1. By Mr. Faulkner World Literature 3/22/17
Concerning hobbits
By Mr. Faulkner
World Literature 3/22/17

2. What is a hobbit?
Hobbits are a fictional race of human-like creatures in Middle-earth that Tolkien made up.
They are NOT humans but they are similar to them, which is why they are referred to as Halflings.
Most of Tolkien’s Middle-earth protagonists are Hobbits like Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit) and Frodo Baggins (The Lord of the Rings)

3. Where does the word “hobbit” come from?
Tolkien invented this word when he wrote The Hobbit.
He originally used the word in He was grading English papers when suddenly he came across a blank page and wrote “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” which would later become the first sentence of the novel.
He claimed that at this point he had no idea WHAT a hobbit was but he later would define “hobbit” as “hole-dweller.”
He would later add an origin to the word: it comes from the Old English hol-bytla which meant “hole builder.”
Many creatures with the prefix “hob-” in their names appear in fairy tale stories. Example: hobgoblin.

4. Description In Tolkien’s own words, hobbits are:
“unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today”
“shy of ‘the Big Folk,’ as they call us, and now they avoid us with dismay and are becoming hard to find”
“quick of hearing and sharp-eyed”
“inclined to be fat and do not hurry unnecessarily, they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements”
“possessed…the art of disappearing swiftly and silently” – but this is not a magical trait but rather a result of a “close friendship with the earth”

5. Description (cont.) “they are a little people, smaller than Dwarves”
Their height ranges “between two and four feet… They seldom now reach three feet”
“dressed in bright colours, being notably fond of yellow and green; but they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leather soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads”
“had long and skillful fingers” which they use to make things
Have “good-natured” faces with mouths “apt to laughter, and to eating and drinking”
They eat “six meals a day”
“Hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents”

9. Where do hobbits live?
The hobbits of Middle-earth live in an area called The Shire.
This place is largely removed from major events – it is a peaceful, quiet countryside.
At the time of the novel, hobbits have lived here for centuries and have been largely undisturbed by other people and races.
Bilbo specifically lives in a town called Hobbiton, in a hill called The Hill, and his family house is called Bag End.

10. The Shire