Thursday, 30 July 2026

Hobbits had disproportionately large hands (i.e. Man-sized)


Hobbits are something between a half and a third of the stature of Men; but are often imagined, and usually depicted, with feet that are (compared with Men) disproportionately large - sometimes horrifyingly so (see above). 

But the same size-exaggeration must also apply to their hands

In both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, hobbits use Men's long knives as effective swords; to do this they must surely have had similar-sized hands. 

Furthermore, the legendary hobbit ability to throw stones would seem to imply that their hands were significantly larger than Man-children of about six-eight years old, who are of similar height.


Gollum (a proto-hobbit) is imagined and depicted with relatively-large hands - although this might be regarded as an effect of possessing the One Ring; but textual evidence suggests that the same ought to apply to normal hobbits. 

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Acknowledgment: The core idea is due to my son Billy, with the additional point about throwing coming from my wife. Such are our meal time conversations...   

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