Dwarves

In their own tongue, this race was known as Khazad. Other names for them were Naugrim (which meant ‘Stunted People’) and Gonnhirrim (‘Masters of Stone’).

History

Creation

Aule himself created the Dwarves [1], whom they call Mahal (‘Maker’). Not willing to delay and impatient for the Children of Iluvatar to come, he the first Seven Fathers of the Dwarves was made secretly beneath Middle-Earth’s mountains. Iluvatar admonished Aule for this deed since Aule does not have the ability to give life. When he realized the error of his ways, he offered them to Iluvatar, his father who accepted and made them alive. Aule wanted to destroy his creations and raised up to smite the Seven Fathers with a hammer, who shrank in fear. Iluvatar took pity on them but was unwilling to let Firstborn (Elves) to come after them. He declared that they should sleep until the coming of the Firstborn.

First Age

The Seven Fathers awakened nearly 100 years after the Firstborn came into existence. Only one name is known out of the Seven. Durin I or the Deathless he was called. The Seven ruled their own clan and settled into their thrones. During the First Age, three fortresses were built. The Blue Mountains housed Nogrod and Belegost. The Noldor in this area allied with the Dwarves of these strongholds and fought alongside them in wars. Misty Mountains held Azanulbizar which Durin founded. While looking at a pool, he saw himself reflected wearing a crown that has seven starts.

This is why the Dwarves call a certain constellation Durin’s Crown and Elves call it Valacirca. It can be seen on the water at any point in the day, but only Durin himself can see himself from it. Durin called it Kheled-zaram and built the great hall of Khazad-dum above the mountains on top of it. He then traded and allied with Elves during the First Age. Belegost Dwarves created and fashioned the world-renowned Dwarf-mail riddled with rings. They are also the makers of the best steel in the world. Thingol and Menegroth were halls created by them, and for such deeds, they were given Nimphelos.

They allied themselves with Men and Elves and fought in many epic battles like the Nirnaeth Arnoediad where Dwarves of Belegost achieved glory when they held back against Glaurung the dragon and the First Battle of Beleriand. Dwarves have a higher fire resistance than Men or Elves which gave them great success, but in the battle, they lost Azaghal, Lord of Belegost when Glaurung crawled on top of him. In pain and dying his last act was to pierce the belly of the beast that the dragon scurried to return to Angband.

The artistry involved in making their weapons made the Nogrod dwarves quite famous. Telchar was one of their best smiths. Nogrod dwarves created the Nauglamir necklace and Thingol asked Nogrod dwarves, who were smiths, to put a Silmaril in. This melded the best works of both dwarves and elves. Because of their lust for gold, however, these smiths killed Thingol, stealing the stone and necklace, causing a longstanding rivalry between elves and dwarves that went on to the last years of the Third Age. Doriath elves went after the Nauglamir even to their death but those who murdered Thingol were able to escape to Nogrod where they spoke of the death of dwarves in the hands of an Elven King that cheated their reward from them. The Nogrod dwarves sought vengeance and lamented the demise of their excellent craftsmen and kin. They decided to invade Doriath despite the warnings of the dwarves of Belegost.

A battle ensued in the Thousand Caves and the Nogrod dwarves came out victorious, taking the Nauglamir and Silmaril. In their journey back to the Blue Mountains, they were attacked by Dior, his father Beren, and a company of Green Elves of Ossiriand. A number of them were slain, while Beren killed the Lord of Nogrod. [2] He was able to acquire the Nauglamir. Some dwarves escaped but were waylaid beneath the slopes of Mount Dolmed beside the Shepherds of the Trees. A few stories tell about Noegyth Nibin petty dwarves, [3] exiled in the time of Peace of Arda, who entered Beleriand first among all. They built the Caves of Narog (Nulukizzdin) and became its first inhabitants, and later Nargothrond took over. Mim, with his two sons, were the last descendants in this line and lived at Amon Rudh. Mim was a big help to Turin but revealed him to Orcs later on.

