Hobbits

In this week's episode, we're heading to Middle Earth to celebrate the release of The Rings of Power season 2 with the wonderful Hobbits! How do these leather-footed creatures relate to English folklore? Why are Tolkien's creations so impactful on folklore? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

I’ve spent the last week glued to my PC playing the new World of Warcraft update and I’ll be honest, I feel a bit out of the loop with the world. I actually managed to give myself eye-strain the week before this too, so I’ve even had to take super long breaks, so I have been careful I promise!

DESCRIPTION:

So this week, we’re heading back into Middle Earth after a long time of not covering any Tolkien folklore to look at probably everyone’s favourite home-body creatures, the Hobbit. 

I really have accidentally timed this episode with the release of the Rings of Power season 2, I promise this wasn’t planned - so I hope this gets you into the middle earth vibe.

I’ll start us off with probably one of the best and recognisable literary openings known to man; 

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

The Hobbit is described as humanoid in appearance, but usually around two to four feet in height. They’re both male and female, and tend to have stout builds, with pointed elf-like ears. However, the most noticeable thing about Hobbits are their feet, which are bigger than you would expect of a creature so small and have thick, leathery soles - meaning that they do not have to wear shoes. These big feet have a thick layer of curly hair on the top of them to protect them from the elements, which is usually brown to match their head hair - which is the most common. 

However, you can find Hobbits with a variety of skin tones and hair colours as well as attitudes depending on where they’re from or what clan of Hobbits they descend from. Most Hobbits can’t grow facial hair of any kind and have warm, round faces to reflect their usually upbeat and kind personalities - which they also reflected in their bright coloured clothing, favouring bright oranges, yellows and greens.

I mentioned clans here, so I’ll quickly go into these. All Hobbits are derived from three major clans, the Harfoots, the Stoors and the Fallohides - however, in later history, clans are more family names. The Harfoots were the most common, who were shorter and had darker skin than the other Hobbits. They had the best connections with Dwarves and moved across from the Misty Mountains. The Stoors preferred water or flat land and were generally broader and bigger Hobbits - many Stoors chose not to leave the Misty Mountains. Lastly, the Fallohide clan were the rarest who preferred woodland and trees. They were fairer skinned and generally slimmer than other Hobbits. They had better relations with Elves and lived around the Elven city of Rivendell. Later on in Hobbit history, all of these clans mixed together and became the wider Hobbit race. 

Hobbits are most commonly found in the aptly named Hobbiton, which is in the north-west region called the Shire. It’s mostly green hills, farmland and small villages - but within these rolling hills of Hobbiton, the home of the Hobbits are nestled. Hobbit holes are houses made specifically for Hobbits, by Hobbits and are usually built into the hills surrounding their larger towns - burrowing deep into the earth, but having the iconic round doors on the side of the mound, as well as any windows facing out.

Hobbits were also found a little further in a town called Bree in the Shire, which they shared with man. Whilst they are relatives to man, they tend to keep to themselves - but will generally share a pint with most races, including Dwarves and Elves too.

They were well known for their drinking and eating, as well as throwing stones - which they had an affinity for. They loved having as many meals as possible in a day, with the norm being 6, as well as smoking pipe-weed or tobacco. They lived for around 100 years, although there are some exceptions to this due to outside means. They gave presents instead of receiving them on their birthdays, and would often re-gift items which everyone was too sentimental to throw away - these were called Mathoms and there were even mathom museums for items that were just too good to chuck.

Generally, Hobbits matured at 33 years old and 50 was middle age, but they lived happy lives in the Shire, undisturbed by the drama of the outside world. They referred to anyone from outside the Shire as outsiders, but would welcome them in with hospitality too. They enjoy farming, foraging, gardening, drinking and eating as well as a peaceful life - although were more than willing to defend their homes if needed and if given a little push, being brave enough to explore the wider world. 

For their powers, well they only really had two - one of them is that they were able to resist outside influence from evil better than all other races and they were able to sneak about undetected, even though they were generally quite fat - they were also still really nimble on their feet. 

