even to the same Enanos. Formerly speaking the languages of men, adapted to their own modality, had almost the same preferences and aversions as men. But now it is impossible to find out what our relationship is with them. The origin of the hobbits comes from far back, from the Ancient Days, already lost and forgotten.

Prologue The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. Tolkien.

The main physical characteristic that distinguishes hobbits is their short stature, being between two feet and one hundred and twenty centimeters. Because of their size close to a meter, about half the height of the Dúnedain, they are also called by them and by the men of Gondor halflings (halfling in the original English) or periannath in Sindarin. Other peculiar physical characteristics that distinguish them are the abundant hairiness that grows on the insteps of their feet, the lack of a beard, curly hair and generally brown in color, and somewhat pointed ears, without being like those of the elves..

They also tend to have a plump figure, with a round face and paunch, due to their fondness for food, drink and a rather sedentary life. His diet is based on six meals a day of abundant quantities. They especially like beer and pipe smoking, an art that, according to Tolkien's legendarium, they themselves created and later transmitted to the men of Middle-earth.

Hobbits don't need to wear shoes, as their strong feet have natural leather soles for protection. They are skilled with their hands and were especially dedicated to agriculture, due to the abundance and fertility of the Shire. Before inhabiting these lands, the hobbits used to speak the languages used by the men with whom they had come into contact at some time. However, after beginning their journey through Eriador, they adopted the Common Tongue, learned from the Dúnedain, although they retained words from an earlier language that was very similar to Rohírrico.

They usually live in holes that they build in the ground and equip like any normal house. Depending on the wealth of the family, the house may have one, several or no windows, these always being round, like the door. Wealthier hobbits built fancier versions of these holes, called smials, which were like branching tunnels. Among the most important are Bag Ended (in Hobbiton), Brandi House (in Buckburg) and Big Smials (in Tucked). However, the hobbits also built houses above ground level, although they were little used and generally served as sheds.

Hobbits are also characterized by their friendly and peaceful nature, and they detest wars. They do not usually use weapons for their normal uses, considering them more as decorations for their houses or simply as mathoms, which is what they call any useless object that they give to each other and tend to accumulate. In Cavada Grande there is a museum dedicated especially to these objects, called "El Hogar de los Mathoms".

Different branches

When the hobbits lived in the Anduin valleys, there were already three branches living together, each with different characteristics:

• Alps English Fallohides): They were the least numerous group and were characterized by having the skin and the hair clear, their height and their skin thinness. They liked trees and forests a lot, which made them prefer hunting for agriculture and to get along with the Elves. They were skilled with language and they were given the song. At the end of the Third Age of the Sun, families like the Tuk, the Brandigamo and the Bolger had alba blood.

• Peeling English Harfoots): They were the largest group and were characterized by having the darkest skin and a smaller and more robust body. They liked the highlands and the hills, so they always lived in caves and tunnels, being good friends of the dwarfs.

• Strong. English Stoors): they were characterized by being, as their name indicates, the strongest and most solid body constitution. They had bigger feet and hands, and they were the only ones who had some beard traces, although they didn't usually pass a little hair on the chin. They liked the plains and the banks of the rivers.

The three branches parted ways when they entered Eriador and later came together again in the Shire, blending together and making these differences less visible, although some of them could still be seen in the late Third Age.

Etymology

The name hobbits give themselves in westron, the Common Tongue of Middle-earth, is kuduk, a contraction of the older form kud-dukan, meaning "hole-dwellers" and extant in Rohirric, the language of Rohan that Tolkien represented by Anglo-Saxon and with which hobbits came into contact in times past. The Common Speech is represented by modern English and thus the term hobbit is used, a possible wasted form of the Anglo-Saxon word holbytla, which also means "hole-dweller"..

History

The origin of the hobbits is found in the Elder Days, although very little is known of their history until the Third Age of the Sun, except that white, strong and hairy lived together in the valleys of the river Anduin and there they came into contact with the éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim, adopting from them some customs and their language. In the year 1050 T.E., the increase in the number of Men from the East, who were preparing their attack on Gondor, and the appearance of a shadow in the Great Green Forest, who was none other than Sauron, precipitated the march of the hobbits. towards Eriador, for which they traversed the Misty Mountains and there the various branches parted ways.

The Pelos were the first to arrive in Eriador, settling in the lands near Amon Sûl, Weathertop. A hundred years later the whites would do it, many of which ended up mixing with the hairy and others came to the town of Bree years later. The forts, who had lived for many years on the banks of the Anduin River, reached El Ángulo and some continued to Tierras Brunas, although later they returned with the others. However, a small group of forts remained in the Gladden Fields and two of their descendants would be of notable importance in later events in the history of Middle-earth, Déagol and his friend Sméagol (later known as Gollum), who discovered the One Ring in the depths of Anduin.

Matamata (New Zealand), the scene of the region in the film trilogy The Lord of the RingsPeter Jackson.

