Dwarves in Middle-earth
In the fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting Middle-earth, the central continent of Arda in an imagined mythological past.
They are based on the dwarfs of Germanic myths who were small humanoids that lived in mountains, practising mining, metallurgy, blacksmithing and jewellery.
Dwarves appear in his books The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), and the posthumously published The Silmarillion (1977), Unfinished Tales (1980), and The History of Middle-earth series (1983–96), the last three edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.
[2] In the appendix on "Durin's Folk" in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien describes dwarves as: a tough, thrawn race for the most part, secretive, laborious, retentive of the memory of injuries (and of benefits), lovers of stone, of gems, of things that take shape under the hands of the craftsmen rather than things that live by their own life.
The Rings caused them to be wrathful and greedy for gold, but they were not brought under Sauron's domination,[T 7] nor did they gain longer life.
[T 7] One of the rings was given to Durin III, and passed down to Thrór, who gave it to his son Thráin II, father of Thorin Oakenshield.
The Dwarves are portrayed in The Silmarillion as an ancient people who awake during the Years of the Trees, after the Elves at the start of the First Age, but before Men when the Sun and Moon are created.
[T 14] In Grey-elvish or Sindarin the Dwarves are called Naugrim ("Stunted People"), Gonnhirrim ("Stone-lords"), and Dornhoth ("Thrawn Folk"), and Hadhodrim.
[6] The Dwarves keep their language secret and do not normally teach it to others, so they learn both Quenya and Sindarin to communicate with the Elves, especially the Noldor and Sindar.
[T 16] In reality, Tolkien took the names of 12 of the 13 dwarves – excluding Balin – that he used in The Hobbit from the Old Norse Völuspá, long before the idea of Khuzdul arose.
It is possible that the problem of explaining the Dwarves' Norse names was the origin of the entire structure of the Mannish languages in Middle-earth along with the fiction of "translation".
He concluded that – as with many real-world lunar calendars – the date of Durin's Day is observational, dependent on the first visible crescent moon.
[15] The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their homeland in Erebor, and living among other groups but retaining their own culture, are derived from the medieval image of Jews,[15] while, according to the Tolkien scholar John D. Rateliff, their warlike nature stems from accounts in the Hebrew Bible.
[15][16] Medieval views of Jews also saw them as having a propensity for making well-crafted and beautiful things,[15] a trait shared with Norse dwarves.
"[19] This raises the question, examined by Rebecca Brackmann in Mythlore, of whether there was an element of antisemitism, however deeply buried, in Tolkien's account of the Dwarves, inherited from English attitudes of his time.
[20] It has been suggested that the formation of the deep friendship between the dwarf Gimli and elf Legolas in the Lord of the Rings overcoming longtime mutual suspicion can be seen as Tolkien's reply toward "Gentile anti-Semitism and Jewish exclusiveness".
[24] In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film The Lord of the Rings, the part of the Dwarf Gimli was voiced by David Buck.
[28] In Jackson's three-film adaptation of The Hobbit, Thorin is portrayed by Richard Armitage, with Ken Stott as Balin, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Aidan Turner as Kíli, Dean O'Gorman as Fíli, Mark Hadlow as Dori, Jed Brophy as Nori, Adam Brown as Ori, John Callen as Óin, Peter Hambleton as Glóin, William Kircher as Bifur, James Nesbitt as Bofur, and Stephen Hunter as Bombur.
[29] In Iron Crown Enterprises' Middle-earth Role Playing (1986), Dwarf player-characters receive statistical bonuses to Strength and Constitution, and subtractions from Presence, Agility and Intelligence.
[30] In Decipher Inc.'s The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (2001), based on the Jackson films, Dwarf player-characters get bonuses to Vitality and Strength attributes and must be given craft skills.
[31] In the real-time strategy game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, and its expansion, both based on the Jackson films, Dwarves are heavily influenced by classical military practice, and use throwing axes, war hammers, spears, and circular or Roman-style shields.