You could kill a Hobbit through normal means other than corruption with any kind of weapon or poisoning - however, as I said, they were willing to fight back if threatened. They are also mammalistic, so female Hobbits would get pregnant and give birth to live young as humans would, and families of Hobbits were immensely common and encouraged within the Hobbit society.

ORIGIN:

Now etymology is where this gets slightly more interesting, as we have a fictional etymology and a real etymology. Within this mythos, the word Hobbit comes from the Rohanese word Holbytla, meaning hole-builder. This was inspired by Old English in reality, from the word ‘hol’ meaning a hole or hollow and ‘bytlan’ meaning to build. 

Continuing from real world stuff, the word Hobbit is from Tolkien’s mind and to be honest, we’re not entirely sure where he got it from. He mentioned that it definitely isn’t from the word Rabbit, and that he was definitely inspired by the 1922 novel Babbitt, where a businessman goes on a journey of self-discovery - but that’s all we really know. 

Speaking of all of this - just in case I didn’t make this clear at the beginning; Hobbits are a completely fictional monster. They were created by J.R.R Tolkien for his books, and so our history with Hobbits starts with them. I hope you didn’t think they were real this whole time and I’ve been deceiving you - that’s cruel!

No, Hobbits came to life back in 1930 when the legendary author J.R.R Tolkien penned the opening line I read to you earlier on a student’s exam he was marking. The book titled ‘The Hobbit’ came out in 1937 and followed the unexpected journey of Bilbo Baggins in helping a bunch of Dwarves reclaim their mountain home from a gold-hoarding dragon. 

It’s a children’s book that met massive acclaim when it was released, and was followed up by the Lord of the Rings trilogy between 1937 and 1940, which contained The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and the Return of the King, which again were massively successful and popular. 

In the Hobbit, we see our Hobbit protagonist, Bilbo, venture outside of the Hobbit norm into danger so prolific and different, showing that bravery that comes out when it needs to. In the Lord of the Rings, we follow his nephew Frodo and his fellowship of hobbits, a wizard, an elf, a dwarf and two men go on a similar journey to rid the land of an ancient evil contained in a seemingly harmless ring. 

Tolkien was very proudly English, and based the landscape and even languages around English culture pre-world war. The Hobbits were based on old English country folk in Devonshire and the west country, with their love of quiet countryside as well as a good pint and a party with their neighbours. Tolkien considered himself a Hobbit and wrote this in a letter in 1958;

I am in fact a Hobbit in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humour (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.

Tolkien mostly used experience from his own life to conjure up the Lord of the Rings universe, such as the name of Frodo and Bilbo’s house, Bag End, being named after his aunt’s house, the war scenes in Mordor based on his own experience of fighting in the trenches in WW1, his childhood in the English countryside and the urbanisation of his hometown of Birmingham throughout the early 1900’s to reflect the Shire and the outside influences of Middle-Earth. 

Tolkien also spoke 35 different languages and created 15 languages for the book series, including Shire-speak for Hobbits, although they mostly spoke the common tongue, representing English. Two of his Elvish languages are actually learnable and are fully fledged - so if you’re into learning languages, that is a cool one to know, albeit pretty useless.

Tolkien died in 1973, but Hobbits and the Lord of the Rings lived on. Hobbits were adapted into other fantasy stories, but not under that name - the term Halfling was another name for Hobbits throughout Lord of the Rings. Dungeons and Dragons, which was created back in 1974, decided to pick up the name due to people wanting to play as their favourite Hobbits. 

Due to legal reasons, Wizards of the Coast, who own D&D, couldn’t use the actual Hobbit name, so settled with one that was close enough to their description. You can still play as Halflings in D&D, as well as in inspired works like Baldur’s Gate - and they’re used in a whole load of literary works to avoid this legal elephant in the room by authors like Terry Brooks, Jack Vance and Clifford Simak. 

