Editing Hobbit (section)

== In popular culture ==

=== Fantasy ===

{{multiple image
|image1=Harfoots_Rings_of_Power.jpg
|width1=220
|caption1=Harfoots in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power|The Rings of Power]]''
|image2=John Leech's cartoon 'Justice to Ireland'.jpg
|width2=160
|caption2=[[John Leech (caricaturist)|John Leech]]'s cartoon "Justice to Ireland", {{circa|1845}}
|footer=The harfoots in ''The Rings of Power'' speak in Irish accents and have been said to resemble Leech's "wildly unflattering" Irish peasants.<ref name="Heritage 2022"/>}}

''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' began using the name ''[[halfling]]'' as an alternative to ''hobbit'' for legal reasons.<ref name=weinstock2014>{{cite book |title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters |editor-first=Jeffrey |editor-last=Weinstock |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=978-1409425625 |page=193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NI1zBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 }}</ref><ref name=langford2005>{{cite book |last=Langford |first=David |author-link=David Langford |title=The Sex Column and Other Misprints |page=188 |publisher=Wildside Press |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n78kYbvUd_8C&pg=PA188 |isbn=1930997787 }}</ref> Fantasy authors including [[Terry Brooks]], [[Jack Vance]], and [[Clifford D. Simak]] use races of halflings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vance |first=Jack |title=Lyonesse: Book I: Suldrun's Garden |year=1983 |publisher=Grafton Books |isbn=0-586-06027-8 |chapter=Glossary II: The Fairies}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Clute |first1=John |last2=Grant |first2=John |title=The Encyclopedia of Fantasy |date=1999 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |isbn=978-0312198695 |page=447 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mfjAjibERF0C&q=halfling }}</ref><ref name="Lyall2020">{{cite book |last=Lyall |first=Francis |title=Clifford Donald Simak – An Affectionate Appreciation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1fMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 |year=2020 |publisher=Paragon Publishing |isbn=978-1-78222-730-4 |page=117 }}</ref>

[[Peter Jackson]]'s [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|films of ''The Lord of the Rings'']] and [[The Hobbit (film series)|''The Hobbit'']] made extensive use of [[Prosthetics in fiction|prosthetics]]. [[Wētā Workshop]] spent a year creating hobbit feet to look like large, furry feet, yet act as shoes for the actors. In total, 1,800 pairs were worn by the four lead hobbit actors during production. In addition, actors went in for face casts to create pointed ears and false noses.<ref name="FOTR SEE">{{cite video |title=The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Appendices |medium=DVD |publisher=[[New Line Cinema]] |year=2002}}</ref>

''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power]]'', a series screened from 2022, has attracted "fierce debate" about its handling of race,<ref name="Thielman 2022">{{cite news |last=Thielman |first=Sam |title='The history of fantasy is racialized': ''Lord of the Rings'' series sparks debate over race |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/feb/20/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-series-race |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=20 February 2022}}</ref> and racism aimed at the actors playing the Harfoots.<ref name="Duggins 2022">{{cite news |last=Duggins |first=Alexi |title=Lord of the Rings stars speak out against racist 'threats, harassment and abuse' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/08/lord-of-the-rings-stars-speak-out-against-racist-threats-harassment-and-abuse |access-date=8 September 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 September 2022}}</ref> The fantasy author [[Neil Gaiman]], defending the casting, commented that "Tolkien described the Harfoots as "browner of skin" than the other Hobbits. So I think anyone grumbling is either racist or hasn't read their Tolkien."<ref name="Stewart 2022">{{cite news |last=Stewart |first=Sara |title='Neil Gaiman Gives Tolkien Lesson to 'Rings of Power' Racists |url=https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/neil-gaiman-gives-tolkien-lesson-to-rings-of-power-racists/ |access-date=25 October 2022 |work=[[Los Angeles (magazine)|Los Angeles Magazine]] |date=6 September 2022}}</ref> Commentators have observed that the hobbit-like Harfoots speak in Irish accents, behave as friendly peasants, and are accompanied by [[Celtic music]]; and that they resemble the 19th century caricaturist [[John Leech (caricaturist)|John Leech]]'s "wildly unflattering" depictions of the Irish in [[Punch (magazine)|''Punch'' magazine]].<ref name="Heritage 2022">{{cite news |last=Heritage |first=Stuart |title=The backlash to rule them all? Every controversy about The Rings of Power so far |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/05/the-backlash-to-rule-them-all-every-controversy-about-the-rings-of-power-so-far |access-date=5 September 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=5 September 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Hobbit feet (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|Hobbit feet used in ''The Hobbit'' films served as shoes for the actors.<ref name="FOTR SEE"/>]]

