Tag: the hobbit

Question: I know Oin is somewhat psychic, with the reading portents aspect, but do you think there are other dwarves who can do things like that? Burning chicken bones and reading the answer to questions in the cracks, or messages in the clouds like in ATLA? Or even ones, rare though they are, who can /see/ those who have died and sometimes help counsel those who have lost many loved ones and provide closure?

Hhmmmmmmm, excellent question, Nonnie. I had to put on my thinking-cap. Here’s what I came up with!

I think it’d be tremendously rare, tbh? Dwarven ‘magic’ tends to be far more physical and/or mechanical: invisible doors with super-tricky passwords, that sort of thing.

I haven’t ever seen ATLA, sorry!

The stuff we have on portents (which is film-verse only, and not from the books) is also pretty thin on the ground:

Gloin: “Aye, Oin has read the portents, and the portents say: it is time.”
Oin: “Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. When the birds of the old return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end.”

The ravens are mentioned again at the end of AUJ:

Oin:  A raven. The birds are returning to the mountain.
Gandalf: That, my dear Oin, is a thrush.
Thorin: Well, we’ll take it as a sign. A good omen.

Not much to go on!

Using these two bits of info, I guess that Dwarven ‘portents’ are very much based on the actions of the natural world. I also guess that any reading of signs would probably be done by Dwarves who have either been taught familiarity with ravens or other birds, or have spent a LOT of time outdoors, enough to be familiar with the habits and migrations of animals (Oin is very learned and is also an apothecary: he has to collect plants, after all!)

I don’t think that any living Dwarf can see the dead ones except under INCREDIBLY EXCEPTIONAL circumstances – hence, in Sansukh, Gimli only sees Thorin in Galadriel’s mirror or upon the Paths of the Dead.

Mandos rules the Halls of the Dead and has only ever changed his mind once (Beren). The mists between Middle Earth and Aman are impenetrable, and there can be no returning. The Halls of the Dead are even more inaccessible – they’re a world removed within a world removed. None can see the dead, unless they are horribly cursed (the ghouls of the Dwimorberg, the wights of the Dead Marshes, the Nazgul, the Barrow-wights), and thus still residing in Middle-Earth. 

Again, in Sansukh, the only reason Thorin’s Gift works at all is because of a loophole (the

Olórë Mallë), Gimli’s extraordinary perceptiveness, the pool of Gimlin-zaram, and the compassion of a Vala – Aule himself.

When it comes to being comforted, Dwarves would know that after their deaths they are gathered to Mahal’s Halls and cared for there. They have absolute and personal proof of his love for them, after all – their dark names. 

leaving all this aside, though: it has to be said that the idea of a Dwarf medium has a certain Pratchettesque humour about it

On a prompt site (won’t mention which one, but it should be pretty obvious) and looking for Dain prompts, thinking that a drabble will get me out of my writing slump and back to my WIP. Instead, I find a post about Dain stealing another dwarf’s spouse because he’s the king now and can do what he wants. Do you have any nice Dain thoughts (not prompts, just cute/happy thoughts about him)?

Yikes.

This is the way I cope, dear Nonnie: I tell myself that this particular character is not Dain. That’s some nasty OC with Dain’s name. Dain is nothing like that. 

Here’s some nice Dain ideas I am just rattling off:

– Dain loves to walk up behind Thira and hold her gently by the hips, resting his chin on the soft, smooth dark skin of her neck. Nothing salacious or pressuring about it. Just loves to hold her that way, smelling her and being near her warmth.

– Dain has raised every single pig in his sty, and names every single one. EVERY ONE. Even the ones that only live for a day. (and you’d better believe he weeps for them).

– Thorin Stonehelm used to clamber atop his father’s shoulders and tug on his hair as though riding a battle-ram. Dain ended up with slight bald patches over his temples. He filled them in with tattoos, and stared down any Dwarf who dared suggest that the loss was unfortunate. What on Mahal’s good earth was more important than the happiness and laughter of his son??

– Before Erebor fell, it wasn’t uncommon for Dwarflings to toboggan down the gentler foothills of the Mountain. On Dain’s one and only visit before the dragon came (he was a BABY when Smaug invaded), Dis and Thorin bundled the tiny thing onto a sled (Frerin thought it was a bad idea) and gave it a gentle push, intending to guide it along. It soon gained too much momentum, and sped out of their reach, zooming over the flat. When the three finally caught up with their miniscule cousin, he was laughing so uproariously that he was nearly blue, unable to catch his breath. 

– Dain plays fiddle. He’s rather good.

– Not many have seen the mourning marks that Dain bears. He doesn’t wear his as publically as Dis does. He prefers to keep his public decoration less personal.

They spiral over his chest in concentric circles, one after the next.

(There are a lot.)

– Children are always clamouring to hear Dain read their story-books. He reads aloud the bestest of everybody ever. He does the voices and acts out the stories and sings silly little songs, and they are simply amazing. He even captures the adults when he reads, and there’s laughter and joining-in with the songs, and clapping along, and gasping when the children do. All the early childhood teachers agree that he’d make a fortune… well, if the whole Kinging thing doesn’t work out in the long term.