Lord Of The Rings: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Hobbits

When it comes to unlikely heroes no one measures up to hobbits... , okay poor choice of words, but you get the meaning. In a world of elves, wizards, trolls and evil spirits it would seem inconceivable that the smallest of people could change the course of the future so drastically.

But it is exactly for that reason that these characters are so brilliant. They act as the everyday person in a strange and fantastical world. Both in the books and the films, the hobbits serve as the reader's/viewer's conduit into Middle-earth. They are the most familiar thing to our own world, so of course we latch onto them. It's a classic story telling trope, make the audience empathise and relate to the main protagonist, and their arc will feel more significant.

Despite the hobbits sharing a number of similarities to our own existence there are still many things that make them unique and intriguing. These are 10 surprising things you didn't know about the fury little halflings.

We're initially introduced to Merry & Pippin when they steal one of Gandalf's fireworks in the Fellowship of the Ring. From the early stages they're established as the cheeky comic relief of the films. The way Peter Jackson tells it, they only ended up on the quest by accident. After they bump into Frodo and Sam, they're forced to flee a grumpy Farmer Maggot, only to cross paths with the Nazgûl and assist Frodo in his escape.

But in the books Tolkien depicted them as having a far greater awareness of what was going on. When Frodo intends to leave the Shire, he recruits Merry & Pippin to help him move home. He planned to relocate to the Shire's borders to make it easier to slip away without rousing suspicion.

Frodo believes Merry & Pippin are no more clued up than they are in the films. Upon arriving at his new home, however, he's is confronted by his friends who reveal they secretly knew all about Frodo's true intentions. Together with Sam, and another hobbit named Fredegar Bolger, they gathered all the information they could about the Ring, and prepared to join Frodo on his quest. When Frodo finds out he's shocked and alarmed but grateful.

This foresight from Merry & Pippin certainly paints them in a different light to their film counterparts.