In 1601 T.E., the white brothers Marcho and Blanco, who lived in Bree, obtained official permission from King Argeleb II of Arthedain for the hobbits to colonize an uninhabited land in the center of Eriador and that until then They were used as hunting grounds for the king. Argeleb II placed three conditions on this concession: that they recognize the king's majesty, that they help the messengers, and that they keep the bridges and roads in good condition in their new lands, which they named the Shire.

In the year 1630 T. E., the forts moved to the Shire and were established mostly in the Southern and Eastern Cuaderna. Reunited again, the hobbits fell in love with their new land and gave less and less importance to affairs outside their borders, rarely leaving them. Six years later the Great Plague devastated the Shire and, though with heavy losses, the hobbits managed to survive. In the year T.E. 1974, some hobbit archers fought in the Battle of Fornost to prevent Arthedain's defeat, and after the fall of the kingdom, the heads of the various hobbit families chose a ruler, whom they called Thain, to represent the king. until he returned.

The hobbits lived in peace for over a millennium, protected by the Dúnedain of the North. In T.A. 2747, when a group of orcs led by King Golfimbul attempted to invade the Shire from the North Quarter, a group of hobbits led by Bandobras Tuk drove them off at the Battle of Greenfields. Later, during the War of the Ring In the late Third Age, the wizard Saruman invaded the Shire and began its industrialization, bringing the hobbits to general misery and destroying their land. Soon after, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandygamous and Peregrin Took led a troop of hobbits into battle and managed to liberate the Shire with victory in the so-called Battle of Delwater, restoring peace again. The hobbits arranged all the troubles. damage to the Shire, and the year 3020 T.A. was the most prosperous for them.

Featured Hobbits

• Bilbo Bag: Ring Carrier and protagonist The hobbit, novel in which Bilbo embarks on an adventure alongside the magician Gandalf and a company of thirteen dwarfs headed by Thorin Shield of Roble. In it finds the Unique Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, around whose destruction the Lord of the Rings develops.
• Frodo Bag: Ring Carrier and protagonist The Lord of the Rings. Sobrino de Bilbo, this one leaves the Ring in inheritance and would eventually be responsible for its destruction following the celebration of the Council of Elrond.
• Samsagaz "Sam" Gamyi: gardener and friend of Frodo, one of the nine members of the Ring Company and the only one who came by the Porter to Mount Orodruin to destroy the Ring. After the Ring War he was re-elected mayor of the region seven times.
• Meriadoc "Merry" Brandigamo: friend of Frodo and one of nine members of the Ring Company. Separated from the rest of the group together with his faithful friend Pippin, he fought in the Ring War and was later appointed Lord of the Gamos.
• Peregrin "Pippin" Tuk: Frodo's third cousin and one of the nine members of the Ring Company. Separated from the rest of the group together with his faithful friend Merry, he fights in the Ring War and later is named Thain de la Comarca.
• Sméagol/Gollum: is an old hobbit corrupted by the Unique Ring, which guides Frodo and Sam to Mordor.
• March and White: two Albos brothers, founders of the region.
• Tobold Corneta: original discoverer and farmer of grass for pipe on the Middle Earth.
• Bandobras Tuk: leader of the hobbits in one of the two only battles waged in the region, the Battle of the Green Fields.
• Renso Bolsón: Brother of Bilbo Bolsón, mentioned in drafts that were not published.
• Rose Cotton: Spouse of Sam and mother of his children. Collaborates with the restoration of the region after the war

Family relations of Bilbo, Frodo, Merry and Pippin

Inspiration

J. R. R. Tolkien's main inspiration for the creation of the hobbits (and also for the novel The Hobbit) was The Wonderful Land of Snergs, a children's book by British writer E. A. Wyke-Smith, featuring a race called snergs, "beings somewhat taller than an ordinary table, but broad-shouldered and of great strength".

Originally, Tolkien said that the word "hobbit" it had been inspired by the novel Babbitt, by the writer Sinclair Lewis, in which the protagonist, George F. Babbitt, "has the same bourgeois narrowness as the Hobbits and his world is the same limited place." However, with the publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien established the origin of the word in Anglo-Saxon holbytla, as already explained.

The height of hobbits, as stated in the prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring, ranges from 0.60m to 1.2192m, although it is stated that they rarely reach 3ft today, which would be 0.9144 m.

Use of the name outside the legendarium

Along with dwarves and elves, hobbits have become one of the most common figures in numerous fantasy genres, from pen and paper to role-playing and video games. Some examples of games that include hobbits are: Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Ultima and Dungeons & Dragons. However, the word "hobbit" is a trademark managed by the Tolkien Estate and, for this reason, other fantasies refer to Hobbits by another name, commonly as "Halflings".).

The song "Secret Kingdom" by the Australian group Newsboys includes a line referring to hobbits: "Take us Hobbits out of the Shire".

In 2003, the remains of creatures about ten thousand years old were found on the island of Flores (Indonesia), with a size of approximately one meter in height and with a brain the size of a chimpanzee; although with a brain-body mass ratio comparable to that of Homo erectus. The new species of hominin was classified as Homo floresiensis and, along with the name "Flores man," is nicknamed "hobbit" in reference to the beings imagined by Tolkien.