Did Real Hobbits Ever Exist? The Question Isn't As Crazy As It Sounds

While the fictional hobbits of Middle Earth have never actually existed, an ancient human relative bears a surprising resemblance to Tolkien’s creations.

By Nathaniel Scharping
Oct 23, 2020 9:23 PMMar 21, 2023 8:21 PM
Homo Floresiensis hobbits - flickr
(Credit: Karen Neoh/Creative Commons 2.0 via Flickr)

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The hobbits of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination have no counterpart in our world. The short-statured creatures depicted, of course, in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy must remain in Middle Earth. But a groundbreaking anthropological discovery did reveal that our world once had its own species of hobbits — different than Tolkien’s, certainly, but also startlingly similar. 

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