Gimris did not have an easy pregnancy or birth, poor girl. She probably isn’t sold on the idea of going through it again.
Also – I think most of Erebor might actually cry in terror if Bofur and Gimris announced they were having another one.
But the reason behind Gimizh being an only child is a little more meta than that, too… I mean, the Dwarves ‘do not bear nor bring forth’ easily, etc etc. I had a bit of a think about this. They are a diminishing race, even at the time of LOTR. They are about to go through their last great period of glory post-Ring War, before they disappear during the Age of Men. So, with all that in mind, I think that very small families would have been the norm. Thorin’s own family, with three siblings born within 20 years, would have been considered quite large. Two children seems to be the most common, judging from the Company’s lineup!
20 years for Dwarves, well, that’s not such a big gap… for an adult. Think of differences in our own world. A five year gap between partners is nothing when they’re both in their thirties. It is HUGE when they are in their teens. So a twenty-year age difference means a lot more to Dwarven children than it would to Dwarven adults. Thus the way Dain considers Frerin and Thorin.
Dwalin is five years younger than Dain, heheheh. I always knew that Mohawk was the sincerest form of flattery
IDK, there’s never been anything definitive on Dwarf-to-human comparative aging. I can only tell you what I have made up, Nonnie. I have written some stuff before on Dwarf aging. Here are all my ramblings all together! I warn you, there’s nothing conclusive that I’ve ever found. Tolkien never created a real comparative chart.
Anyway, I am treating the Dwarves as though they a) come of age at 70. b) enjoy a very, very long period of adulthood without deterioration, and c) grow both stiffer and more brittle towards the end of their lives, though they usually have a vigorous old age, before, d) they’d crumble all at once, a couple of years before death.
I love the idea of these stout, hairy, dirt-under-their-nails people writing the most beautiful poetry; singing the loveliest songs; being the floweriest mofos to ever pop out of the ground.
And I can’t stand when people say it’s not proper to have them like that simply for being dwarves. That’s wrong. So wrong. Because there’s so much diversity, in this world and fantasy ones.
Why should all dwarves be lumped together as vulgar, ineloquent beasts?
Why should all elves be pristine, clean, and graceful?
Why should all hobbits be scared, weak, and uneducated about the outside world?
Great stories are made from bending the ideas that have been laid out before, not sticking to them like bugs to flypaper.
“And, Legolas, when the torches are kindled and men walk on the sandy floors under the echoing domes, ah! then Legolas, gems and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light flows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hands of Queen Galadriel. There are columns of white and saffron and dawn-rose, Legolas, fluted and twisted into dreamlike forms; they spring up from many-coloured floors to meet the glistening pendants of the roof: wings, ropes, curtains fine as frozen clouds; spears, banners, pinnacles of suspended palaces! Still lakes mirror them: a glimmering world looks up from the dark pools covered with clear glass; cities, such as the mind of Durin could scarce have imagined in his sleep, stretch on through avenues and pillared courts, on into the dark recesses where no light can come. And plink! a silver drop falls, and the round wrinkles in the glass make all the towers bend and waver like weeds and corals in a grotto of the sea.”
Gimli, The Two Towers
(the “Glittering Caves” speech is often cited as Tolkien’s most beautiful and lyrical writing ever. Hell yeah, I am down with poetic Dwarves!)
I asked Dori and Merry to shoot me some prompts last night, and one of them was ‘A Dwarven Drinking Song Game’. And I basically went ‘aha, yeah, but no srsly’ and then ended up doing it for shits and giggles. Then it went out of control and turned into a full-fledged… thing. So, here you go! The official rules for ‘Mystery Mining’!
The game can be played with 4+ players (any fewer and it goes too fast). Each player has chips of metal, representing copper, iron, tin, aluminium, silver, gold, ‘platinum’, and ‘mithril’ (it is sometimes played with scraps of paper with the metals written on it, but most people can afford the game pieces). The players each have ten of each of the metals for gameplay. They sit in a circle (or around a table) and each selects a chip to put into play. They keep the chips hidden in their hands and as they pass them. No one is allowed to look at them until the song ends.
The chip is passed counterclockwise around the table through the duration of this song:
One for copper, iron, tin,
Two for aluminium,
Three for silver, platinum, gold,
Four for mithril bars of old!
