Tag: dwalin

Speaking of “in case I die when you’re too young” letters, imagine who else has written these letters, as well as general “in case I die untimely” letters. Dis and Thorin both have stashes for Fili and Kili. Vili was skeptical, but Dis managed to get him to dictate one or two. Gloin did a pile before the quest for Erebor. All the letters before the war of the ring – Dwalin especially, having lost both his parents young.

lksdgfa;sdhsjaljgsalgfakjsh

(the ones from Thorin and Dis for the lads, though… Dis would find them after, and know that they were never meant for her. She would keep Vili’s as well, stained and rumpled from so many years of being crushed in the bottom of one of Fili’s drawers. She would have so many of these letters, all addressed to someone else.

Nobody would have expected her to outlive her children, after all.)

I actually already have Gimli writing a pile of these in Sansukh – he hands them to Gloin when they say farewell at Rivendell. One for Dis, one for the King, one for Gimris and Bofur, one for Gimizh. And one for his parents, of course. 

Gloin and Dwalin definitely would have written lots of just-in-case letters because of losing their parents at Azanulbizar… in fact, I believe Gloin would probably have written a novel (he’s a very organised Dwarf, is Gloin). Dwalin’s would be softer, though… and full of all the things he doesn’t say aloud. 

Do you have a HC for how Dweris and Fundin met? And which parent which lad will seek out for advice? (Like, my brother goes to my mother for advice without fail, even if she won’t know the answer, but I go to my grandmother).

I do indeed! Thank you for asking about it, Nonnie!

So the blurb at the top of ch21 is about Dweris, and it goes like this:

A reclusive, reticent and slightly obsessive Dwarrow, Dwerís was the daughter of Nerís, a scribe and poet, and Nár, the great friend and counsellor of Thrór King Under the Mountain. She was a huge-shouldered nonbinary Dwarrow who went by she/her pronouns. She was a mediocre smith but naturally talented with a sword, and through her skill and dedication she soon rose through the ranks in the Ereborean Army. She was justifiably proud of her skills, and practised approximately five hours every day with a variety of weapons. It soon became rumoured that Dwerís was unbeatable.

Challengers appeared, and Dwerís was obliged to see each of them beaten before she could return to her solitude and her beloved training. She had defeated ninety-nine opponents when a comfortable young nobleman, drunk and staggering, was pushed into the ring by his friends. Disgusted, Dwerís left. The noble later sought Dwerís out to apologise for his appalling state and for his friends’ actions, and Dwerís was struck by his sincerity and his way with words. She offered to train him, and so Dwerís was introduced to her future husband, Fundin son of Farin. She often said later that she had won her hundredth bout as well.

Dwerís was killed beside her husband at the battle of Azanulbizar, leaving behind her two sons Balin and Dwalin.

Of the two lads, Balin is the one who looks more like Fundin, and Dwalin is very much like his bulky-shouldered mum. Balin also has his father’s rather more pacific nature… though he has a LOT of his mum’s ferociousness as well, when pressed. Dwalin has something of his dad’s sly sense of humour: immensely sardonic and understated. 

Yet Balin preferred to seek out Dweris for comfort and advice, and Dwalin would go to his lawyerish, stolid, sensible father. 

Perhaps it was because the young Dwalin needed someone to talk to him about what it was that bothered him, to help him reason out the best course of action, to help him cool his hot head.

Perhaps it was because Balin, so incredibly clever even at a tender age, would likely already know what it was he had to do, and simply needed some silent, unconditional support as he gathered his courage to do it. 

I have a question, and I’ve been agonizing over how to ask this without sounding like a jerk. I recall during one of the chapters (pretty sure it was chapter 30-something, but I’ve just started re-reading it again, so don’t quote me) Vili accidentally calls Dwerís ‘Lady’ or something like that and they correct him and have him call them ‘Warrior’. Do you think Dwalin and Balin called them a gender-neutral term for their parent rather than ‘Amad’?