=== Popular music ===

The comic horror rock band [[Rosemary's Billygoat]] recorded a song and video called "Hobbit Feet", about a man who takes a girl home from a bar only to discover she has horrifying "hobbit feet". According to lead singer Mike Odd, the band received over 100 pieces of hate mail from angry Tolkien fans.<ref name=Koudounaris-2013-01-16-HobbitGoat>{{cite web |last=Koudounaris |first=Paul |date=16 January 2013 |title=Rosemary's Billygoat: A big hairy kick in the behind from ''Hobbit'' fans |newspaper=[[L.A. Record]] |url=http://larecord.com/staff-blog/2013/01/16/rosemarys-billygoat-a-big-hairy-kick-in-the-behind-from-hobbit-fans |access-date=14 October 2020 }}</ref>

=== Fossil hominids ===

The skeletal remains of several diminutive [[paleolithic]] [[Hominina|hominids]] were discovered on the [[Indonesia]]n island of [[Flores]] in 2004. The fossils, of a species named ''[[Homo floresiensis]]'' after the island on which the remains were found,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morwood |first1=M.J. |last2=Soejono |first2=R.P. |last3=Roberts |first3=R.G. |last4=Sutikna |first4=T. |last5=Turney |first5=C.S.M. |last6=Westaway |first6=K.E. |last7=Rink |first7=W.J. |last8=Zhao |first8=J.-X. |last9=van&nbsp;den Bergh |first9=G.D. |last10=Awe Due |first10=Rokus |last11=Hobbs |first11=D.R. |last12=Moore |first12=M.W. |last13=Bird |first13=M.I. |last14=Fifield |first14=L.K. |display-authors=5 |date=28 October 2004 |title=Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia |journal=Nature |volume= 431 |issue=7012 |pages=1087–1091 |doi=10.1038/nature02956 |pmid=15510146 |bibcode=2004Natur.431.1087M |s2cid=4358548 }}</ref> were informally dubbed "Hobbits"<ref name="NYT-20160620">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Zimmer |title=Are Hobbits real? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/insider/are-Hobbits-real.html |date=20 June 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=21 June 2016 }}</ref> by their discoverers in a series of articles published in the scientific journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=P. |last1=Brown |first2=T. |last2=Sutikna |first3=M.J. |last3=Morwood |first4=R.P. |last4=Soejono |author5=Jatmiko |first6=E. |last6=Wayhu Saptomo |first7=Rokus |last7=Awe Due |title=A new small-bodied hominin from the late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |year=2004 |volume=431 |issue=7012 |pages=1055–1061 |doi=10.1038/nature02999 |pmid=15514638|bibcode=2004Natur.431.1055B |s2cid=26441 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15287/files/PAL_E2586.pdf }}: {{cite journal |last1=Morwood |first1=M.J. |last2=Soejono |first2=P. |last3=Roberts |first3=R.G. |last4=Sutikna |first4=T. |last5=Turney |first5=C.S.M. |last6=Westaway |first6=K.E. |last7=Rink |first7=W.J. |last8=Zhao |first8=J.-X. |last9=van den Bergh |first9=G.D. |last10=Due |first10=Rokus Awe |last11=Hobbs |first11=D.R. |last12=Moore |first12=M.W. |last13=Bird |first13=M.I. |last14=Fifield |first14=L.K. |display-authors=5 |date=28 October 2004 |title=Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=431 |issue=7012 |pages=1087–1091 |doi=10.1038/nature02956 |pmid=15510146 |bibcode=2004Natur.431.1087M |s2cid=4358548 |ref=none}}</ref> The excavated skeletons reveal a hominid that (like a Hobbit) grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child and had proportionately larger feet than modern humans.<ref>{{cite web |last=McKie |first=Robin |title=How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/feb/21/hobbit-rewriting-history-human-race |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=21 February 2010 |access-date=8 January 2011}}</ref>