Hobbits

The Hobbit opens at the door of a comfortable hole in the ground, and its owner belongs to a people Tolkien spends the rest of his books quietly celebrating. Hobbits are a small folk, half the height of Men or less, with curly hair, sharp ears, and tough leathery feet that make shoes unnecessary. They love peace, good tilled earth, six meals a day when they can get them, pipe-weed, parties, and the giving and receiving of presents. Adventures make them late for dinner, and they want none. Most hobbits dwell in the Shire, a green, well-ordered corner of the north-west of Middle-earth, largely unnoticed by the wider world and happy about it. The prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring describes their families, their farthings, and their habits at length, along with the one hobbit whose vanishing act made him the talk of the country: Bilbo Baggins, whose magic ring passes into the new story.