| “ | Dwarf the Delver, dark are his houses[.] | ” |
–The Two Towers, Treebeard | ||
Dwarven Houses are the small, one-family homes of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills. These underground houses are scattered throughout the Iron Hills, built into the sides of the mountains they call home. These houses are partly hidden, accessible only via Dwarven Doors, which look identical to stone. These doors are inlaid with Ithildin, however, which makes them easier to find at night.
Dwarven houses can be seen as a Dwarven equivalent to Hobbit holes, being standalone buildings with civilian inhabitants, food, crafting tables, and other general-purpose items.
This particular kind of Dwarf house only generates in the Iron Hills (Erebor, the other home biome for Durin's Folk, lacks them, since it's meant to be a single city), but it is very similar to Blue Mountains houses, which spawn in the Blue Mountains biome and house Blue Mountains Dwarves.
Occurrence[]
Dwarven houses can be found all across the Iron Hills, where the Dwarven population is more scattered and rural than the one at Erebor. They generate in the sides of mountains, their entrances blending in with the stone. This can make them hard to spot, especially during the day; at night, the ithildin in their Dwarven Doors glows, but even then this only happens when players get close enough.
The exterior of a Dwarven House at night.
However, there are methods of easily spotting Dwarven houses. Much of the time, these houses spawn a few blocks into the mountainside, and when this happens a small three-block-wide tunnel generates in front of the door, which is easy to spot. Other Dwarven houses generate in a way that causes their edges to clip out of the mountainside. When this happens, the obtrusion is disguised by a grass mound, which makes the house less obvious but still possible to spot. Finally, if you listen closely while walking through the mountains, you might hear the roar of the fireplace, or the Dwarves walking within walking or drinking.
Opening the door of a Dwarven house for the first time can grant the player the achievement "Mellon", provided they have not interacted with player-made Dwarven doors before.
Interior[]
Dwarven houses consist of three rooms - the spacious upper room, which is accessed directly via the front door, and a kitchen and bedroom below, which are smaller and accessed by stairs on the left and right sides of the house. These houses are primarily made with Dwarven bricks and stone bricks, accented with wooden paneling, which can be spruce, larch, fir, or pine.
The Upper Room[]
The upper room.
The main room is dominated by a table with food and a roaring fireplace. The fireplace, made with dwarf steel bars, serves as a light source, and is supplemented by torches on the pillars in the corners of the room and dwarven chandeliers. The central table, and the wooden benches astride it, is always made of the same wood type used in the wall paneling. This table is always laden with food and drink, and the house's inhabitants, a male and female Dwarf, spawn in front of it. Between the table and the door is a carpet, which can be made of black, gray, or brown wool.
The Kitchen[]
The kitchen.
The kitchen is located down the stairway to the left (facing the fireplace), and is smaller and entirely torch-lit. The far wall features a pair of furnaces, while the wall opposite the stairs is taken up by a long counter, which features more plates and drinking vessels, as well as a cauldron full of water, a vanilla crafting table, and a Dwarven crafting table. An alcove in the wall opposite the furnaces features two barrels, which contain either Dwarven ale or Dwarven tonic, while an alcove under the stairs boasts a large chest full of food.
The Bedroom[]
The bedroom.
Located down the stairway to the right, the bedroom is identical in structure to the kitchen but more sparsely decorated. The inner wall features a weapon rack and two item frames; the former always boasts a Dwarven or Dalish weapon or tool, while the item frames can contain the same, a piece of Dwarven or Dalish armour, or a random loot item. Next to the stairs are a pair of Dwarven beds located next to each other, at the head of which is another large chest, this one containing assorted Dwarven loot, such as weapons or equipment, food, torches, coal or ingots, and other such items.
Inhabitants[]
Female Dwarves can only be found in Dwarven Houses.
Each Dwarven house is inhabited by one male and one female Dwarf, both married to the other. If you stay for some time near a house, Dwarf children may spawn as well. While male Dwarves are common enough, these houses are the only places in Middle-earth where you can encounter Dwarf women and children. If you talk to the lady of the house, you'll earn the achievement "Spot the Difference".
Loot[]
Much like Hobbit holes, Dwarven houses are a great source of food. The table in the upper room, the kitchen below, and the chests contain copious amounts of meat, bread, and booze. The bedroom also typically contains Dwarven or Dalish weapons and armour, as well as miscellaneous Dwarf loot. Each dwarven house also contains two mostly-full barrels and a host of utility blocks.
 The Dwarves of Durin's Folk 
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Dwarf (Axe Thrower, Banner Bearer, Warrior)
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None |