Height of the LoTR Races

Question

Is the height of races (men, elves, orcs, goblins, etc.) ever mentioned by Tolkien? If not, did the movies just make up the various heights?

Answer 1

Men

Númenóreans (2nd age) - 7'

Halflings was derived from the Numenorean name for them (in Sindarin Periannath). ... The name thus evidently referred to their height as compared with Numenorean men, and was approximately accurate when first given. The Numenoreans were a people of great stature.... Their full-grown men were often seven feet tall.
_{Private memorandum critiquing Pauline Baynes’ poster-map, quoted in The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion}

the Numenoreans before the Downfall were a people of great stature and strength, the Kings of Men; their full grown men were commonly seven feet tall, especially in the royal and noble houses. In the North where men of other kinds were fewer and their race remained purer this stature remained more frequent, though in both Arnor and Gondor apart from mixture of race the Numenoreans showed a dwindling of height and of longevity in Middle-earth that became more marked as the Third Age passed.
_{A "late, unpublished note" quoted in The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion}

Dúnedain (3rd age) - 6'4"

The Númenórean ranga was slightly longer than our yard, approximately thirty-eight inches, owing to their great stature. ... Account has to be taken both of the great stature of the Númenóreans (since hands, feet, fingers and paces are likely to be the origin of names of units of length), and also of the variations from these averages or norms in the process of fixing and organising a measurement system both for daily use and for exact calculations. Thus two rangar was often called "man-high," which at thirty-eight inches gives an average height of six feet four inches; but this was at a later date, when the stature of the Dúnedain appears to have decreased, and also was not intended to be an accurate statement of the observed average of male stature among them, but was an approximate length expressed in the well-known unit ranga.
_{Unfinished Tales - "Númenórean Linear Measures"}

Elendil the Tall - nearly 2.5 ranga (=7'11") or 7'

Isildur - 7'

It is however said of the great people of the past that they were more than a man-high. Elendil was said to be "more than man-high by nearly half a ranga;" but he was accounted the tallest of all the Númenóreans who escape the Downfall.
_{Unfinished Tales - "Númenórean Linear Measures"}

Aragorn, direct descendant of Elendil and his son Isildur, both of whom had been seven feet tall, must nonetheless have been a very tall man
_{A "late, unpublished note" quoted in The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion}

Aragorn - 6'6"

Boromir - 6'4"

Aragorn, direct descendant of Elendil and his son Isildur, both of whom had been seven feet tall, must nonetheless have been a very tall man ..., probably at least 6 ft. 6; and Boromir, of high Numenorean lineage, not much shorter (say 6 ft. 4).
_{A "late, unpublished note" quoted in The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion}

Rohirim - shorter than 6'4"

Éomer - 6'6"

The Rohirrim were generally shorter, for in their far-off ancestry they had been mingled with men of broader and heavier build. Éomer was said to have been tall, of like height with Aragorn; but he with other descendants of King Thengel were taller than the norm of Rohan, deriving this characteristic (together in some cases with darker hair) from Morwen, Thengel's wife, a lady of Gondor of high Númenórean descent.
_{Unfinished Tales - "Númenórean Linear Measures"}

Dwarves

Dwarves - about 4'

The description of the height of hobbits is perhaps unnecessarily vague and complicated in the Prologue.... But it boils down to this: Dwarves were about 4 ft. high at least. Hobbits were lighter in build, but not much shorter;...
_{Private memorandum critiquing Pauline Baynes’ poster-map, quoted in The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion}

Hobbits

Fallohides - taller than 3'6"

Harfoots - 3'6"

Stoors - shorter than 3'6"

Shire Hobbits - 3'-4', average of 3'5"

Hobbits today - less than 3'

