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Dwarves

Lotr14001


Dominions
Belegost; Khazad-Dûm; Nogrod; various other domains
Languages
Khuzdul, Iglishmek; Westron or another outer speech (e.g.: Easterling or Haradrim)
Height & weight of average adult
Between 4' to 5' & 90-130 lbs
Average lifespan
150-250 years
Renowned individuals

Dwarves, also known as "Children of Aulë", "Masters of Stone", "Stunted People" (Kh. Khazâd, sing. Khuzd; S. Naugrim="Stunted-folk", also Gonnhirrim, Hadhodrim, Nogothrim, Nornhoth; Q. Kasallie, Naukalie, Nornalie; Os. Naugol; Rh. Dverger; Or. Gazat; L. kivi-väki)

The Dwarves, or Naugrim, were descendants of the Seven Fathers of the Khazâd, who were created by the Vala Aulë (The Smith) out of stone. Their seven lineages or houses settled in separate areas, but always in or by the mountains. All Dwarves considered mountains sacred. They also worshiped Aulë, whom they called Mahal.

Although fashioned by the Vala Aulë before the awakening of Men, this hardy but short race came into Endor after the Secondborn. Long-lived yet mortal, they remained apart from both Elves and Men.

The making of the Dwarves[]

Eru alone had created the Flame Imperishable. In his thought, souls formed and life was born. Out of his Flame, spirits kindled. No life could be conceived without his leave, as Morgoth discovered. While life naturally fascinated the Valar, who were entrusted with cultivating the World, it first arose in Eru's mind and could not come to pass outside his plan. Nonetheless, the Vala Aulë sought to create a living race, and he labored away from Aman, in secret, molding the Seven Fathers of Dwarves in a hall deep beneath the surface of Endor. In those days Aulë endured torment, for the Smith understood that his conception was outside the scheme of the One; but he persevered and made his offspring strong, like the earth from which they came.

Detailed description[]

Khazad2

Khazâd

Dwarves were rather short, stocky, and often had a swarthy or ruddy complexion. Males averaged about 4 to 5 feet in height. The western dwarves were often fair-haired and fair-skinned (especially the Firebeards who were proud of their for the most part fire-red hair) while their eastern brothers were often darker (particularly the Blacklocks). They grew long beards (foremost the aptly named Longbeards) which they often decorated or braided. Resistant to diseases and extremely strong, they lived an average of 150-250 years. Some rare exceptions reached the age of 400.

Dwarves were able to survive for a long time in underground conditions, with little light or air and were able to stand long terms of scarce water and nutrition, but when conditions allowed them to, they ate and drank excessively, their bodies storing the necessary energy longer and more efficient than most other races.This capability was little known to outsiders and seemed like an inherited kind of magic.

The Naugrim had superior sight underground and in places of near-total darkness. Their crafts were superb, and they were unsurpassed workers of stone. Like Orcs and Noldor, they were masters of metalwork, although Dwarven works embodied a sense of beauty as well as strength and utility. No race mined as well as Dwarves.

Relatively infertile and slow to marry or reproduce (females constitute less than a third of their kind), Dwarves rarely sired young. But this seemed to be a condition of the later times of decline. In the earliest times, there had been several Dwarven Families who were said to have had children in numbers of eight or seven, otherwise, the dwarven race would not have been able to increase in numbers.

Male and female dwarves looked very much alike and were not to tell apart by outsiders.In fact no non-dwarf ever reportedly had knowingly seen a female dwarf, or if they had they mistook them for males.This may have been to the fact that female dwarves were as stocky and muscular in built as their male counterparts and dressed like them or disguised themselves as males when they left their homes.Many loremasters thought that female dwarves were bearded as well, though this may not have been true for all Dwarf-Women (or at last perhaps not among all their houses).

