# The Hobbes in Calvin and Hobbes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157 "2001-10-13T00:03:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/1 "2001-10-13T00:03:19Z")
Is Hobbes supposed to be real or not? If he wasn’t real, he wouldn’t be able to cut off Calvin’s hair or hit Calvin with a snowball or throw Calvin into the rain barrel. Plus, how tall is Calvin supposed to be? And another question, if he’s supposed to be so dumb, how does he come up with such smart questions like: “How do soldiers killing each other solve the world’s problems?” or “How would people like it if animals bulldozed a suburb and filled itwith trees?”. I love Calvin and Hobbes, I’m just curious. Oh, is hobbes supposed to be female? you can’t see any parts to prove whether he is male or female. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/2 "2001-10-13T00:07:04Z")
I know that Hobbes is a guy, because he had a thing going with Susie Derkins for a while. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/3 "2001-10-13T00:07:27Z")
Of course Hobbes is real. The rest of the world merely percieves him as a stuffed animal. And he is a he, or he is a lesbian, since s/he has a thing for Suzy. Calvin is an underappreciated child prodigy. Which is why only he can see Hobbes. They are both _real_, you know. The rest of us are a comic strip. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/4 "2001-10-13T00:41:59Z")
Hobbes is real from Calvin’s point of view, and an overactive imagination from everyone else’s. If you watched a security cam of Calvin’s life, you’d probably find out he cut his own hair and fallen in the snow. He didn’t really ride his wagon to mars, either. You’ve never seen a kid blame/credit something on an imaginary friend or an inanimate object? He can ask smart questions and has a more mature view of gender relations then you’d expect for two reasons. First, because he’s not dumb, he just doesn’t pay attention, and second because there’s a rather clever adult writing his dialog. 🙂 – “I’ll just imagine the music which would have added a lot to this scene . . .” ---
**Author:** ![ScriptAnalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@ScriptAnalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriptAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/5 "2001-10-13T00:52:26Z")
Hobbes’ creator has pointed out that he intentionally avoids resolving the question of whether Hobbes is real or not: he prefers just to show to different views of reality, oen from the point of view of Calvin and one for everybody else. This is supposedly also part of the reason for not licensing Calvin and Hobbes tie-in products: he doesn’t want a toy company deciding which is the “real” Hobbes. AS for Calvin’s vocabulary, Bill Watterson has said that it “puzzles some readers, but Calvin has never been a literal six-year-old.” Steve Biodrowski [http://www.thescriptanalyst.com](http://www.thescriptanalyst.com) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/6 "2001-10-13T01:47:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anubis \* > \*\* > Oh, is hobbes supposed to be female? you can’t see any parts to prove whether he is male or female. \*\* And we know Hobbes is male, because he’s a member of G.R.O.S.S. ---
**Author:** ![Mofo\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/7 "2001-10-13T02:16:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Anubis \* > > \*\* > > Oh, is hobbes supposed to be female? you can’t see any parts to prove whether he is male or female. \*\* > > And we know Hobbes is male, because he’s a member of G.R.O.S.S. \*\* Also, Calvin would never actually spend that much time hanging out with a girl. Anybody remember the early sketch where Calvin and Suzy are yelling over the cruel Valentine Calvin had given her? It ends with thought balloons where it is revealed that they secretly have a crush on each other, with hearts and everything. That plot element was quickly removed in favor of the gender wars between the two. If it helps, just think of Hobbes as a modern day Harvey. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/8 "2001-10-13T02:38:05Z")
I’ve never seen anyone mention this before, so I’ll do it. I think that Watterston got the names of his characters from adjacent volumes of a set of “Great Books”. Hobbes was, of course, Thomas Hobbes’ **Leviathan** , while Calvin probably represented the writings of theologian John Calvin. In a few comics Calvin had an imaginary younger brother Melville, who would have been the next volume in the set. Hobbes is almost certainly male. Not only was Thomas Hobbes male, but Hobbes sometimes goes into raptures over Susie. It’s possible that Hobbes was female, and this was the first lesbian relationship in a mainstream comic strip, but I seriously doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![lenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3bc359/32.png) [@lenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lenin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/9 "2001-10-13T03:11:50Z")
Okay, this may be a bad analogy but… Hobbbes : Calvin :: Tyler Durden : The Guy With No Name ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/10 "2001-10-13T03:25:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*I think that Watterston got the names of his characters from adjacent volumes of a set of “Great Books”. Hobbes was, of course, Thomas Hobbes’ **Leviathan** , while Calvin probably represented the writings of theologian John Calvin. \*\* Yup. According to Watterson (from the extensive intro to _the Calvin & Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book_), “Calvin is named for a sixteenth-century theologian who believed in predestination” and Hobbes is “[n]amed after a seventeenth-century philosopher with a dim view of human nature[…].” Oh, and Watterson refers to Hobbes as a “he”. ---
**Author:** ![Searching\_For\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Searching\_For\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Searching_For_Truth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/11 "2001-10-13T03:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lenin \* > \*\*Okay, this may be a bad analogy but… > > Hobbbes : Calvin :: Tyler Durden : The Guy With No Name \*\* That’s totally crazy, I never thought about that before. I definitely second the idea that Hobbes is male. (well, duh!) How many C&H books are there? God, I love C&H. I’m gonna go read some before I go to bed now. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/12 "2001-10-13T04:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lenin \* > \*\*Okay, this may be a bad analogy but… > > Hobbbes : Calvin :: Tyler Durden : The Guy With No Name \*\* I thought the very same thing! Great minds… I own (in no particular order): The Indispensable C&H Scientific Progress Goes “Boink” Attack of the Deranged Killer Mutant Monster Weirdos from Another Planet Something Under the Bed is Drooling Calvin & Hobbes Revenge of thr Baby-sat Yukon Ho! It’s a Magical World There’s Treasure everywhere Homocidal Pscho Jungle Cat, (best cover art, IMHO) The C&H Tenth Anniversary Book, (a must own) The days are just packed And there is a new one just released - sorry, can’t remember the title. But it’s cool. Adds Bill’s insites to certain strips. * * * **"I like to stare death straight in the eye and make him blink! If your adrenalin isn’t pumping, you’re not really living!"** - Calvin ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/13 "2001-10-13T17:17:06Z")
A NEW ONE!!! I gotta get to the bookstore! _step step step step step step step_ _Slam!_ ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/14 "2001-10-13T18:26:20Z")
For more on the **Calvin & Hobbes** / **Fight Club** connection see [here](http://www.whatever-dude.com/posts/145.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/15 "2001-10-13T19:30:40Z")
From the afore-mentioned _Tenth Aniversary Book_, page 22: > [@](#): > > I don’t think of Hobbes as a doll that miraculously comes to life when Calvin’s around. Neither do I think of Hobbes as the product of Calvin’s imagination. The nature of Hobbes’s reality doesn’t interest me, and each story goes out of its way to avoid resolving the issue. I’d say that that’s pretty definitive, even if it doesn’t answer much. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hobbes-in-calvin-and-hobbes/87157/16 "2001-10-13T20:46:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iguana Boy \* > \*\*For more on the **Calvin & Hobbes** / **Fight Club** connection see [here](http://www.whatever-dude.com/posts/145.shtml) \*\* Cool link, **Scales** , thanks!