system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[LOTR] so what are hobbits then?

Valar are the beings created by Iluvatar in song; maiar are the beings imbued with power by the Valar; wizards are just late-arriving maiar; elves and men are the first and second children of Iluvatar; dwarves were created by Aulë; all plants were created by Yavanna; the eagles are the servants of Manwë; orcs, dragons, trolls, cats, and wolves are the various corruptions and creations of Morgoth and Sauron.

So... where the hell do hobbits fit into all this?? They're not men, they're not petty dwarves, and they're certainly not elves, orcs, or creatures... So what gives? Did they just crash the party uninvited?
gpt
They are human.  It's just that no one knows their origins (where and when they became physically distinct from "normal" men).  The furthest back anyone knows anything is that they appeared in the Vales of Anduin, and there was some remainder of them there even in the Third Age while the rest moved over the Misty Mountains.

But they are certainly still ontologically men.  It's not so odd a concept if you realize that Numenoreans, for example, actually grew to physically resemble the Elves, but were also still men.