Halflings are a fictional race found in some

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s and

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

s. They are often depicted as similar to

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

s except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the works of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

, 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

Originally, ''halfling'' comes from the Scots word ', meaning an awkward rustic teenager, who is neither man nor boy, and so half of both. Another word for ''halfling'' is ''hobbledehoy'' or ''hobby''. This usage of the word pre-dates both '' The Hobbit'' and '' Dungeons & Dragons''.

Usage in fantasy fiction

In ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'',

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". The term has since been used in other fiction works as an alternate name for hobbit-like peoples inspired by

Tolkien's legendarium Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...

. Halflings have long been one of the playable humanoid races in '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D), starting with the original 1974 Men & Magic. Later editions of the original D&D box set began using the name ''halfling'' as an alternative to ''hobbit'' for legal reasons. 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 Drizzt Do'Urden () is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the ''Icewind Dale ...

. 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 into dangerous situations and ends up saving the day in the final battle of ''

The Crystal Shard ''The Crystal Shard'' is a 1988 fantasy novel by American writer R. A. Salvatore. The first book in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, it was his first published novel. Plot summary Even in the remote far northern region of Icewind Dale, the renegade d ...

'' (1988) in a manner not unlike Bilbo Baggins. Besides licensed D&D novels, halfling characters have appeared in various tabletop and video games. 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.

Terry Brooks Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 ''New York Times'' bestsellers during his writing career, and has ...

describes characters such as

Shea Ohmsford ''The Sword of Shannara'' is a 1977 epic fantasy novel by American writer Terry Brooks. It is the first book in a titular trilogy. The novel interweaves two major plots into a fictional world called The Four Lands. One follows the protagonist ...

from his ''

Shannara ''Shannara'' is a series of high fantasy novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with ''The Sword of Shannara'' in 1977 and concluding with ''The Last Druid'' which was released in October 2020; there is also a prequel, ''First King of Shann ...

'' series as a halfling of elf–human parentage. In Jack Vance's ''

Lyonesse Lyonesse is a kingdom which, according to legend, consisted of a long strand of land stretching from Land's End at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, to what is now the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea portion of the Atlantic Ocean. I ...

'' series of novels, "halfling" is a generic term for beings such as

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s and ogres, who are composed of both magical and earthly substances. In

Clifford D. Simak Clifford Donald Simak (; August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror Wr ...

's 1959 short story "No Life of Their Own", halflings are invisible beings in a parallel dimension who, like brownies or

gremlin A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widely ...

s, bring good or bad luck to people.

References

{{D&D topics Fictional humanoids Fictional human hybrids Fictional human races