# Halfling - Creature: Humanoid - Date: 1937 - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/halfling/ > Tolkien's hobbit, filed off by lawyers into D&D's halfling: the small, lucky, homebody adventurer who has been the underestimated member of the party since 1974. **Why it matters:** The halfling is the one major fantasy race with a single, datable inventor. Its forced renaming by the Tolkien rights holders is also the clearest mark of how much early D&D borrowed from Middle-earth. ## Quick answers **Where does the Halfling come from?** J. R. R. Tolkien's hobbits (The Hobbit, 1937); renamed 'halflings' by Dungeons & Dragons in the late 1970s. **When did the Halfling first appear?** 1937, in The Hobbit. **How did the Halfling get into games?** Key appearances: Chainmail Fantasy Supplement (1971), Dungeons & Dragons (1974), D&D renaming (1977), Wizardry (1981) and Dragonlance (1984). **Why is the Halfling significant?** The halfling is the one major fantasy race with a single, datable inventor. Its forced renaming by the Tolkien rights holders is also the clearest mark of how much early D&D borrowed from Middle-earth. ## Origins Most creatures in this bestiary were inherited; the halfling was invented. [J. R. R. Tolkien](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/j-r-r-tolkien/) recalled that the opening line of *[The Hobbit](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-hobbit/)* came to him around 1930, scrawled on a blank page while he was marking examinations: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." The creature he then had to explain was a little person, about half human height, with curly hair, leathery soles and furry feet, fond of food, pipe-smoking, gardens and comfort — "fattish in the stomach, shortish in the leg," as he put it. Scholars have proposed antecedents, from Sinclair Lewis's *Babbitt* (1922), which Tolkien acknowledged, to Edward Wyke Smith's *The Marvellous Land of Snergs* (1927). In 1977 the *Oxford English Dictionary* found the word "hobbits" in a list of ghostly beings in *The Denham Tracts* (1895), but those bodiless spirits have nothing in common with Bilbo, and Tolkien scholars doubt he ever saw the list. In *[The Lord of the Rings](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-lord-of-the-rings/)* (1954–55), hobbits became the moral center of an epic: Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, ordinary people from the Shire — "more or less a Warwickshire village," Tolkien said — who carry the Ring where heroes cannot. Tolkien gave them a history, three strains (Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides), a fictional Old English etymology (*holbytla*, "hole-builder") and, in the mouth of King Théoden, a second name: the Halflings. ## Into the dungeon Hobbits marched straight into gaming. [Chainmail](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/chainmail/)'s Fantasy Supplement (1971) fielded them, and the 1974 white box of [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/) offered the hobbit as one of three non-human [Player character](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/player-character/) choices alongside the [Dwarf](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/dwarf/) and the [Elf](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/elf/). Then the rights holders noticed. Saul Zaentz's Tolkien Enterprises, which controlled merchandising rights to Tolkien's two great books, objected to TSR's use of Tolkien's names in the late 1970s (see [The Tolkien Rights Saga](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/tolkien-rights-saga/)). The 1977 printings of the D&D box replaced "hobbit" with Tolkien's own alternative, "halfling"; [ents](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/treant/) became treants, and the [Balrog / Balor](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/balrog/) would eventually become the balor. The 1977 *Monster Manual* and 1978 *Player's Handbook* of [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/) kept Tolkien's shape — hairfoot, stout and tallfellow halflings, a talent for stealth and burglary — under the new label. Early computer games were slower to change. [Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/wizardry/) (1981) listed hobbits among its five races, while [Ultima](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/ultima-i/) (1981) sidestepped the issue with the "bobbit." [Margaret Weis](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/margaret-weis/) and [Tracy Hickman](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/tracy-hickman/)'s [Dragonlance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonlance/) (1984) replaced halflings entirely with the kender, fearless, curious and forever "borrowing" things, most famously Tasslehoff Burrfoot of the [Dragonlance Chronicles](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonlance-chronicles/). [R. A. Salvatore](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/r-a-salvatore/)'s halfling Regis joined Drizzt in *[The Icewind Dale Trilogy](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-icewind-dale-trilogy/)* (1988), and halflings remain standard options from [Baldur's Gate](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate/) to [Baldur's Gate 3](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate-3/) (2023) and the 2024 revision of [Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-5th-edition/). ## Variations Once cut loose from the Shire, the halfling wandered. The [Dark Sun](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dark-sun/) setting (1991) made its halflings jungle-dwelling cannibals; Eberron (2004) mounted them on dinosaurs. Some authors, including [Terry Brooks](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/terry-brooks/) and [Jack Vance](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/jack-vance/), used "halfling" for entirely different beings — half-human, half-elven or half-magical. But in most games the halfling still plays Bilbo's part: the smallest member of the [The party](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/party/), the one nobody fears, lucky with a sling and quick with a lock, and very often the one who matters most. ## Migration - 1895: The Denham Tracts — A folklore list of spirits includes 'hobbits' among boggles and hobgoblins — a word, not yet a people, and probably unknown to Tolkien. - 1937: The Hobbit — 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit': Bilbo Baggins, comfortable, furry-footed and unexpectedly brave. - 1971: Chainmail Fantasy Supplement — Hobbits take the wargaming table as small, stealthy troops. - 1974: Dungeons & Dragons — The hobbit is one of three non-human player character choices in the white box. - 1977: D&D renaming — After objections from Saul Zaentz's Tolkien Enterprises, hobbits become 'halflings' in TSR's printings and in AD&D. - 1981: Wizardry — Computer RPGs keep the old name a while: Wizardry's five races include the hobbit. - 1984: Dragonlance — Krynn replaces halflings with the fearless, compulsively 'borrowing' kender. - 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 — The halfling remains a standard playable species half a century on. ## Facts - Tolkien said the first sentence of The Hobbit came to him around 1930 while he was marking exam papers. - In 1977 the Oxford English Dictionary announced it had found 'hobbits' in The Denham Tracts (1895), a list of ghostly beings. - Tolkien's invented etymology derives 'hobbit' from Old English holbytla, 'hole-builder.' - The first D&D printings used 'hobbit'; the 1977 printings of the white box replaced it with 'halfling.' - Ultima I (1981) dodged the problem by offering a hobbit-like race called the 'bobbit.' - D&D's early halfling subtypes — hairfoot, stout and tallfellow — echo Tolkien's Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfling) - [Wikipedia — Hobbit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbit) - [Wikipedia — Halfling (Dungeons & Dragons)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfling_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) - [Wikipedia — Kender](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kender) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.