Second Age

A number of tales focused on Longbeards or Durin’s Folk after the First Age. There were a lot of dwarves born in his line and who were likened to him and considered a reborn Durin, as prophesied in the past pertaining to seven reborns until the fall of all dwarves will be marked by Durin VII. Durin II’s parents gave birth to him in this Age, the exact date unknown though he was reigning when Khazad-dum west gate was built by Narvi the smith in 750. It was a prosperous era and a great expansion for the Khazad-dum halls. Elves of Noldorin from Lindon went to Eregion to exchange mithril with Dwarves. Nogrod and Belegost refugees moved, when their homes were destroyed, to Khazad-dum, and so their population boomed. Durin III reigned in the year Second Age 1600. The most powerful and 7th of the Rings of Power was given to him by Celebrimbor the Elven smith. Sauron rejected this ring, not getting the power that he expected from it because dwarves have special resistance to evil influence, thanks to Aule. The only effect of Dwarven rings to them is to their lust for gold that causes them to be greedy, but they are not turned to wraiths like with men. Sauron took two of the rings while the other four were in the dragon hoards. In the Third Age’s 2845th year, Sauron took Thrain II and reclaimed the ring of Durin. Only Durin’s kindred from Moria fought with Sauron.

Third Age

The dwarves awoke a Balrog who was, since the First Age, asleep in the depths of Misty Mountains. This was in the Third Age 1980, centuries after they greedily dug for mithril and minerals. The dwarves then left Khazad-dum, then called Moria (Black Pit). Durin’s folk headed to the Grey Mountains (North), while others went with Thrain I, their new king, to Erebor. These dwarves from the Grey Mountains flourished for more than 300 years until Dragons from the North gained strength. Some escaped to Iron Hills, and others went with their new king, Thror to Erebor, and built a new kingdom in the Mountain. They thrived for 200 more years until Smaug the dragon came in TA 2770. The whole kingdom fled to the South while others to Iron Hills.

Durin’s folk inhabited Dunland while King Thror went to Moria in the North and was slain by Azog, the king of Goblins. His son, Thrain II, who claimed the 7th ring from Thrain I before he left) called to war every one of the Houses of the Dwarves. The War of Orcs and Dwarves then began and culminated in the Battle of Azanulbizar, and Goblin strongholds were destroyed by Dwarves in the process as all the clans were united.

Powerful and relentless Goblins from Moria fought with new Dwarves coming from the Iron Hills. The Dwarves were victorious in the end, but the clans refused to repopulate Moria. Thrain II decided to build his realm in the Blue Mountains. Gandalf the Wizard helped Thrain II’s son, Thorin, to establish his kingdom in Erebor. Thorin assembled twelve dwarves from his line, with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf. The death of Smaug marked the end of the Quest of Erebor. After Elves and Men quarreled for the hoard, which was unguarded, Thorin was killed in the Battle of Five Armies, when the Dwarves joined forces with those from Iron Hills, unified with Elves and Men to fight the Wargs and Goblins how attacked. Gimli, Gloin’s son, became part of the Fellowship of the Ring to represent the Dwarves where he became friends with Legolas in the War of the Ring.

In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, 20,000 Men of Dale and 30,000 Longbeards were at war in the Lonely Mountains versus 200,000 Men of Rhun who took all the land of Brand, leaving only Dale the capital city. The 50,000 strong armies stood for 3 days fighting the Easterlings until Sauron was killed. Then, the Men of Rhun retreated after losing 100,000 of their troops while the dwarves had 14,000 deaths, and men lost 12,000 as well. Their victory was attributed to the Mountain Rock’s sturdy defense against the enemy’s catapults (two-armed) and ballistas (semi-automatic), the masonry of the Dwarves, and their weapon quality and their ability to attack beyond the mountain out of the realm of Brand.

Fourth Age

After Sauron and Mordor were destroyed, Dwarves and Men’s friendship was re-established. The War of the Ring killed Dain and Thorin III Stonehelm succeeded him in the throne, who ruled until the Fourth Age. Dwarves in the Lonely Mountain rebuilt Gondor cities and the fortress in Helm’s Deep while others built Glittering Caves as the new Dwarven realm and set up Gimli as lord. The Kingdom of the Lonely Mountain flourished through the Fourth Age. There was some Durin’s Folk in the Dwarven realm in the Glittering Caves whom Gimli brought with him and they formed a colony. Gimli traveled with Legolas extensively and the dispute in the middle of the two races which lasted for ages finally came to its end, before the last elves left Middle Earth. It was said that Legolas and Gimli sailed down Anduin to the sea to go to Valinor in FO 120. Gimli, then, would be the only Dwarf who has ever crossed to the Undying Lands. The last Durin, Durin VII, reclaimed Moria and gave back the glory of Khazad-Dum, and the Longbeards inhabited it until their race ceased to exist.

