Tolkien had 3 types of hobbits, Harfoots, Fallohides, and Stoors.

Harfoots are one of the three breeds of Hobbits. The Harfoots were the most common and typical of the kinds. They were shorter and smaller than the other breeds, browner of skin, had no beards, and did not wear any footwear; they had neat and nimble hands. They liked highlands and hillsides, and lived in holes they called smials, a habit which they long preserved. They were accustomed to settle in one place longer.

They were also on very friendly terms with the Dwarves, who travelled through the High Pass on the Great Road.


Fallohides were one of three original divisions of hobbit-kind, along with the Harfoots and Stoors. The Fallohides were the least numerous of the three branches, and originally roamed the northern parts of the Westlands.

They were more friendly with Elves than the other Hobbits were, and had more skill in language and song than in handicrafts; and of old they preferred hunting to tilling.

In appearance, Fallohides were taller and slimmer of build than the other Hobbits, with some growing to four feet or more in height. Both their skin and their hair tended to be fair, and no Fallohide ever grew a beard.

While the other two branches of hobbit-kind were pastoral and rustic in nature, the Fallohides retained a hunting tradition, and so were naturally bolder and more inquisitive than their relatives, but less gifted in the arts of farming and agriculture.

As Fallohidish culture was much more open to outside influence than that of the Stoors or Harfoots, they were friendlier with the other races of Middle-earth than their cousins, especially with the Elves. This was consistent with their skill in both song and speech, and their love for trees and of woodlands.



The Stoors were one of the three breeds of Hobbits.

In their earliest recorded history the Stoors, like the other Hobbits, lived in the Vales of Anduin. They were a riverside people that dwelt in the Gladden Fields, and were fishermen
They were heavier and broader in build than the other Hobbits, and had large hands and feet. Among the Hobbits, the Stoors most resembled Men and were most friendly to them. Stoors were the only Hobbits who normally grew facial hair.

While few Hobbits could swim and they were known to be afraid of rivers and boats (let alone of the Sea, a token of fear and death for them which few had ever seen), the Stoors preferred flat lands and riversides.

Stoorish characteristics and appearance (large build, heavy feet and a down on the chin), could still be seen among the Hobbits of the Eastfarthing, Buckland (such as the Brandybucks) and the Bree-hobbits. The Hobbits of the Eastfarthing wore dwarf-boots in muddy weather.

The Stoors also had their own dialect of Hobbitish, owing to the fact that they spent some time in Dunland and adopted many strange words and names which they took to the Shire, and retained even until the late Third Age.