[Himilsillion]

I am going to go out on a limb here just bear with me please. I can't remember if it was in the beginning of the Hobbit or the Fellowship but Tokien states that out of all the races in middle-earth hobbits are th closest to humans.(excluding the race of men which are humans) He even hints that they are from descendents of men. I think he elaborates this in his letters. We also learn that they came from the east. However we do not know what year they appeared in middle-earth. I think that hobbits were once men living in Rhovanion but they evolved into a smaller sub-species of men because they would be easer for them to hide from the easternlings. This also might explain why they live underground. We know the hobbits were living in the east some time after the Last Alliance and Gladden Fields because that is when Gollum found the Ring. Is it possible that Eru expected the race of men to destroy the Ring? After Isildur failed to destroy the Ring and defeat Sauron for good could Eru have made a sub-race of hobbits to succeed where men had failed? Men failed because they are to easily corrupted by the lust for power. Hobbits have no need for power and could care less for it. This is why they succeeded in overthrowing sauron.