Dwarves

Dwarves are a race of short, stout folk who inhabit the Iron Hills as well as the Blue Mountains. They have a love for stone and minerals and a long-running distrust of the Elves.

History[]

The Dwarves, unlike Men and Elves, weren't made by Eru Ilúvatar. Instead, they were created by Aulë, who, not wanting to wait for the Children of Ilúvatar to be made, decided to make a race that he could teach his lore and crafts to. So he made the Dwarves in secret under the mountains of Middle-earth. Unfortunately, it was not within his power to create sapient life, and thus the Dwarves he created had no fëar (souls, spirits) of their own, instead being simple reflections of their maker's will.

Of course, when Eru Ilúvatar heard about this, he was none too impressed. So Aulë repented and told Ilúvatar that he could do with the Dwarves as he wished, including destroy them - however, Ilúvatar recognised Aulë's contrition and pure intentions, and decided to bestow fëar upon the newly created Dwarves, transforming them into true sapient beings. Still, Ilúvatar would not permit these 'children of his adoption' to walk Middle-earth before the Elves, his own firstborn Children, so he set the Dwarves to sleep beneath the mountains until such time as he saw fit to reawaken them following the coming of the Elves.

First Age[]

The Seven Fathers of the Dwarves awoke around one hundred years after the Elves. Six of the fathers awoke with a fellow Dwarf-mother, but Durin, the eldest, woke alone. Besides Durin, who awoke beneath Mount Gundabad in the Misty Mountains, the other Fathers awoke in pairs: two beneath the Blue Mountains in the West, two at an unknown location in the East, and the last two at another unknown location in the East.

It was said that the two eastern locations lay at least as far from Mount Gundabad as Gundabad itself lay from the Blue Mountains, and perhaps even further. Tolkien gave no detail on the eastern places of awakening beyond this vague hint, but presumably they lay somewhere in the vast regions of Rhûn; assuming they too were in mountain ranges, the Red Mountains or the Mountains of the Wind are possible locations from the canonical maps.

The Dwarves proceeded to found and inhabit great halls within the mountains: Belegost and Nogrod in the Blue Mountains, Khazad-dûm under the Misty Mountains, and unknown halls in the East. In those days, the Dwarves forged the finest steel ever seen, and often fought alongside Elves and Men in great battles against Dragons and other spawn of Morgoth. Dwarves were better able to withstand fire than any of the other major races at the time, and their great strength greatly aided them in their fight against Dragons.

Second Age[]

It was around this time that the One Ring was forged, and that Sauron presented seven of the Rings of Power to the Dwarves, one to each of the major clans, hoping to submit them to his will. However, this didn't work; despite his best efforts, Sauron was unable to make the Dwarves do as he wished, and it did not even cause the Lords who wielded them to become invisible. The fact that these rings didn't work on the Dwarves may have been partly due to the Dwarves' natural hardiness, and the fact that only the most powerful Dwarf Lords possessed the rings. The only side effect that these rings produced was that the wielder became very greedy, and that attracted Dragons.

Third Age[]

By this time, the race of Dwarves had begun to dwindle. Khazad-dûm was abandoned after the Dwarves dug too deep, awakening a Balrog, who was later named Durin's Bane. The surviving Dwarves moved to the Grey Mountains and the Lonely Mountain. Unfortunately, the fact that the Dwarves kept wanting to accumulate more and more wealth attracted trouble, and eventually Smaug proceeded to attack the Lonely Mountain.

Following this, Thrain II (wielding one of the Seven Rings) started to wander the world. He was captured by Azog and killed. This marked the beginning of the War of Dwarves and Goblins. The war lasted seven years, and ended when Azog was slain by Daìn II Ironfoot. In the movies by Peter Jackson, the Ring began to make Thrain II greedy, and he walked alone to the Lonely Mountain. There he was captured by Sauron, and died in the dungeons of Dol Guldur.

In TA 2941, Thorin, Bilbo Baggins, and twelve other Dwarves set out to recapture the Lonely Mountain. This operation was a success, and Daìn II Ironfoot became king under the Mountain. Meanwhile, Balin attempted to recolonize Moria, but he and all his Dwarves perished in the end by the hands of orcs that had taken residence deep in the caverns of the mines.

During the War of the Ring, an army of Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, beside the Men of Dale, fought a great battle against Easterlings who had come to invade Dale and Erebor on Sauron's orders. The Easterlings slew both King Brand of Dale and King Dáin Ironfoot, and drove the surviving Dwarves and Dalish back to the Lonely Mountain to withstand a siege, but the battle was won by the Free Peoples when the Easterlings lost morale following the news of Sauron's downfall.

After the War of the Ring, Gimli, son of Gloin, set up a new Dwarf colony in Rohan, in an area known as the Glittering Caves near Helm's Deep. Among other things, the Dwarves rebuilt the gate of Minas Tirith and redesigned the city.

Apperance & Physiology[]

Aulë made the Dwarves very strong, sturdy, and resistant to corruption, due to the threat of Melkor. Dwarves are a little taller than Hobbits, but much broader and heavier. Dwarves are better able to withstand heat and cold better than Men, and also have better endurance. They learned new artisanal skills quickly (especially working with metal and stone) and can live for up to 250 years.

Most Dwarves did not have a wife, and spent their time crafting and mining. Few female dwarven warriors are known, but it is thought that they were just as strong as their male counterparts when they needed to fight. And all Dwarves, male, female, or children, had long and impressive beards.

In the LotR Mod[]

Dwarves live underground in the mines and in dwarf houses and are also known for their appreciation of ale and cooked meat. Dwarves have randomly selected patronymic names and a variety of different skins, but they all have one thing in common: their rather impressive beards.  All dwarves, women and children alike, have beards with which they are born, and it is this that has led to their women often being mistaken for their men.  This, in turn, has led to the belief that there are no dwarf women, and that dwarves just spring up from holes in the ground (which is, of course, ridiculous).

In the renewed version only, dwarves have some natural knockback resistance to represent their sturdiness and resilience. All dwarves have a value of 0.4 for the generic.knockback_resistance attribute, meaning they are only knocked back 60% relative to other entities, so keep this in mind if you're planning to fight a large group of dwarves in tight quarters.