Tag: dwarves

Wee Thorin has to do a family tree for school and it is full of pain and angst when he has to ask his parents about it. Also very awkward. The accompanying drawings of the extended family are like 35% guesswork even after Wee Thorin asks every relative he has because the most of older people died so very long ago.

OW

OW OW OW OW

Oh OW

Dwalin can fill in some of it. Gloin tries as well. It’s a good thing that old tapestry is still knocking about… but Dweris’ family is a mystery lost to time and war, and the only thing that is remembered about Farin’s spouse Ganois is that they were a painter. The tree is missing so many of its branches. 

(For the record, Dweris’ mum was named Gweris, and she was a swordsmith. Her father was Delor, a fletcher – but no records about them survived. Not one.)

oh, and Orla will not speak of her family bc GIANT SPOILERS

Sorry to bother you, but where do you find your names for your dwarf and elf OCs? I’ve tried a few different naming sites, but none of them really sound like they would really belong in the Tolkien universe like yours do.

Hey Nonnie!

I make ‘em up 🙂 For Dwarven names, I made myself a loose set of rules to follow. It appears that the names from the Völuspá have a certain predictability, and so I improvised from there.

There’s one or two that don’t fit: Genild, for instance. 

With the Elven names I make up, I usually trawl the dictionary at Hisweloke with a specific goal in mine. Laerophen’s name means “Tree Song” for example, and I wanted a name that meant ‘whispering of the trees’… so what I did was collect Sindarin branch-words until I was able to find a combination I liked!

(I have a whole flotilla of Elf names I haven’t used yet, heheheh)

What do your dwarf eyes see? <— I keep wondering. D&D dwarves have "infravision" and can see in the dark. Obviously Tolkien's differ from D&D or gaming stereotypes. What do you think their capabilities are? How do you feel about "fire touch" as portrayed in The Hobbit, where the one dwarf holds up the cylinder of glowing metal in his hand? What other special stereotypical racial abilities do you think dwarves do/don't have?

Ooooh, well, that’s a great question, Nonnie!

I like to think that Dwarves have EXCELLENT vision in the dark, myself. Not necessarily in bright sunlight, however… huh, maybe their pupils just don’t contract enough, perhaps, idk, I am no good at anatomy. But it’s such a great concept!

Stone-sense is another one I like. Being able to feel/sense directions underground, like certain animals are able to. Perhaps this comes from a sensitivity to magnetic pressures? 

Echolocation would also make sense for an underground race, too. People in our own world are able to learn to use it! So maybe this is a learned skill, and not intrinsic to Dwarves as a species.

FIRE TOUCH YIIIIIIISSS I do like this concept! Myself, I wrap this idea up with Tolkien’s writings about Dwarves being heartier and more resistant to illness, injury and age than the other mortal races of Middle-Earth. Mahal knew his children would have to face Morgoth’s evil creations, and so he made them INCREDIBLY durable.

We know that Dwarves can run for a hell of a long time while carrying ENORMOUSLY heavy loads. In the Hobbit, we get the lines: “The Dwarves are exceedingly strong for their height” and also “the Dwarves can carry very heavy burdens, and nearly all of Dain’s folk, in spite of their rapid march, bore huge packs on their backs in addition to their weapons.” (The Clouds Burst”). So, Dwarves are BLOODY STRONG, can carry a shit-ton of weight, and still they can keep going for days.

whoop there’s the reason i get irritated about Gimli’s cross-country line in TTT

So I’m rereading your amazing fic and I saw you mentioned the different dwarf clans. I remember the Longbeards, Firebeards, Broadbeams, and the Blacklock but what were the others cuz I couldn’t find the chapter where you listed them (btw keep up the amazing work you are awesome)

Oh hey Nonnie!

The families of the Dwarves are:

Western Dwarves

Longbeards (our main posse, descended from the eldest of the Original Dwarves, Durin, who was bound in sleep and then woke up at Mt Gundabad)

Broadbeams (woke in the Blue Mountains.)

Firebeards (Blue Mountains too. The cities of the Firebeards and Broadbeams were lost when Beleriand was tipped into the ocean during the War of Wrath. They were called Nogrod and Belegost. The range of Ered Luin broke in two and half of it was sunk, and so the remnants of both the Firebeards and Broadbeams fled to Khazad-dum and became a part of the Longbeard population.)

Eastern Dwarves

Blacklocks

Stiffbeards

Ironfists

Stonefoots

(Each of these clans is descended from one of Mahal’s original seven dwarves. The progenitors of the Eastern clans woke in the Orocarni or Red Mountains, far to the East in Rhun.)

I cannot stop myself from giving more information than necessary, can I 😉

how do you think dwarven aging works? like–are they babies for the same amount of time as men and then age slower like elves do? do they reach physical maturity before they come of age? I’m trying to wrap my head around age equivalents and it’s not exactly working. especially when I try to think of Dain at Azanulbizar.

Hey Nonnie!

Hoo boy, I have written a LOT on this in the past: here’s some of my ramblings, here’s some more, and some more, and some more, and some more. There’s nothing really definitive in canon, and what there is is a little contradictory.

Basically, it boils down to this:

– We know that around 40-45, a Dwarf would be physically grown – or close. (Dain was 32 at Azanulbizar, and Frerin was 48…)

– However, Gimli is too young to join the Quest for Erebor, and he was 62.

– This suggests that they are bodily mature far earlier than they come of age?

– Emotional maturation generally continues for a longer period of time than physical maturation, at least in humans.

– Kili is 77 at the time of the Quest, and he is the youngest.

– With all this taken into account, I headcanon that Dwarves ‘come of age’ at 70 years old. They’d grow quite quickly – Wee Thorin is 37, from memory, and he is nearly as tall as Gimli… though he is the equivalent of 12 years old emotionally and intellectually.

(believe me, I teach 12 year olds WAY taller than me.)

Then they’d enjoy a long adulthood, very resistant to change and age and disease (Mahal made ‘em hardy, after all!)… before they crumbled comparatively swiftly at the end of their lifespan.