Military[]

Dwarfwar

The basic dwarven host was called the Vabundhur consisting of arrays or Azashakur of medium-armed Axemen, Spearmen, and Halberdmen, who were supported by light-armed Scouts, Rangers or Herdsmen, and Archers armed with Bows and Axes, and heavily armed Grimhammers wielding Thornhammers, and Pikemen who fought in phalanxes. Special Units were the different Guardian and Warden Units, such as the Dûm-garal, Gehil-vindhur, Tharkarul, and Huval-Vindhur. "Iron-Guards" were armed with light Axes and Dwarven Swords or Crossbows, while "Khazâd-guards" used heavy two-handed Axes. Halberdmen and zealous Shieldbreakers were special units of Hammer-fighters. In combat against underground races such as the Deep-orcs and Cave-trolls the Dwarves developed special "tunnel-fighting" teams or "Vault Wardens", armed with long Spears and high Wall-shields, light and heavy ballistae and various mechanical War-Engines such as Battlewagons, Catapults and "Demolishers". "Command-Units" were led by Captains who were accompanied by Hornists, Shield-bearers and Standard-bearers. King's Champions fought with two Axes and were sided by two Heralds. A few Dwarven tribes also deployed small cavalry units of pony-riders.

Magic[]

Dwarves knew of magic and certain enchantments but generally scoffed at the ways of conjurers or the use of spells, preferring instead to use such power in the making of physical items and machinery or engines with near-magical powers. However, there were dwarven Alchemists, Seers, and great Runesmiths and Runemasters, and the Ironfists developed a special order of Earth-Readers. Great Technicians among the Khazâd who developed a deeper understanding and knowledge of machinery than any other people of Middle-Earth were known as Machine-Magicians or Dwarven Constructors.

Known Dwarves[]

Males[]

Ai, Anar, Balin, Beli, Bifur, Bláin, Bofur, Bombur, Borin, Burin, Bruni, Dáin, Dori, Durin, Dwalin, Farin, Fíli, Flói, Frár, Frerin, Frór, Fundin, Gimli, Ginar, Glóin, Gróin, Grór, Hanar, Hepti, Iari, Kíli, Lófar, Lóni, Náin, Náli, Nár, Narvi, Niping, Nói, Nori, Núr, Nýrád, Óin, Ónar, Óri, Póri, Regin, Svior, Thorin, Thráin, Thrór, Veig, Vidar

Females[]

Ase, Astrid, Bergdis, Bodil, Dagna, Dis, Disa, Eir, Eydis, Frea, Fritha, Gard, Grid, Herja, Hón, Idúnn, Ingrid, Kára, Kóna, Már, Mist, Olrún, Onna, Ragni, Róta, Sigrún ,Var, Vigdis

Tribes[]

Dwarven religion[]

Priest3

The Dwarves revered Eru, the "Allfather" whom they called by a name kept secret among themselves. They revered the Valar as angelic powers, esteeming Mahal, the Maker, highest. The Dwarves also saw their work and art as a dedication to the World itself and its maker. The non-official semi-divinity of the Valar had often been a matter of criticism by devout Dwarves who rejected all sorts of official priests, cults, and clergy. However, there was some degree of occult reverence and sanctuaries, as the famous Khalarazûm existed. Also, famous ancestors were revered in song and art. The Khazâd believed that after their deaths their souls would travel to the Halls of Waiting and would be revived to fight in the Last Battle and help to rebuild the world after it.

Language[]

Among themselves, the Dwarves spoke Khuzdul, their own language, or used Agla, a secret language of signs and gestures. Among other peoples, Dwarves adopted an outer language, as well as outer names (they never would reveal their true Khuzdul name to non-dwarves); among Durin's Folk Rhovanian or Rhovanian Westron was the common outer speech, while the Firebeards spoke southern Westron or Dunlendish, and the Broadbeams northwestern Westron, Rhovanian or Labba. In the ancient days of the First Age both tribes had also used Sindarin as their outer language. The other four houses used the Easterling or Haradrim Languages though they would adapt names shaped after those of the three western tribes when they came to their lands.

(In the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Movie trilogies the Dwarves speak with different British accents. Glóin, Gimli, Balin and Dwalin speak with Scottish or Irish accents, while Thorin, Kíli and Fíli speak a more sophisticated Yorkshire or northern English accent, while Dori and Ori speak a more urban English.)

