According to the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, hobbits are relatives of the race of Men. Elsewhere, Tolkien describes hobbits as a variety or separate branch of humans. Hobbits and other races seem aware of the similarities (hence the colloquial terms Big People and Little People used in Bree). However, hobbits considered themselves a separate people. At the time of the events in The Lord of the Rings, hobbits lived in the Shire and in Bree in the north west of Middle-earth.