Awww, Nonnie, this is an area that I expect is different for each person and/or Dwarf. Some NB Dwarves who are parents might prefer just to be called ‘parent’? Some may prefer ‘Amad’ or ‘Mum’. 

Bear in mind please, that I am cis. My thoughts will not address the full nuance of this discussion, and I shouldn’t be taken as an authority AT ALL on this issue. Dweris is my character, sure, but she’s fictional. I would be honoured to take a back-seat to a NB person who has lived this situation, if they feel comfortable speaking about it.

I hope and believe that a Dwarf (or in our own world, any person) can be a mother, and NOT a woman. Because otherwise we start to enter into horrible role and gender stereotypes – or we start reducing the concept of ‘motherhood’ to ‘person who gives birth’ – and that way lies bigotry and bio-essentialism, and casts negative aspersions on the validity of a whole lot of adopting parents and trans people and more.

When it comes to my character of Dweris, however, she is a NB Dwarf who uses she/her pronouns, who dislikes the word ‘Amad’… but she likes the Westron colloquialisms ‘Mum’ or ‘Ma’. She is a mum, she’s Balin and Dwalin’s mum and she loves to be their mum and freely chooses to inhabit that role… but she’s not a Dwarrowdam. If we wanted to get right into the nitty-gritty of her gender identity, we could call her agender with a slight demigender bias. 

But yeah, she’s a warrior, first and foremost. Warrior Dweris! 

IT’S [cue liberty bell march] HEADCANONPALOOZA PART TEN!

OH OUCH @ THAT DAIN HC. OUCH. OUUUUCH i love it

And my own Duchess has a bit of a foot fetish herself! She rubs her head against feet and shoes obsessively. It makes getting up a little tricky sometimes, because you’re just. Um. Okay, kitty, you do you.

AAAAH OMFG OF COURSE, GIMIZH IS TOTALLY PONYO *sings* Gimizh, gimizh gimizh, child of Erebor, tiny little Dwarfling, the terror we adore!

Oh! I love the practice-piercings idea too – does anybody remember those magnetic earrings that were around a gigazillion years ago? I bet Dwarves make use of stuff like that!

(omg everybody, I just got back from swimming with my Dwarfling…and my inbox has asploded again! I love you all, tremendously. But pretty pretty please can we maybe scale it back to one headcanon per person per day? I would like to give them all more time, you see!)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 

okay but Dwalin and Orla taking turns bringing their babies to work. Somehow tiny baby dwarfling strapped to their bodies only highlights how fierce they can be.

ohgosh augh my heart. 

Like, can you imagine Dwalin or Orla with a hugabub or ring-sling or similar

(stock photo from hugabub website btw)

They would be so giant compared to the ittybitty tininess of a newborn, and oh my god it would make them appear even more terrifying – but at the same time terrifyingly adorable

Gimizh asking ALL the questions about Oin and it’s generally sad and awkward for everyone.

OUCH, NONNIE.

because Gimli will be coming home with the Book of Mazarbul. And ofc everyone will finally find out why the Moria colony has been silent, and that they’re dead, all of them. How they died twenty years ago, and nobody knew.

And Dori and Gloin and Dwalin will be mourning, and their families too, and Gimli, who has had time to come to terms with this (well, a bit, in-between fighting for his life/running across Middle-Earth/falling in love with dumb Elves) will hear a small voice pipe up with, “Who’s Oin?”

And oh, the look on Gloin’s face would hurt. Because Gimizh will never know the clever, funny, generous, boisterous, gruff old fellow who taught Gimli how to walk in a mine, how to play a jug, how to dress and clean a wound in the field.

Gimizh will never know the person who inspired his mother to become a healer.

(aaaaand on that note, Balin son of Dwalin will never meet the Dwarf he is named for. ohgod oh ouch)

AUGH. It’s too early for these feels, Nonnie.