Culture

Appearance

Dwarves, the Children of Iluvatar, were created by Aule to be powerfully strong physically and character-wise, to fight Morgoth who was threatening the world. They are short, just a bit taller than the hobbits, but stocky, heavy, and broad. Dwarves are proud of their long beards, which are thick and bushy, and they braid them or fork them, sometimes tucking them in their belts. They wear durable clothing, hoods in color, and thick cloaks when they travel. They wear belts made out of silver or gold. Because they are excellent craftsmen, they wear elaborate helmets and armor, with varied styles and angles when they go to battle. Armors are fashioned with symbols, patterned after forges to shield the eyes, which doesn’t really look appealing.

Dwarven women are no different from the menfolk but they comprise just one-third of the entire dwarf-kind. They are not often seen beyond their halls, not going anywhere far, as they are limited by their responsibilities as crafters and caretakers of the Dwarven nation. They only travel when extremely necessary and when they do, they are dressed like the men. This made it hard for others to believe that there are Dwarven women and they believed that Dwarven men were created out of stones. Very few women warriors are known but there are tales that say they are as powerful as the men in battle, especially when protecting family members. Although less than one-third of Dwarven men had wives, they are known to be monogamous. The rest of the men focused on their crafts.

Physiology

Dwarves are a stern and proud race and they were created to be strong and resistant to dangers. They are powerful, can endure great cold and heat and they are not burdened by anything. They live longer than most men, up to 250 years. In fact, Dwarven lords from the Second and First Age could have gone beyond. Dwarves are very quick to learn artisanal skills, especially those involving stone or metal. Dwarves are naturally secretive, stubborn, and aggressively loyal to their friends, especially family. They know how to take care of each and they treat even Dwarf strangers like loved ones. They love mining and crafting and acquiring gems and gold, which oftentimes fuelled envy from the Elves. All Dwarves are easily irked by disrespectful comments and they can hold grudges for as long as they can. Although dwarves are known to be greedy, they can strongly resist evil influences, even the temptations from the Rings of Power granted to them. When men were in possession of the nine Rings, they became the corrupted Nazgul. Dwarves are unaffected apart from lusting more for gold or fighting off what stands among them and their treasures.

Crafting

Dwarves have huge underground cities where they exercise their crafting, mining, and smithing skills, taught by Vala Aule. They are the greatest mine workers ever to exist in Middle Earth. They dig enormous halls underneath mountains and establish their cities there. Dwarven miners dig for silver, copper, iron, and gold from all mountains in Middle Earth but they consider mining coal as demeaning. Dwarves found Arkenstone mining under the Lonely Mountains and the Mithril in the Khazad-Dum mines. Dwarves are also excellent smiths and masons. Elves are the only race that can equal their smithing skills, but no one rivals their masonry. No one can match their crafted works out of sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond. Everything Dwarven speaks of intricate beauty and excellent craftsmanship. They have created many famous armors, weapons, and beautiful art pieces like the Narsil, Elendil sword, the Dragon-helm of Dor-lomin, and the Nauglamir necklace. Dwarven armies are huge and powerful. They have great legions of Dwarven soldiers, an enormous inventory of weapons for siege and cavalry, battle tools and armors. They have axes, swords, warhammers, throwing axes, and knives. They love setting things on fire everywhere they go. Although they know how to herd and farm, they prefer to mine and craft instead. They bought their food from Elves and Men to barter with crafted items.

Architecture

Famous halls that were built by Dwarves include the Menegroth, Halls of Thranduil, Khazad-dum, Nogrod, Belegost, and Lonely Mountain. They also reforged the walls of Helm’s Deep following the War of the Ring and rebuilt the Minas Tirith gates. All of the Dwarven cities are underneath mountains and mountain ranges. Their miners excavate an entrance to the mountain and then keep digging under and through to build their underground cities. Their cities are massive and extremely extensive reaching the farthest extents of the earth. They never stop digging to expand their cities and discover precious minerals and metals. Although Dwarven cities went low and side-to-side inside huge caverns underneath mountains, the limits for every city are unknown. Within Khazad-dum, there was a segment known as the Chamber of Mazarbul, which is a city inside it. In the Book of Mazarbul, there was also a mention of city sections like the “First Hall,” “North End,” “Twenty-first Hall,” “Third Deep and “Second Hall,”.” Dwarven cities are a legend when it comes to their beauty. Erebor was a wealthy city with precious gems in their rocks and gold seams running like a river.

