By the time The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launched in 1998, J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' had already been on shelves for over 60 years. It should come as no surprise, then, to assume that the iconic fantasy title would have some influence on Nintendo's own N64 adventure title.
According to Did You Know Gaming, however, who recently trawled through an extensive amount of old Nintendo interviews, Ocarina of Time was originally set to include its own original character called 'Hobbit'. This was revealed in an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto himself, who explained that the role of the Deku Scrubs was originally intended for a separate character who would tell stories, sell items to Link, and more.
The development team ultimately ran out of time and repurposed the character into the Deku Scrubs we all know and love. All was not lost, however, as even Miyamoto states that the Scrubs are his favourite characters in the game, so it all worked out in the end. Still, it would have been a neat little callback to The Hobbit itself.
The video from DYKG contains plenty more interesting tidbits about games for the N64, so be sure to put aside some time and check out the whole thing.