Tag: dwarves

…Now we came to a region of caves, hollowed and windswept, and Buliwyf dismounted from his horse, and all the warriors of Buliwyf did likewise, and proceeded by foot. I heard a hissing sound, and verily I saw puffs of steam issue from one and another of these several caves. We entered one cave and there found dwarves.

They were in appearance thus: of the ordinary size of dwarf, but distinguished by hands of great size, and bearing features that appeared exceedingly aged. There were both male and female dwarves and all had the appearance of great age. The males were bearded and solemn; the women also had some hair upon the face, so they appeared manlike. Each dwarf wore a garment of fur or sable; each also wore a thin belt of hide decorated with bits of hammered gold.

The dwarves greeted our arrival politely, with no sign of fear. Herger said these creatures have magic powers and need fear no man on earth; however, they are apprehensive of horses, and for this reason we had left the mounts behind us. Herger said also that the powers of a dwarf reside in his thin belt, and that a dwarf will do anything to retrieve his belt if it is lost….

Now I saw that the hissing and steam issued from great cauldrons, into which hammered-steel blades were plunged to temper the metal, for the dwarves make weapons that are highly prized by the Northmen. Indeed, I saw the warriors of Buliwyf looking about the caves eagerly, as any woman in a bazaar shop selling precious silks.

Buliwyf made inquiries of these creatures, and was directed to the topmost of the caves, wherein sat a single dwarf, older than all the others, with a beard and hair of purest white, and a creased and wrinkled face. This dwarf was called “tengol,” which means a judge of good and evil, and also a soothsayer.

This tengol must have had the magical powers that all said he did, for he immediately greeted Buliwyf by his name, and bade him sit with him. Buliwyf sat, and we gathered a short distance away, standing.

Now Buliwyf did not present the tengol with gifts; the Northmen make no obeisance to the little people; they believe that the favors of the dwarves must be freely given, and it is wrong to encourage the favors of a dwarf with gifts….

— Eaters of the Dead, Chapter 11

…A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.

The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.

There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.

There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes’ mail,
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard….

— from “The Song of Durin” – The Lord of the Rings, Book Two, Chapter 4

My favorite part of the poem: describing the dwarf king’s throne room and hoard of forged arms.

Balin:

Don’t mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of orcs, led by the most vile of all their race: Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin.

He began by beheading the King. Thrain, Thorin’s father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing—taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us.

That is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe; his armour rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield! Azog the Defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken.

Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated, but there was no feast. No song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived.

And I thought to myself then: there is one I could follow. There is one I could call King.

— “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (2012)

My personal take on dwarves isn’t all that big of a departure from the classic traditional dwarf, but there’s some notable re-prioritization within their bailiwick, inspired heavily by Raymond Feist’s Midkemia books.

So, yes. Dwarves are on the short side (compared to humans), stocky, physically strong and tough. They live in mountains, where they have mines and process the mines’ output into tools, weapons, armor, and other goods for use or for sale to outsiders. But…the mines and forges are only part of what they do, and not even the most important part. Sure, they’re very good at it, but you can’t eat steel. If push comes to shove, you can sell the forges’ output and use the profit to buy food, but it’s much better to have your own food sources.

So they herd goats. Those big, shaggy, ornery, independent mountain goats that can climb a sheer cliff if given half a reason. The most respected career in dwarf culture isn’t smith, or warrior, or brewer—it’s goatherd. The goatherds keep the lodge supplied with meat and leather for the winter, and chasing after those goats in the high pastures all summer ain’t no job for some wimp. Goatherds are the first line of defense—anyone approaching a dwarven clan’s range in summer will run into a herd of goats long before they find any of the hidden mountain valleys where the dwarves actually build their homes. They also have a few farms in those valleys that they get as much hardy grains and vegetables out of during the summer as they can, but goats are the big thing.

In terms of weapons, Dwarves don’t use hammers and axes because they’re such superior weapons; they use them because every dwarf weapon is a tool first, and a weapon second. They’re just so well made that they work extremely well as weapons anyway. Swords have no place in dwarf society because you can’t use a sword for anything except fighting. Among the herders, the most common weapon is the crossbow—good for bringing down predators, scaring off bandits, or hunting wild game if the chance arises. The most experienced carry big steel-limbed arbalests with mechanical loading systems that only a dwarf properly trained in their operation can load or fire. Let the elves have their longbows—a dwarven arbalest doesn’t care about little things like armor. There are multiple tales of particularly ambitious raiders trying to attack a dwarven village behind cover of a shield wall, only to have the dwarven firing line punch their volley straight through the shields with enough force to kill the men holding them.

In the summer, every dwarf is busy; farming, minding the herds, hunting, trading with nearby human (or elven) settlements…but once the seasons turn and the snow starts to close the mountain passes, they retreat into their secluded villages in the sheltered high valleys; their farm fields become winter pasture for the goats, and most of the clan wiles away the winter in drink and song, waiting for the passes to open again. The winter is also when most of the mining and forging gets done, but even that only accounts for less than half the clan at any given time; there’s just not enough demand for new tools, and they can only stockpile so much at a time.

Most of the dwarves’ reputation comes from a human merchant who was making a late-season visit to a dwarven clanhold to purchase a load of tools, and got snowed in. The dwarves were happy to put him up for the winter, but he had little interest in venturing out to the farms or pastures, so he spent all winter drinking and telling tales and watching the miners and smiths do their work, and then in the spring he loaded up his purchased wares and went on his way before any of the goats got moved down to the lower pastures. So what did he see? Lots of drinking, lots of mining and smithing, lots of axes and hammers, but no goats or farms. And yet, his account is the one that so many humans judge dwarven culture by….

— RPG.net Forums

Author’s emphases.

…Before Tolkien and Disney, dwarves were crafty, foul, evil, thieving, deceitful little bastards. And that was their good side….

— Archetypology 101: Kings under the mountain – RPGnet

Last of all the eastern force to stand firm were the Dwarves of Belegost, and thus they won renown. For the Naugrim withstood fire more hardily than either Elves or Men, and it was their custom moreover to wear great masks in battle hideous to look upon; and those stood them in good stead against the dragons. And but for them Glaurung and his brood would have withered all that was left of the Noldor. But the Naugrim made a circle about him when he assailed them, and even his mighty armour was not full proof against the blows of their great axes; and when in his rage Glaurung turned and struck down Azaghâl, Lord of Belegost, and crawled over him, with his last stroke Azaghâl drove a knife into his belly, and so wounded him that he fled the field, and the beasts of Angband in dismay followed after him. Then the Dwarves raised up the body of Azaghâl and bore it away; and with slow steps they walked behind singing a dirge in deep voices, as it were a funeral pomp in their country, and gave no heed more to their foes; and none dared to stay them….

— The Silmarillion, Chapter 20

From the account of the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, also known as the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, in the First Age of Middle-earth.