Halflings was derived from the Númenórean name for them (in Sindarin Periannath). It was given first to the Harfoots, who became known to the rulers of Arnor in the eleventh century of the Third Age; later it was also applied to the Fallohides and Stoors. The name thus evidently referred to their height as compared with Númenórean men, and was approximately accurate when first given. The Númenóreans were a people of great stature. Their full-grown men were often seven feet tall.
The descriptions and assumptions of the text are not in fact haphazard, and are based on a standard: the average height of a male adult hobbit at the time of the story. For Harfoots this was taken as 3 ft. 6; Fallohides were slimmer and a little taller; and Stoors broader, stouter, and somewhat shorter. The remarks in the Prologue [concerning the height of Hobbits] . .. are unnecessarily vague and complicated, owing to the inclusion of references to supposed modern survivals of the race in later times; but as far as the LR [Lord of the Rings] is concerned they boil down to this: the hobbits of the Shire were in height between 3 and 4 feet in height, never less and seldom more. They did not of course call themselves Halflings....
Dwarves were about 4 ft. high at least. Hobbits were lighter in build, but not much shorter; their tallest men were 4 ft., but seldom taller. Though nowadays their survivors are seldom 3 ft. high, in the days of the story they were taller which means that they usually exceeded 3 ft. and qualified for the name of halfling. But the name 'halfling' must have originated circa T[hird] A[ge] 1150, getting on for 2,000 years (1868) before the War of the Ring, during which the dwindling of the Numenoreans had shown itself in stature as well as in life-span. So that it referred to a height of full-grown males of an average of, say, 3 ft. 5.
The dwindling of the Dunedain was not a normal tendency, shared by peoples whose proper home was Middle-earth; but due to the loss of their ancient land far in the West, nearest of all mortal lands to 'The Undying Realm'. The much later dwindling of hobbits must be due to a change in their state and way of life; they became a fugitive and secret people, driven as Men, the Big Folk, became more and more numerous, usurping the more fertile and habitable lands, to refuge in forest or wilderness: a wandering and poor folk, forgetful of their arts and living a precarious life absorbed in the search for food and fearful of being seen; for cruel men would shoot them for sport as if they were animals. In fact they relapsed into the state of 'pygmies'. The other stunted race, the Druedain, never rose much above that state.
_{Private memorandum critiquing Pauline Baynes’ poster-map, quoted in Unfinished Tales, The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion, and The Nature of Middle-earth}

Bandobras Took - 4'5"

For they are a little people, smaller than Dwarves: less stout and stocky, that is, even when they are not actually much shorter. Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure. They seldom now reach three feet; but they have dwindled, they say, and in ancient days they were taller. According to the Red Book, Bandobras Took (Bullroarer), son of Isumbras the Third, was four foot five and able to ride a horse. He was surpassed in all Hobbit records only by two famous characters of old; but that curious matter is dealt with in this book.
_{The Lord of the Rings - Prologue 1 - "Concerning Hobbits"}

Bilbo - 3' or 3'6"

Actual size – only important if other objects are in picture – say about three feet or three feet six inches. The hobbit in the picture of the gold-hoard, Chapter XII, is of course (apart from being fat in the wrong places) enormously too large. But (as my children, at any rate, understand) he is really in a separate picture or 'plane' – being invisible to the dragon.
_{1938 Letter to the Houghton Mifflin Company, published in Letters of J.R.R Tolkien}

Sam - 3'4"

Pippin - 3'4"

Frodo and Sam - between 3'4" and 3'6"

These figures [of the Fellowship] are thus all too short. Gandalf even bent must have been at least 5 ft. 6; Legolas at least 6 foot, (probably more); Gimli is about the height that the Hobbits should have been, but was probably somewhat taller; the Hobbits should have been between 3 ft. 4 and 3 ft. 6. (I personally have always thought of Sam as the shortest, but the sturdiest in build, out of the four.)
_{Private memorandum critiquing Pauline Baynes’ poster-map, quoted in The Nature of Middle-earth}

'Yes,' he said, 'they are quite plain: a hobbit's footprints. Pippin's I think. He is smaller than the others.
_{The Lord of the Rings - Book III Chapter 2 - "The Riders of Rohan"}

Merry and Pippin after drinking ent-draughts - 4' or 4'6"

I am nearly twenty-nine, so I pass you there; though I am but four feet, and not likely to grow any more, save sideways.’
_{The Lord of the Rings - Book V Chapter 1 - "Minas Tirith"}

Orcs, and talking trees, and leagues of grass, and galloping riders. and glittering caves, and white towers and golden halls, and battles, and tall ships sailing, all these passed before Sam’s mind until he felt bewildered. But amidst all these wonders he returned always to his astonishment at the size of Merry and Pippin; and he made them stand back to back with Frodo and himself. He scratched his head. ‘Can’t understand it at your age!’ he said. ‘But there it is: you’re three inches taller than you ought to be, or I’m a dwarf.’
_{The Lord of the Rings - Book VI Chapter 4 - "The Field of Cormallen"}

