What this is
In brief
Origins
Hobbits are counted among the Children of Ilúvatar, though their first awakening is not recorded in the ancient tales. Their own traditions say they dwelt long ago by the upper reaches of the Anduin before migrating west across the Misty Mountains into Eriador. Tolkien presents their true beginnings as largely unrecorded.
Culture
An agrarian and parochial culture centred on the family, the village and the calendar of meals. Hobbits value hospitality, genealogy, gardening and the quiet ordering of daily life. They are suspicious of adventure yet capable of sudden, unassuming heroism.
Language
Westron (the Common Speech), with a hobbit dialect and older words of their own.
History
Divided into three branches — Harfoots, Fallohides and Stoors — they migrated westward and founded the Shire in T.A. 1601 under the protection of the Kings of Arthedain. Largely forgotten by the great powers, they sheltered the One Ring for generations until Frodo and Sam carried it to Mordor. After the War of the Ring the Shire was scoured and then restored, and hobbits were granted their own stewardship of the land.
Leaders
Thain
Mayor Of Michel Delving
Bilbo Baggins
Frodo Baggins
Settlements
- hobbiton
- bree
- michel-delving
- tuckborough
- buckland
Alliances
- arnor
- the-shire
- the-fellowship-of-the-ring
Conflicts
- war-of-the-ring
- scouring-of-the-shire
- battle-of-bywater
Sources
The Hobbit · 1937
Published in Tolkien’s lifetime. The primary narrative of Bilbo’s journey.
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
The Silmarillion · 1977
Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.
Related entries
LocationThe Shire
The green homeland of the Hobbits in the west of Eriador, sheltered and largely overlooked by the great powers.
Arnor
The northern Dúnedain kingdom founded by Elendil, long divided and finally destroyed by Angmar, leaving only Rangers and ruins behind.
Ents
Ancient tree-herds created to guard the forests, slow of speech and thought, who awoke to march against Isengard in the War of the Ring.