Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy works. They tend to be depicted as physically similar to , except about half as tall and not as stocky as the similarly sized dwarves. Halflings are often depicted as having slightly pointed ears along with leathery-soled feet which are covered with curly hair. They tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky. The term is derived for the word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a child who is not yet fully grown. Halflings are found in many fantasy and , including as an alternative term for Hobbit in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and as playable humanoid races in Dungeons & Dragons.
Description
The members of the fictional halfling race are often depicted as similar to
except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of
in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, which are sometimes called halflings, they have slightly
pointed ears, their feet are covered with curly hair with leathery soles, and they tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky.
Etymology
Halfling is a word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a boy or girl who is not yet fully grown; a youth, an adolescent, and formerly sometimes a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work.
derives from the Scot word
hauflin, which was used before both
The Hobbit and
Dungeons & Dragons and has the synonyms
hobbledehoy and
hobby.
Usage in fantasy fiction
Halflings are found in some
fantasy and
. In
The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien occasionally used the term "halfling" to describe hobbits, since they are beings that are half the height of men. For instance, when the hobbit
Pippin Took appears in a royal guard's uniform in
Minas Tirith, the people of that city call him the "Prince of Halflings".
[Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955) The Return of the King, book 5, ch. 1 "Minas Tirith"] The term has since been used in other fiction works as an alternate name for hobbit-like peoples inspired by Tolkien's legendarium.
Halflings have long been one of the playable humanoid races in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D),
Some fantasy stories use the term halfling to describe a person born of a human parent and a parent of another race, often a female human and a male elf.
Examples
An example of a noteworthy halfling character featured in a series of novels based on the
Forgotten Realms, a D&D campaign setting, is Regis, a halfling rogue member of the
Companions of the Hall led by Drizzt Do'Urden. While he behaves in the stereotypical manner of Tolkien's hobbits, Bricken from
io9 noted that Regis "set himself apart a bit by carrying a crystal pendant he can use to charm people", though he also finds himself in dangerous situations and ends up saving the day in the final battle of
The Crystal Shard (1988) in a manner not unlike
Bilbo Baggins.