According to the Red Book, Bandobras Took (Bullroarer), son of Isumbras the Third, was four foot five and able to ride a horse. He was surpassed in all Hobbit records only by two famous characters of old; but that curious matter is dealt with in this book.
_{The Lord of the Rings - Prologue 1 - "Concerning Hobbits"}

Elves

Male elves - at least 6'6"

Female elves - at least 6'

The Quendi [Elves] were in origin a tall people. The Eldar ... were those ... who accepted the invitation of the Valar to remove from Middle-earth and set forth on the Great March to the Western Shores of Middle-earth. They were in general the stronger and taller members of the Elvish folk at that time. In Eldarin tradition it was said that even their women were seldom less than six feet in height; their full-grown elfmen no less than six and a half feet, while some of the great kings and leaders were taller.
_{A "late manuscript" quoted in The Lord of the Rings A Reader's Companion}

Galadriel - 6'4"

The Eldar of the Elder Days were also very tall. Galadriel, "the tallest of all the women of the Eldar of whom tales tell," was said to be man-high, but it is noted "according to the measure of the Dúnedain and the men of old," indicating a height of about six feet four inches.
_{Unfinished Tales - "Númenórean Linear Measures"}

Celeborn

[Celeborn] was held by them to be tall, as his name indicated ("silver-tall"); but the Teleri were in general somewhat less in build and stature than the Noldor.
_{Unfinished Tales - "Númenórean Linear Measures"}

Legolas - Between 6' and 6'6"

Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, little less in height, was broader and heavier in build.
_{The Lord of the Rings - Book II Chapter 3 - "The Ring Goes South"}

These figures [of the Fellowship] are thus all too short. Gandalf even bent must have been at least 5 ft. 6; Legolas at least 6 foot, (probably more); Gimli is about the height that the Hobbits should have been, but was probably somewhat taller; the Hobbits should have been between 3 ft. 4 and 3 ft. 6. (I personally have always thought of Sam as the shortest, but the sturdiest in build, out of the four.)
_{Private memorandum critiquing Pauline Baynes’ poster-map, quoted in The Nature of Middle-earth}

Istari

Gandalf - between 5'6" and 6'6"

Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, little less in height, was broader and heavier in build.
_{The Lord of the Rings - Book II Chapter 3 - "The Ring Goes South"}

But his colours were always white, silver-grey, and blue – except for the boots he wore when walking in the wild . . . Gandalf even bent must have been at least 5 ft. 6 . . . Which would make him a short man even in modern England, especially with the reduction of a bent back.
_{Private memorandum critiquing Pauline Baynes’ poster-map, quoted in The History of the Hobbit}

Ainur

Valar (regularly) - "Far greater" than 6'6"

Valar (when doing important deeds) - "awe inspiring heights"

The fanar[= visible form] of the great Valar were said by the Eldar who had dwelt in Valinor usually to have had a stature far greater than that of the tallest Elves, and when performing some great deed or rite, or issuing commands, to have assumed an awe-inspiring height.
_{The Nature of Middle-earth - "The Visible Forms of the Valar and Maiar"}

Answer 2

Yes, he has, but as far as I remember, not for all the races.

• Hobbits were 3 to 4 feet tall -- average 3 feet, 6 inches ( Letter #27)

  Actual size – only important if other objects are in picture – say about three feet or three feet six inches.

  _Source

• Orcs were 3 & 1/2 to 4 feet tall ( The Fellowship of the Ring)

The size of the Elves and the men was similar. There was a mention I think that the dwarves had similar height to the Hobbits, if not slightly taller.

Answer 3

In the case of elves:

A tall people in general when compared to Men. By Eldarin tradition, at the time of the Great Journey, the Eldar (Future Vanyar, Sindar, Nandor, Teleri of Aman, Noldor) were taller than the Avari, and among the Eldar those with Noldorin blood seem to be the tallest. Quotes, in sequence, from TNoME (1969-70); Of Dwarves and Men, TPoME (1969); Unfinished Tales (1968+):

The Quendi were in origin a tall people. The Eldar (...) they were in general the stronger and taller members of the Elvish folk at that time. In Eldarin tradition it was said that even their women were seldom less than six feet in height; their full-grown elfmen no less than six and a half feet, while some of the great kings and leaders were taller.

They were called “halflings”; but this refers to the normal height of men of Númenórean descent and of the Eldar (especially those of Ñoldorin descent), which appears to have been about seven of our feet.’

