The Rings of Power: Who Are the Hobbits?

In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power plays the nomadic people of the harfeet a special role. It cannot be overlooked that these shy away halflings a striking resemblance to the known ones hobbits have from Middle-earth. And indeed, harfeet are among the ancestors of hobbits. We will clarify who the latter are for you in the following article.

Where do the hobbits come from?

Hobbits or halflings are an author’s creation JRR Tolkien for his books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbits as fans know them from the books come from three halfling tribesprofessed in the third age of Middle-earth in the region of the later Shire settled down. There they founded many settlements and mixed with each other. They included:

The Harfeet: The Harfeet were the most common halflings. Small and barefoot, they preferred to live on slopes and in the highlands. Being a nomadic people, they migrated from one place to another depending on the season. If you want to know more about the harfeet from “The Rings of Power”, read on here!

The Starers: They often preferred to live near water or on flat land. They were broader and heavier in build than their cousins, and their feet and hands were larger.

The Fallhides: Favoring trees and forests, Fallowkins were the least common variety of halflings. They had lighter skin and hair and were taller and slimmer than the others. They also had better relations with the Elves of Middle-earth.

The Traits of the Hobbits

Just like the harfeet known from the Amazon series, hobbits differ from humans in that they are rather small – usually even slightly smaller than dwarves.

To humans, they often have a childlike appearance, and they tend to stay youthful well into their 50s. In addition, they usually will over 100 years old and officially only come of age at the age of 33.

They go barefoot in the as the soles of their feet are quite leathery and the tops of their feet are covered with thick curly hair. They do not wear beards like the dwarves and mostly have dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. As a rule, they also have a somewhat fat belly. They are in very good health, recovering from rare illnesses and injuries faster than most would expect.

They are silent in step, allowing large creatures, like humans, to easily miss them and make quick escapes. Most of them live quiet and comfortable lives, enjoying mundane events like the blooming of flowers and, as is made clear in The Hobbit, disapproving of adventure.

Tasteless adventures

In Tolkien’s books, however, it is always the hobbits who take the reader on an unknown journey through Middle-earth and carry the fate of this fantasy world on their small shoulders. So some families among them are known for their “tasteless” adventures. Especially the Took family.

comes from her Bilbo Bagginswho in “The Hobbit” on a by the wily wizard Gandalf initiated unexpected journey and finds the “one ring” along the way.

In the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, his nephew must Frodo embark on the arduous journey of destroying the ring, along with his cronies Peregrin Took, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Samwise Gamgee.

You can find out more about “The Lord of the Rings” and everything that goes with it on our big topic page!