History Main / LittlePeople

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' gives you the titular Minish. Your hat / ExpositionFairy [[spoiler:who is a Minish himself, cursed by the BigBad into said hat form]] also doubles as a way to shrink down to their size, thereby enabling interaction with them.

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': The Munchkins were depicted by dwarves and midgets, based on the boo description of them being Dorothy's height, between 3-4 feet high.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "The Web", the characters encounter the Decima, a genetically-engineered ServantRace four-feet high on a planet [[DidNotThinkThisThrough covered in five-foot high bracken]].
* ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'': Several episodes had dwarves as either comic antagonists or sympathetic guests, including "Hoss and the Leprechauns" and "It's a Small World."

%%* ''Film/{{Willow}}'': The Nelwyn.
%%* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': The Munchkins.

%%* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'': Along with the Munchkins, there's also the people of China Country.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Koehnes (and the race of Sidhe she's from). She has just showed up on [[SuperheroSchool campus]] and set herself as servant to [[TheFairFolk Fey]] despite the fact that Fey has a roommate and lives in a dorm.

* ''Videogame/GranblueFantasy'' has the Harvins. They're about half the height of a human adult, with PointyEars and childlike faces even as adults. They're portrayed as [[ShorterMeansSmarter having a natural affinity for magic and academics]].

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]], {{Hobbits}}, {{Leprechaun}}s, [[OurGnomesAreWeirder Gnomes]], ChristmasElves, and some [[TheFairFolk Fairies]] are specific subtropes. If these people are ''really'' little and are the main characters, it is a MouseWorld; for other mouse-sized people, see {{Lilliputians}}.

* The ancestral High Ones in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' were as tall as humans, [[spoiler:being shapeshifting extraterrestrials]], but over the course of time many of their descendants evolved into shorter forms.
* In Creator/RaymondBriggs' ''ComicBook/TheMan'', a young boy has to hide and look after a demanding and bossy little man.

* ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'': Although the first story averts the trope by having no race of small folk, ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone'' has a large number of small folk races running around the rebooted C'hou. Some outworlders are small folk as well, such as Theecat.

%%* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': The Munchkins.

* ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' actually has two short-ish races, the smallish Gelfling and the even smaller "Pod People" (who look kind of like potatoes and live in big seed pods). Then again, there are no human characters, and everyone else is either a reptilian or a something like a very tall angel, so the scale isn't totally clear.
* Though not the comic relief variety, the beings from ''Film/SupermanAndTheMolePeople'' (don't really fit the MoleMen trope because they aren't rodent-like, just like tiny humans mostly)

%%* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'': Along with the Munchkins, there's also the people of China Country.
%%* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'': Hobbits and Dwarves.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has dwarfs, pictsies (ViolentGlaswegian smurfs), goblins (mostly peaceful edge folk with a surprising talent for mechanisms), and gnomes (the least detailed, although [[Literature/TheLightFantastic the first to appear]], but known to be good shoemakers).

* ''Literature/CirqueDuFreak'': The Little People, created from the souls of the dead by Mr. Des Tiny to be his servants, are the true source (in that universe) of all of these legends around the world. They have stitched together grey skin, glowing green eyes set too high on their faces, no hair, no eyelids, no sense of smell or taste, no speech unless Tiny decides to bless them with it, and they must wear special masks because if they breathe the air, they'll die. Multiple main characters are transformed into these over the course of the series.
* In ''Literature/TheMarvellousLandOfSnergs'', the proverbial Snergs are one race of short, stout humanoids.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': The small men, a mysterious species which have large owl-like eyes, their features wizened with hands and feet of disproportionate (to humans) size. Most only meet humans to trade with them (but will walk off instantly if the deal isn't what they like) and speak in a strange language. They live under the earth and mine, while they appear to be [[OneGenderRace entirely male]] at first (but small women are shown later-it's the men that venture outside apparently). All of them are later revealed to live in a massive [[UndergroundCity city which they've carved underground]]. They're capable of great magic, especially [[MasterOfIllusion illusions]] and apparently vanishing or appearing at will (it's revealed that's due to [[ShadowWalker traveling in the shadow world]]).

* The Harfoots from ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' invoke this more so than the Third Age Hobbits in that their talent for hiding makes them mysterious creatures of legend to the race of Men, akin to beings from folklore such as fairies or leprechauns. Their segments are also the most light-hearted parts.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' also has gnomes and dwarves as its Little People. Also goblins, but their only comic trait is their tendency to make things go boom. The Battle for Azeroth expansion adds the FoxFolk Vulpera, based on Fennec Foxes.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'': Tarutaru take the cuteness factor, throw in some {{Verbal Tic}}s, and aim for being as adorable and sweet as possible. This naturally results in plenty of {{Narm}} whenever they try and act serious.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'': The Lilties are a very small and cute race. They're also super-adorable (and can [[NoBiochemicalBarriers crossbreed with people]]). Oh, and they used to be TheEmpire and can be extremely hardy and gruff, are incredibly strong for their size, can forge some mean weaponry, and can hold a grudge with the best of dwarves. Do ''not'' cross a Lilty of you know what's good for you.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': The Lalafell are a diminutive race of adorable childlike people that love their AddedAlliterativeAppeal. The Plainsfolk have a more standard history of being farmers and shepherds, but much like the Lilties, the Dunesfolk of Ul'dah live in a WretchedHive of a MerchantCity filled with [[GladiatorGames blood sports]], vicious gangsters, corrupt merchants, {{Loan Shark}}s, and {{Dirty Cop}}s that is run by TheSyndicate in a DecadentCourt that undermine their PuppetKing. They also have an added bonus of having a history of violent racial strife. Both versions, however, have a history of being carried off by {{Giant Flyer}}s and are [[RunningGag often noted]] to be the favorite food of larger monsters.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' gives you the titular Minish. Your hat / ExpositionFairy [[spoiler:who is a Minish himself, cursed by the BigBad into said hat form]] also doubles as a way to shrink down to their size, thereby enabling interaction with them.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' averts the comic relief bit. Gnomes are {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s who [[spoiler:organize the mass kidnapping and rape (by ogres) of human women to breed [[HalfHumanHybrid half-ogres]] for use as a bodyguard race]].
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': The yordles are short humanoids who come in a number of variants; some are furry and animal-like, such as Teemo and Rumble, while others are more like small humans, such as Corki and Poppy.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Koehnes (and the race of Sidhe she's from). She has just showed up on [[SuperheroSchool campus]] and set herself as servant to [[TheFairFolk Fey]] despite the fact that Fey has a roommate and lives in a dorm.

* Frogs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' are larger than their Earth counterparts, but still only a few feet tall. Even a pre-teen human girl like Anne towers over most of them. Newts and toads are bigger, but still generally shorter than adult humans (though the latter are often larger overall because they're so stocky). Olms and giant salamanders are genuinely enormous even compared to humans.

Not to be confused with the [[WesternAnimation/LittlePeople animated series of the same name]]. Also not to be confused with RealLife little people -- for tropes relating to humans with dwarfism, see LittlePeopleAreSurreal and DepravedDwarf.