Another note remarks of Celeborn that he was 'a Linda of Valinor' (that is, one of the Teleri, whose own name for themselves was Lindar, the Singers), and that he was held by them to be tall, as his name indicated ('silver-tall’); but the Teleri were in general somewhat less in build and stature than the Noldor.

Another quote circa 1951. THoME, vol 11:

... For the Noldor indeed were tall as are in the latter days men of great might and majesty...

In the chapter "Beards" (1973) in TNoME Tolkien says the Eldar blood is what made the Royals in Númenor taller than the average:

Thus the male Eldar (at least in the First age) in general are definitely over 6 foot 6 and the Noldor about 7 feet on average, some of their royals taller.

Both of the tallest of the children of Eru are Eldar, Thingol and Turgon:

tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol

Unfinished Tales, Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin

Of Men:

The Númenóreans in their prime as seen above are around the height of the Eldar, specially those with Elros's blood. By the end of the third age they were around 6'4".

the Numenoreans before the Downfall were a people of great stature and strength, the Kings of men; their full grown men were commonly seven feet tall, especially in the royal and noble houses. In the North where men of other kinds were fewer and their race remained purer this stature remained more frequent,

TNoME, Heights

two rangar was often called ‘man-high’, which at thirty-eight inches gives an average height of six feet four inches; but this was at a later date, when the stature of the Dúnedain appears to have decreased, and also was not intended to be an accurate statement of the observed average of male stature among them

Unfinished Tales, Númenórean Linear Measures

The Hadoreans were comparable to the Eldar of Beleriand though probably a bit shorter, thus also very tall, at least before they mingled with the other far shorter Edain houses:

For the most part [the Folk of Hador] were a tall people, with flaxen or golden hair and blue-grey eyes, but there were not a few among them that had dark hair though all were fair skinned... There were fair-haired men and women among the Folk of Beor, but most had brown hair (going usually with brown eyes), and many were less fair in skin some indeed being swarthy. Men as tall as the folk of Hador were rare among them, and most were broader and more heavy in build. (…) But these differences of body and mind became less marked as their short generations passed, for the two peoples became much mingled by intermarriage and by the disasters of the War.

The Eldar said, and recalled in the songs they still sang in later days, that they could not easily be distinguished from the Eldar - not while their youth lasted, the swift fading of which was to the Eldar a grief and a mystery.

Of Dwarves and Men, TPoME.

The Northman of Rhovanion were also very tall, see the tale of Tal-Elmar (TPoME, Late Writings) where he is mistaken for an Elda or a Númenórean, for they had the same ancestors of the Hadoreans:

These Northmen were descendants of the same race of Men as those who in the First Age passed into the West of Middle-earth and became the allies of the Eldar in their wars with Morgoth. They were therefore from afar off kinsmen of the Dúnedain or Númenóreans, and there was great friendship be­tween them and the people of Gondor.

Unfinished Tales

The Rohirrim were also tall for they descended from those Northman, but they mingled with other people (Dunlendings or tribes kin to that of Beor that did not go to Beleriand) thus becoming smaller than 6'4" later in the third age:

And we love them: tall men and fair women, valiant both alike, golden-haired, bright-eyed, and strong; they remind us of the youth of Men, as they were in the Elder Days.

LotR, The Return of the King

The Éothéod were first known by that name in the days of King Calimehtar of Gondor (who died in the year 1936 of the Third Age), at which time they were a small people living in the Vales of Anduin between the Carrock and the Gladden Fields, for the most part on the west side of the river. They were a remnant of the Northmen, who had formerly been a numerous and powerful confederation of peoples living in the wide plains between Mirkwood and the River Running, great breeders of horses and riders renowned for their skill and endurance, though their settled homes were in the eaves of the Forest, and especially in the East Bight, which had largely been made by their felling of trees.

The Rohirrim were generally shorter (in relation to 6’4″ Numenoreans), for in their far-off ancestry they had been mingled with men of broader and heavier build.

Unfinished Tales

The other Men of ME were closer to what Tolkien would view as average, be them Easterlings, Dunlendings, from the south (Harad and Khand), other Edain (house of Beor and Haleth) and their ancestors that remained outside Beleriand, like the Men of Dale and Bree etc.

It seems the average would be something a bit taller than a bent Gandalf:

Gandalf even bent must have been at least 5 ft. 6 . . . Which would make him a short man even in modern England, especially with the reduction of a bent back.

