Halflings

Halflings

The Halflings (S."Periannath") or Holbytlan (Rh."Hole-Dwellers"; OldRh."Hula-Buthlias"; F."Hulazbuzdos";WRh."Hol-budlas") were a race closely related to Men and technically counting as Hildor (in the sense of "mortals" as unlike Elves or Dwarves).

The Halflings originally consisted of three different Tribes, the Fallohides, Stoors and Harfoots.

Those Halflings who moved into the shire and Breeland called themselves Hobbits.Those wild tribes living outside the shire were known as "Outsiders" or "Wild Hobbits" to them.

Outsiders were known to have lived in Rhudaur and along the borders of Dunland.

MERP

Early Halfling Settlemnt in the glennen

Although the Hobbits were thought to have awakened in Hildorien along with the larger Men, the first time halflings were actually mentioned in the records is the time three of their tribes lived in the Glennen of Rhovanion in the mid-Third Age.In the First and second Age Hobbits seem to have been unknown although there were Folktales among the Northrons speaking of the Lillefolk , Water-babies or Cockle-folk and Falline,Wood-Elves speaking of the Felind and there were nebulous records of a "Woodchild" having visited the island of Númenór.Most Halflings had moved into Eriador with the rise of the Necromancer of Dol Guldur and had settled in the Shire.

There were colonies of Outsiders in the Angle of Rhudaur in the village Reedhaven, another Group still lived in the Loeg Ningloron and was known as the River-Folk.Both groups were descendants of the Stoors.Other Groups of Wild Hobbits mentioned were the Periwott around Neffwin Wood in Eriador and smaller clans in Forochel.

LOTRO

One small group of Outsiders, descending from hoarfoots, resided in the Ettenmoors of Rhudaur, along river Hoarwell in a village called Hoarhallow.Another Group, remnants of the stoors, lived in a village called Maur Tulhau in the Gloomglens of Enedhwaith, near the border of Dunland.

Speculations

The Bugans of Enedhwaith, a tribe usually counted as goblin-kind, may have be degenerated halflings, but the true origin of this race is not known.

Fan Modules

The Aegan, Karn Ord and Helcar Sael Module mentions a people akin to the Hobbits of the Shire known as the Fokirio, eastern Halflings native to a land they call Banakan.They are the descendants of Harfoots and a lost branch known as the Fairheads.

Rolemaster

Rolemaster has a Race called the "Gnoll", inhabiting caves in the upper highlands,Short and very quick with sparse hair and light Skin, easily darkening by exposure to the sun.They are also described as even-tempered, suspicious of strangers, peace loving, wanting little from life except to remain at one with the earth and world around them.All very halfling-like qualities which make them look suspiciously like Kulthea's equivalent to Hobbits.

Genealogy

The three Tribes of the Hobbits

• Peryoasa or Early Halflings of Hildorien
  • Fasattâli
    • Gnollish
    • Halflings of the Nabal Mayzri
    • Nimblefingers
    • Piram
    • Early Halflings of the Glennen known as Wood-Children, Lillefolk, Holbytlas
      • Fallohides
        • Ilouset Impset
        • Periwott
      • Harfoots
        • Hoarfoots
        • Hobbits of Reedhaven
      • Stoors
        • Hollin-Folk
        • Northern Hobbits
        • River-Folk
        • Southern Stoors
          • Woodland-folk or Dunland-Stoors
      • Bree-Hobbits
      • Shirefolk
  • other possible Southern and eastern Halfling-kin
    • Fairheads
      • Fokirio
    • Gendhari
    • Grolms
    • Southernesse small-folk
      • Sun-Children
      • Tanâi

References

• Fan module: Aegan, Karn Ord and Helcar Sael
• MERP 2017 The Shire(1995)