Language and Writing

Aule created the Dwarven language, Khuzdul, which means Dwarvish. Khuzdul was harsh and strange-sounding to others. No other race is allowed to learn but Dwarves and they guard it with their life. Dwarves don’t speak Khuzdul in the presence of other races. In the First Age, after the Dwarves first met Elves, Sindarin was the only language in Beleriand, because the Noldor had not returned yet from Aman. Dwarves, therefore, learned the Sindarin language. To them, the Cirth of Daeron (Elvish runes) are impressive for Sindarin writing and adopted this into their own language to be used forever. Dwarves used a Cirth-based runic system of writing called Angerthas. There were a lot of variations even among clans of Dwarves. For example, the Dwarves from Khazad-dum have made a lot of changes into the system and have their own variations. Similarly, the Erebor Dwarves further modified it and came to be the mode of Erebor. This was used in the Book of Mazarbul. Angerthas can be seen in some famous Dwarven texts like the Book of Mazarbul and Thror’s Map. It was also written on some objects like the Key to the Side-door, which opened Erebor’s side door.

Weapons and Armor

Dwarven soldiers are normally with their chosen weapon which is the ax, which they use both as a weapon and a tool. To add to this, they also use war hammers, short swords, mattocks, and hatchets. There were also Dwarven archers on some occasions. When it comes to their armor, Dwarves use metallic armors like a chain mail. The most precious and important of all metallic armors was the one made of Mithril. Bilbo owned a Mithril vest given by Thorin in the Battle of the Five Armies. He wore it in the battle and gave it to Frodo, his nephew, after who used it as protection in his entire quest. Gandalf once told him that the chain mail was valued to be higher than the value of the whole Shire.

Music

Dwarves sang a lot inside the halls of their realms. “Far over the Misty Mountains Cold” was one of the most famous songs and it was also identified as “Song of the Lonely Mountain” or commonly as “Dwarf Song.” The “Song of Durin” was also another song famous in Dwarven culture. It is about the Khazad-dum (Moria) history and it gave honor to Durin as the original leader of the Durin’s Folk.

Wicked Dwarves

Among the races of Arda, the ones who can resist the evil temptations of Sauron and Morgoth were the Dwarves. The seven Rings of Power simply amplified their gold-lust and their greed but did not make them evil. Only a few of them really chose to serve the dark side, which The Hobbit describes as the “wicked dwarves”. Among the seven houses, some fought from both sides in the Last Alliance towards the end of the Second Age and not a single one fought as an ally to the evil army, from the House of Durin. However, in battles, Dwarves also refuse to join forces with either Men or Elves because they want to be neutral or unaffected by the battle between evil and good. At the beginning of the Third Age, some wicked dwarves joined with some orcs and goblins to be allies. Tolkien suggests in some notes he made in the book that those dwarves who turned wicked may have come from a mansion in the far eastern (or somewhere closer), they went under Morgoth’s Shadow and then eventually turned evil. It’s not clear if these were the Dwarves past Iron Hill because this is their easternmost stronghold. Since Dwarves were not really naturally evil, very few of them served the evil Enemy willingly. The Dwarven race used to be an evil race as portrayed in the earliest writings of Tolkien. They were created as evil by Melkor. However, Tolkien's changed how they are depicted in his later writings.

The Seven Clans

The Seven Clans of Dwarves all descended from Aule’s creation of the Seven Dwarf Fathers. They were the Longbeards, or Durin’s Folk, Firebeards, Broadbeams, Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots.

Location

The Dwarves mined and lived in the following places all through the Middle Earth: Moria or Khazad-dum, and other places in the Misty Mountains, Lonely Mountain or Erebor, Mount Gundabad, The Iron Hills, The Blue Mountains, The Grey Mountains, and The Orocarni or the Red Mountains of the East. [4]

Names

Aule gave the Dwarves the name Khazad, translated as Hadhodrim in the Sindarin language and Casari in Quenya. Casari was what they called Dwarves in Noldor but the Sindar call them Naugrim or Nogothrim, which means the Stunted People. Dwarves rarely share their real names with people outside of their race. They give names in Westron to replace their real names. This secret is kept until they die and even their tombs will not show their real names. Tolkien took the inspiration for the names of the Dwarves from Voluspa, the Viking prophecies. The prophecy talks about Viking’s world view which is pagan. There was a Count of Dwarves in that portion which was a directory of names. All the dwarves in The Hobbit, including Gandalf, took their names from that list. Other dwarves, such as Gimli, (which means shelter from fire) and Harlan were sourced in the Icelandic language, not Voluspa. The only original names are Azaghal and Telchar (in Khuzdul).​