The Lord of the Rings is considered one of the greatest fantasy books ever written and literally shaped the genre that we know about today. Hobbits are the titular characters in both of Tolkien’s great works - as well as being mentioned in all of his other works such as the Silmarillion, which was basically a Tolkien history book and dictionary. The books were followed up by the mega-movies of the same name in the noughties and solidified Lord of the Rings as the most epic fantasy trilogy of all time - and were then followed by The Hobbit movies in the 2010’s and The Rings of Power series in 2023 - all of which were pretty successful too. The movies were all filmed in New Zealand, and the sets for Hobbiton were kept up for tourism - so you can go visit, have elevenses and even get married as a Hobbit if that’s your thing.

In reality, although I said that Hobbits are definitely not real - there have been some recent developments to say that there were some ancient humans who may have been similar to Hobbits. In 2004, some fossils were found in Indonesia of a 3-4 feet person with larger than usual feet and there are still studies going into them now to see if they did truly exist. They’ve been dubbed Hobbits scientifically too - which is pretty cool. 

In mythology, Tolkien did also lean on English countryside folklore, which Hobbits are sometimes mistakenly put into. Hobbits are quite close to the Norse Dwarves in stature and seclusion - but take on the niceties of the English country folk. They also remind me of Hobs from English folklore, which were household spirits who would live in holes and help out around the house unless they were disrespected. We’re yet to cover them, but you can check more out on the Dwarves in that episode.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, of course, we have the expected for this one but we have a few others littered about too.

For art, I’d actually really recommend looking at the concept art for Hobbits from the Tolkien universe - but if you’re wanting more modern touches, have a look at the fan art surrounding Hobbits by independent artists this week!

In movies, we have; The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Dark Crystal & Willow.

For TV, we have; Delicious in Dungeon, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Kamen Rider Kiva, Willow, Rings of Power, Blackstar, Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Smiling Friends & Adventures of the Gummi Bears.

In video games, we have ones such as; Age of Wonders, Dark Souls 2, Baldur’s Gate, Pillars of Eternity, Shining Wisdom, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, LEGO: Lord of the Rings, LEGO: The Hobbit, Overlord, Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, Ryzom, Tales of Maj’Eyal, The Witcher, Ultima, Halo, Final Fantasy, Granblue Fantasy, Heroes of Might and Magic, The Legend of Zelda, Ancient Domains of History, EverQuest, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, Lord of the Rings Online, Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, Lord of the Rings: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War & Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings game. 

To be honest, there are 31 Lord of the Rings games out there - so I’ve just included the biggest ones here honestly. But I do remember how hard the original film games were on Playstation, don’t worry.

My book recommendation this week is of course, the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien or my other Tolkien suggestion is the Tolkien series by David Day, and if you’re interested in the Hobbits - look at The Hobbits of Tolkien by David Day for a deep dive into our hill-dwellers.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Flat out, no - but that’s because they are known to be fictional so there’s not much to be believed. However, if we take the whole idea of them being in Tolkien’s universe out of this and put them into British folklore, which is where Tolkien would have put them - would I then believe it more if they were in our folklore?

No - I’m afraid this doesn’t change my answer. If there were Hobbits ever, there would be evidence of them being a thing, such as their little hill homes or some kind of genetic evidence of them integrating into human society. So just like how I don’t think Dwarves actually existed, even though they are very much a Norse-established mythical species, but stress on the mythical here.

But whatever, I think Hobbits are the best - and yes, I know they are known to be fictional and so sure, I shouldn’t cover them. But we all like Lord of the Rings right? Why not?! Also I covered Orcs not too long ago, and they are actually thought of to be real mythical monsters, when they’re totally not - so why not cover Hobbits too? 

But what do you think? Did Hobbits live in a hole underground? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

Oh I love Tolkien folklore, and I know it’s a bit of a tangent from our normal practice, but it’s all in good fun and they are one that seems to be influenced by folklore, so at least we have that to attach it to the real world too.

Next week, we’re heading over to South America to follow a seemingly limping lady of the forest, the Patasola. Maybe check she’s got all her limbs before swanning off with her next Thursday.

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, including some very cool merchandise - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.