Hobbits and the Rings of Power

[Ar-Gilien]

Out of all curiosity, in the Lord of the Rings, the races that were given Rings of Power were Men, Elves, and Dwarves. Is there a particular reason that the Rings were not offered to hobbits as well, or were hobbits not around at the time of the forging of the Rings?

[Lindolirian]

See here: Hobbits resilience to the Ring

The answer may lie there. Or perhaps Sauron had never heard of them.

[ December 28, 2002: Message edited by: Lindolirian ]

[Ar-Gilien]

Thanks, Lindolirian! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Very good read! I never really looked at it being in their lifestyles and mindset. I always just figured it was due to the fact, that perhaps, they were a newer race than most. I don't suppose anywhere, in any book, does it mention the arrival/creation of the hobbits, does it?

[ December 28, 2002: Message edited by: Ar-Gilien ]

[Bruce MacCulloch]

Actually, Professor Tolkien does say what Hobbits were. He very plainly calls them Men several places and says quite specifically that they are, indeed, human.

Hobbits on the other hand were in nearly all respects normal Men, but of very short stature. They were called 'halflings'; but this refers to the normal height of men of Numenorean descent and of the Eldar(especially those of Noldorin descent), which appears to have been about seven of our feet. Their height at the periods concerned was usually more than three feet for men, though very few ever exceeded three foot six; women seldom exceeded three feet. They were not as numerous or variable as ordinary Men, but evidently more numerous and adaptable to different modes of life and habitat than the Drûgs, and when they are first encountered in the histories already showed divergences in colouring, stature, and build, and in their ways of life and preferences for different types of country to dwell in.

'Of Dwarves and Men', Peoples of Middle Earth, HoME vol XII

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 Fok 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.

Footnote to a letter to Milton Waldman, 1951

... my 'hobbits' were in any case of dissimilar sort, a diminutive branch of the human race.

Letter to Robert Lancelyn Green, 1971

[ December 29, 2002: Message edited by: Bruce MacCulloch ]