Tom Thumb

Tom Thumb is a traditional hero in English folklore who is no bigger than his father's thumb. Most commonly used as a stock Fairy Tale character in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Stories involving Tom Thumb include typical fairy tale plot lines such as killing giants, wooing various women and embarking on innumerable other tasks in order to achieve/gain/prove something. These tasks are further complicated by the size of Tom Thumb, though he inevitably manages to utilize his tiny size to overcome obstacles in his way in roundabout ways.

The origin of Tom Thumb is often cited as a poor, childless couple in the days of King Arthur allowing an old beggar (secretly the magician Merlin) to take refreshment in their home. The couple longs for a son and would be content even if he was no bigger than a thumb. Amused by this notion, Merlin casts a spell which resulted in the birth of the diminutive Tom Thumb. The tiny child is blessed by the fairy queen.

The most notable Tom Thumb stories include Richard Johnson's The History of Tom Thumbe published in 1621. A 1730 play by English dramatist Henry Fielding by the same name name, and which he rewrote in 1731 as The Tragedy of Tragedies.

Tropes associated with the character of Tom Thumb:

 * High Octane Nightmare Fuel: An obscure independent stop-motion adaptation called The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb, made in 1993. Harsh, squalid environments; giant bugs and creatures crawling everywhere; violence, death and experimentation as major plot points and a Bittersweet Ending involving a nuclear reactor exploding and killing everyone. Also, Tom Thumb himself looks like a fetus.
 * Incredible Shrinking Man
 * Lilliputian Warriors: In many of the tales, Tom is quite the Badass.
 * Literal Genie/Jerkass Genie: Oddly enough, Merlin can seem to be this in many versions giving the childless couple such a tiny child out of amusement. Though it worked out well.
 * Wonder Child