The History of the Hobbit

Hobbits like It was said above were about half the height of the Eldar and Númenóreans in their prime, about 3'5", TNoME:

...in the days of the story they were taller which means that they usually exceeded 3 ft. and qualified for the name of halfling. But the name 'halfling' must have originated circa T[hird] A[ge] 1150, getting on for 2,000 years (1868) before the War of the Ring, during which the dwindling of the Numenoreans had shown itself in stature as well as in life-span. So that it referred to a height of full-grown males of an average of, say, 3 ft. 5.

Of Dwarves:

It seems 6-7 inches diference in height for Tolkien can go as by "not much" or "somewhat", for Gimli is only somewhat taller than the Hobbits, even though Dwarves are supposed to be at least 4 feet tall as was noted in TNoME, same manuscript:

Gimli is about the height that the Hobbits should have been, but was probably somewhat taller; the Hobbits should have been between 3 ft. 4 and 3 ft. 6. (I personally have always thought of Sam as the shortest, but the sturdiest in build, out of the four.)

Dwarves were about 4 ft. high at least. Hobbits were lighter in build, but not much shorter; their tallest men were 4 ft., but seldom taller. Though nowadays their survivors are seldom 3 ft. high, in the days of the story they were taller which means that they usually exceeded 3 ft. and qualified for the name of halfling (...) So that it referred to a height of full-grown males of an average of, say, 3 ft. 5.

TNoME, Heights

Orcs:

An incredible variety: Some small enough to not note Sam and Frodo in Mordor when they were using orc clothing;

Grishnakh, an orc from Moria that encountered the Uruks from Saruman called Pippin "little" when they were captured;

In the twilight he saw a large black Orc, probably Uglúk, standing facing Grishnakh, a short crook-legged creature, very broad and with long arms that hung almost to the ground.

‘Well, my little ones!’ said Grishnakh in a soft whisper. ‘Enjoying your nice rest? Or not? A little awkwardly placed perhaps: swords and whips on one side, and nasty spears on the other! Little people should not meddle in affairs that are too big for them.’

LotR, The Two Towers

another in Moria that fought Aragorn was almost man-high;

But even as they retreated, and before Pippin and Merry had reached the stair outside, a huge orc-chieftain, almost man-high, clad in black mail from head to foot, leaped into the chamber;

LotR, The Fellowship of the Ring

Uruks are taller than most orcs tribes and were almost man-high;

Uruks Anglicized form of Uruk-hai of the Black Speech; a race of Orcs of great size and strength.

Unfinished Tales, Index

Related, no doubt, was the word uruk of the Black Speech, though this was applied as a rule only to the great soldier-orcs that at this time issued from Mordor and Isengard. The lesser kinds were called, especially by the Uruk-hai, snaga ‘slave’.

LotR, Appendix F

The pale-orc tribe was also far bigger than the other ones from the Misty Mountains and Gundabad, such as Azog, Bolg and his bodyguards;

There a host of Wargs came ravening and with them came the bodyguard of Bolg, goblins of huge size with scimitars of steel.

The Hobbit

half-orcs were man-high.

Finally, there is a cogent point, though horrible to relate. It became clear in time that undoubted Men could under the domination of Morgoth or his agents in a few generations be reduced almost to the Orc-level of mind and habits; and then they would or could be made to mate with Orcs, producing new breeds, often larger and more cunning. There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile.

Morgoth's Ring, Myths Transformed, Orcs

He emptied Isengard. I saw the enemy go: endless lines of marching Orcs; and troops of them mounted on great wolves. And there were battalions of Men, too. Many of them carried torches, and in the flare I could see their faces. Most of them were ordinary men, rather tall and dark-haired, and grim but not particularly evil-looking. But there were some others that were horrible: man-high, but with goblin-faces, sallow, leering, squint-eyed. Do you know, they reminded me at once of that Southerner at Bree; only he was not so obviously orc-like as most of these were.

‘I thought of him too,’ said Aragorn. ‘We had many of these half-orcs to deal with at Helm’s Deep. It seems plain now that that Southerner was a spy of Saruman’s...

LotR, The Two Towers

Thus for most orc tribes the height range could vary from around 3'5" to "almost" 5'7" or 5'8" (see comment above about Gandalf) for the tallest individuals.

Pale orcs and Uruks almost man-high on average.

Answer 4

Here is another answer, containing only statements from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

What is said in those books is certainly canon in those books. What Tolkien wrote in letters and essays is "Word of God", as TV Tropes puts it, and if there is any contradiction, fans will have to decide for themselves which to accept.

