According to the mass of Tolkien's backstory material, does the 'Doom/Gift of Man' apply to Hobbits? I'm reasonably certain that this question is not answered in the trilogy itself, but I wonder if there's anything in the mountain of other material.
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1As far as I know it's not addressed in canon, so we can only speculate. I can see two possibilities here. Logically, empirically, Hobbits seem to be more like Men than any other being in ME, with the same lifestyle, tastes, language, etc. They seem in almost all ways like a sub-type of Men (Humans) so they should share the same afterlife. On the other hand, Tolkien was a devout Christian - Catholic to be precise - and probably preferred to have Men (Humans) set apart from all other beings.– Joe L.Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 15:41
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@Joe L.: Since hobbits became such important characters in Tolkien, and that Tolkien's religious devotion wasn't always at the same level through his life becoming more as he grew old, I would say your last sentence is highly speculative...– JoelCommented Mar 2, 2015 at 4:26
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I don't have a fully canon source, but from pieces here and there (some of them are off wikia) we can guess
Yes, it does apply to the hobbits as well.
From The Silmarillion, on "Quenta Silmarillion" we see that the Gift of Men is death ; the inheritance of Ilúvatar's Younger Children,the latter being the Men.
Hobbits belong to the 'category' Younger Children as well.
You can also see it here that Hobbits belong to the Children of Iluvatar(Men) category.
Hobbits were strictly a race of Men rather than a separate species. The origin of Hobbits is obscure; they first appeared in the records of other Men in the middle of the Third Age.
answered Feb 22, 2015 at 15:39
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9Is there canon that states Hobbits are strictly a race of Men? This quote comes from a wiki not a canonical source. Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 4:12