The tempo varies wildly by region, person, and level of drunkenness, so the song is never sung the same twice.
The chip the player is holding at the end of the song corresponds with the number of shots they must take, as determined by the song.
Optional:
Often another kind of chip is introduced into the game: coal.There are only ten coal chips in total, and it is passed clockwise for extra difficulty. Each round, the coal chip starts with a different person, and whoever receives it must pay for the next round of drinks.
Cheating:
Cheating is so common that it’s in the official rules: anyone caught cheating or passing the chips the wrong way must drink a half-shot on the spot.
Song variations:
Half for copper, iron, tin,
One for aluminium,
Half again for silver, gold,
Two for mithril bars of old!
Mining for Mysteries
The strip version of Mystery Mining.
Also designed to make the game last longer. Basically introduces the option to take off articles of clothing instead of taking shots.
Also introduces endless offers for people to ‘mine for mysteries’ down people’s pants.
The summary:
People get drunk really, really fast, and everyone hates everyone else the next morning. Be careful when introducing that mithril chip, because chances are you’ll be getting it right back!
Thank you to docmanda for introducing the coal chip and whatever else they did that I can’t remember! You’re the best, truly.
AH HELL YESSSS FINALLY A GOOD DWARVEN DRINKING GAME SONG! DORI APPROVES! (very silently of course)
I´m soooo gonna do that even if I´ll probably either have a headache for a fucking week or a cold after doing some “mining for mysteries” ^^
Also I now I want that being played in Nori´s tavern, complete with hilariously botched cheating attempts, someone falling over and many an eyebrow wriggling innuendo to do some mystery mining down someone´s pants please ^^
Narvi and Celebrimor based on determamfidd’s versions of them from Sansûkh
both of them turned out looking way more fem than they did in the sketch… oops. Also I can’t draw height differences apparently.
THEIR. TATTOOS.
alksjgflajgfjshfgksjdfgalsdjf
AMAZING, OH MY GOD YES YES I LOVE YES OH HOW PERFECT IS THATTTT
They are so adorable, I can just hear them bickering! Thank you SO much, you are so kind and skilled (what details!! THE DRESS, THE BRAIDS, AHHH) and your expressions are awesome ❤
The lady Dis from chapter 34 of Sansûkh by determamfidd
So I read this entire freaking amazing fic in about two days and HAD to do art for it. If ya’ll haven’t read it already, go read it!
Oh my goodness what an amazing gift to return to after my holiday!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! She is stunning, that armour (GAH THE LEG AHHH) and the dress and her faaaace (YES, OLD AND COLD AND ACHING DIS, YESSSSS, GRIEVING ANEW EVEN AS SHE FIGHTS *cries for roughly 900 years about Dis*) her hair and beard! THAT SWORD *grabby hands* INCREDIBLE you have such amazing skill! I am floored and amazed and so touched and SO GRATEFUL, thank you thank you thank you!!!
She commissioned me forever and half ago to draw her as a dwarrowdam, and it has finally reached completion! WOOT.
(I’d like to give special thanks to the-dragongirl, whose voice in podfic really helps me to draw for some reason. You should all deffo check out her AO3!)
Now, Tugboat, for everyone’s favorite part. Your Dwarven Dark-name:
Shalâk’umukh (”Defiant Waters”)
Explanation time. Why this one. Well, I know times are tough right now. It seems like you’re stuck in a place you’ll never get out of, but I want you to know that isn’t true. Whether we want it or not, change is a constant in our lives. You’re tough enough to roll with it, however fast or slow that may come! As for the waters bit? I think one day, after the pain and the stress and the defiance of life has finally turned into something worthwhile, you’ll find yourself at the ocean’s edge watching the whales and wonder why you ever thought you wouldn’t *hugs* Stay strong, Tugboat.
I hope you like this!
Really nice hair design on this one Pop. And Nice glowy effect on the beads!
“Since they were to come in the days of the power of Melkor, Aulë made the dwarves strong to endure. Therefore they are stone-hard, stubborn, fast in friendship and in enmity, and they suffer toil and hunger and hurt of body more hardily than all other speaking peoples; and they live long, far beyond the span of Men, yet not forever.“
Aw Yiss 