Exiled Dwarves[]

There were three known clans of Wicked Dwarves who were not counted as Dwarves of the Seven Tribes anymore. Those were the "Petty-dwarves", the Mornaugrim, and the "Dourhands", these clans having been exiled for different crimes and suffering a different fate.

Dwarven quotes[]

  • "A Dwarf is no horseman. It is orc-necks I would hew, not shave the scalps of Men"
  • "Axe or sword, what's your weapon of choice?"
  • "Curse his name, yes."
  • "Dark is the water of Kheled-zaram and cold are the springs of Kibil-nala."
  • "Give me your name, horse-master, and I will give you mine, and more besides…"
  • "Here is a thing unheard of! An Elf will go underground and a Dwarf dare not!"
  • "I go now to the halls of waiting to sit beside my fathers, until the world is renewed. Since I leave now all gold and silver, and go where it is of little worth, I wish to part in friendship from you, and I would take back my words and deeds at the Gate."
  • "I will not walk blindfold, like a beggar or a prisoner. And I am no spy. My folk have never had dealings with any of the servants of the Enemy. Neither have we done harm to the Elves. I am no more likely to betray you than Legolas, or any other of my companions."
  • "I will go forward free or I will go back and seek my own land, where I am known to be true of word, though I perish alone in the wilderness."
  • "Indeed it is time for sleep. Sleep! I feel the need of it, as never I thought any dwarf could."
  • "It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise."
  • It was not the fault of the Dwarves that the friendship waned"
  • "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai Menu!"
  • "May your beard grow ever longer"
  • "May your beards never grow thin"
  • "No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin's race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood?"
  • "O Kheled-zaram fair and wonderful! There lies the Crown of Durin till he wakes. Farewell!"
  • "So much for the legendary courtesy of the Elves!"
  • "There is the land where our fathers worked of old, and we have wrought the image of those mountains into many works of metal and of stone, and into many songs and tales."
  • "This is more to my liking! Ever my heart rises as we draw near the mountains. There is good rock here. This country has tough bones. I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike. Give me a year and a hundred of my kin and I would make this a place that armies would break upon like water."
  • "Treasure it, Lady, in memory of your words to me at our first meeting. And if ever I return to the smithies of my home, it shall be set in imperishable crystal to be an heirloom of my house..."
  • "True words doubtless; yet all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror, be it clear as Kheled-zaram. Or so says the heart of Gimli the Dwarf. Elves may see things otherwise. Indeed I have heard that for them memory is more like to the waking world than to a dream. Not so for Dwarves."
  • " “What have you to say, you descendant of rats?"
  • "Yet more fair is the living land of Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!"

Dwarven delvings of renown[]

Dwarvdelvings

A dwarvish Map of Middle-earth depicting the most important Dwarf-delvings

  1. Akhuzdah
  2. Azagharbhun
  3. Azanulinbar-dûm
  4. Barazbizar
  5. Bar Falin
  6. Bâr-Shûal
  7. Baraz-lagil
  8. Barukkhizdín
  9. Baruk-Zigil
  10. Barazimabûl
  11. Danuk-Khizdín
  12. Erebor
  13. Gabilgathol
  14. Gamil-nâla
  15. Gundabad
  16. Khazadbizar
  17. Khazad-dûm
  18. Khazad-Madûr
  19. Kheledh-dûm
  20. Kheled-nâla
  21. Kheledkhizdín
  22. Kibil-Tarag
  23. Krath-Zabar
  24. Mablâd-dûm
  25. Makalkukhizdín
  26. Merenost
  27. Namagaluz
  28. Nárad-dûm
  29. Naragûl
  30. Nargubraz
  31. Nibbingrod
  32. Nurunkizdin
  33. Radimbragaz
  34. Thakalgund
  35. Thorin's Halls
  36. Thunderdwelling
  37. Tumun-Gabil
  38. Tumunamahal
  39. Tumunzahar
  40. Zahar-gamil
  41. Zarak Dûm
  42. Zeleg-ubraz
  43. Zirakbhund

See also[]

References[]

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