Of course the sizes of newborn babies, and growing children, will be a lot smaller than the sizes of adults.

Tolkien described Hobbits in the beginning of The Hobbit:

The mother of our particular hobbit—-what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves.

If adult humans are usually about five to six feet tall, adult hobbits should have been about two and a half to three feet tall.

I read the above quote on January 1, 2024 in my paperback copy of The Hobbit, a revised edition dated to 1966. And this is different from what I remember from first reading The Hobbit long ago in what might have been the original edition. What I remembered it saying was that Hobbits were smaller than dwarves but larger than Lilliputians.

The answer by Ibid to this question:

[https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/283213/did-tolkien-change-the-description-of-hobbits-in-the-hobbit][1]

says that the first and second editions of The Hobbit did compare Hobbits to Lilliputians but it was changed for the third edition.

They are (or were) small people, smaller than dwarves (and they have no beards) but very much larger than lilliputians.

Lilluptians were supposed to be 1/12 the height of Gulliver, and so about 6 inches tall. So Tolkien always said that Hobbits were a lot taller than 6 inches, even before he wrote other things about their height.

I also note that in The Return of the King, Book V, chapter I, “Minas Tirith”, Pippin meets a boy named Bergil. Bergil says he is ten years old and almost five feet tall. Pippin says:

I am nearly twenty-nine, so I pass you there; though I am but four feet and not likely to grow any more, save sideways.

Though as it turns out Pippin did later grow several inches, maybe half a foot or more. Pippin thought that he was (approximately) four feet tall then, on March 9, Third Age 3019, but he was probably already growing taller than he thought he was. About 11 days earlier, on February 29, 3019 (the calendar was different from ours) Merry and Pippin were given an Ent drink, which apparently magically caused them to grow much taller. On April 6, 3019, at the Field of Cormallen, Samwise was amazed at how much taller Merry and Pippin were.

The Return of the KIng, Book VI, Chapter 4, "The Field of Cormallen" Says:

Why look Frodo! I fit isn't Pippin, or Mr. Peregrim Took I should say, and Mr. Merry! How they have grown!

Orcs, and talking trees, and leagues of grass, and galloping riders, and glittering caves, and white towers and golden halls, and battles, and tall ships sailing, all these passed before Sam's mind until he felt bewildered. But amidst all those wonders he returned always to his astonishment at the size of Merry and PIppin; and he made them stand back to back with Frodo and himself. He scratched his head. 'Can't understand it at your age!' He said 'But there it is you're three inches taller than you ought to be, or I'm a Dwarf.'

'That you are not' Said Gimli. 'But what did I say? Mortals can not go drinking ent-draughts and expect no more to come of them than of a pot of beer.'

So by March 9 Pippin might have already been half an inch or so taller than he thought he was. And eventually Pippin and Merry grew to be at least a little bit, and maybe more, taller than Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took who was four feet five inches tall.

Another answer to this question says that Merry and Pippin Were 3 feet 4 inches tall, presumably meaning when they left the Shire with Frodo, and that they later grew to to 4 feet 6 inches. But at the field of Cormallen Sam says they are only 3 inches taller than they should be, not 4 to 14 inches, and about a month before the Field of Cormallen Pippin said he was 4 feet tall, so he was already about 8 inches taller than the reputed 3 feet 4 inches. If Pippin grew from 3 feet 4 inches to 4 feet before the Field of Cormallen Sam would say that Pippin grew 8 inches, not 3 inches.

Therefore I judge that Pippin, and maybe Merry, was about 4 feet tall, taller than the average Hobbit, and not 3 feet 4 inches when they left the Shire.

The Fellowship of the Ring, the Prolog, I Concerning Hobbits says:

For they are a little people, smaller than Dwarves: less stout and stocky, that is, even when they are not actually much shorter. Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure. They seldom now reach three feet; but they have dwindled, they say, and in ancient times they were taller. According to the Red Book Bandobras Took (Bullroarer), son of Isengrim the Second, was four feet five and able to ride a horse. He was surpassed in Hobbit records only by two famous characters of old; but that curious matter is dwelt with in this book

That indicates that adult Hobbits two feet tall would be much shorter than adult dwarves, while adult Hobbits four feet tall might be the same size as Dwarves or only a little bit shorter. Thus I guess that most Dwarves probably have heights somewhere in the range of four to five feet. But I have no way of knowing whether adult Dwarf heights range from three and a half to four and half feet, or from four and a half feet to five feet, or whatever.