Dwarves

Folklore, Fantasy & Fiction: Dwarfs

The party had been underground for several days now; they had come across the gates to one of the ancient dwarven tunnels just as their guide had said they would. It had been over grown with vines and mountain bushes. If the party had not been looking for the gate they would have missed it, so well had it been made? Eventually the adventurers had come to the staircase their benefactor had told them about. This was the true beginning of the party’s descent into the mountain, They had thought it would get colder the further they went down, they had thought it would get darker the further they went down and they thought it would grow quitter the further they went down only to discover that it was getting hotter and brighter and the noise of metal on metal was growing louder and louder. As the party turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs they saw the source of the light and noise. A group of six, short, hunched humanoids faces like old men, beards long and platted worked metal on a variety of anvils with hammer and tongs. None looked up as they continued to chant and beat a rhythm with their tools. The parties scout turned to his companions and said with a slight smile upon his face "these I believe are the dwarves you are looking for!"

In this post on my blog will be looking at Dwarfs and how they vary according to folklore, fantasy role-playing and fiction. As you will see although something does remain the same other aspects of these long time staple of the story teller have been altered to make them fit our more modern uses of them.

In Folklore

Dwarfs in Folklore are often depicted as old and ugly men with long beards and sometimes bent back. They vary in size sometimes been as short at 18 inches or 45 cm, other times been as tall as 4 foot or 120 cm. This change in height may well be due to their ability in Germanic legends to shape shift. Like so many other fairy folk it was said that Dwarfs could also turn invisible and many had the gift to divine and see the future. Almost all legends agree that the Dwarven people are skilled at mining, craftsmanship and forging magical weapons and items. Especially in Scandinavian myths they would make magical items worthy for the gods themselves such as Thors Hammer Mjollnir and Odins magical ring Draupnir.

In England the most famous group of Dwarves where called the The Simonside Dwarfs also known as Duergar from the Simonside Hills in Englands Northumbria. These creatures where both ugly and evil and meant mortal kind nothing but malice which they extended towards the livestock and pets of man as well. You will notice that the word Duergar was used by D&D to denote their evil grey dwarves.

In Fantasy

The dwarves of the Warhammer world have been made famous by Games Workshop both through Warhammer Fantasy battle and Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play. In the first editions of these games dwarves whereas before mountain dwellers who preferred to live in the tunnels of the Old World and who made excellent smiths, miners and stone workers. They could create magical items and weapons by use of runes and although you had dwarf wizards they had fewer spell points than other races. In latter editions less and less empathise was placed on dwarves and traditional magic instead the system moved dwarves onto rune magic and began to ignore previous references to dwarven wizards and even clerics. Again dwarfs lived longer than humans, where tougher and stronger and could see in the dark but to continue a theme of many version of dwarfs they were a dying breed.

In early editions of Dungeons and Dragons Dwarfs where portrayed as very similar to Tolkien Dwarves, they were excellent miners and metal smiths, see in the dark and able to make great and powerful magical items however the only magic they could wield came from the gods and no Dwarven Wizards or even rune smiths existed. They received excellent bonuses to saves against magic and some magic items could even switch of if a dwarf touched it. As one edition bled into another and Dungeons and Dragons started to allow greater individualism when creating characters it became possible for Dwarves to have Wizards and Sorcerers. Some settings also provided us with a greater number of Dwarven Sub breads such as Mountain Dwarves, Hill Dwarves, Duergar (Grey Dwarves who could turn into giants and become invisible), Derro (Latter to also be identified with Gnomes), Jungle Dwarfs of Chult in Forgotten Realms and the Dwarfs of the great Glassier. On Kyrnn we got to meet still other kinds of  Dwarf such a s Gully Dwarves, Sundered Dwarfs who no longer had a dwarven hold to call home and of course the evil and sinister Theiwar. Each of these types of dwarf challenged the sterotypes of previous types of dwarf however all still retained a lack of arcane ability, which considering the mystical nature of the Dwarves of folklore is quite odd.

Often in role-play games it is the evil dwarves who have more special powers and seem to better reflect the fairy dwarves of folklore.

In Fiction

In fiction writing most authors fall into two camps those who try and portray dwarves as they are portrayed in folklore and those who stick to the image given to dwarves by J. R. R. Tolkien. In both the hobbit and the Lord of the Rings dwarves (Tolkien used the term Dwarves rather than Dwarfs throughout his writing) are more than able to walk in day light however they lack any kind of magical power save that they can craft magical items. They are still great smiths and minors and motivated by greed. They are on average not much smaller than men but much broader and live longer some 250 years on average but are not immortal. Little is mention of Dwarf Women.

In Terry Prachetts Discworld novels Dwarfs are also minors interested in gold and iron. They are not very religious but do have gods just in case. Up until recently Dwarfs on Discworld have not really bothered much about gender and both male and female dwarfs have beards. This may change now several female dwarfs have got involved in feminism. In Discworld dwarves live until about 300 fight with Axes and wear chainmail as a matter of course. They have a very literal understanding of the world and to many dwarfs it is more important that a dwarf acts like a dwarf than actually biologically been a dwarf. Unlike in other worlds where dwarfs suffer a strong dislike of Elves and Goblins on Discworld it is the Trolls they dislike the most.

The dwarves in the Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black are far more in keeping with the dwarfs of folklore. Again short and bearded these dwarves work with iron and stone and make excellent blacksmiths, minors and weapon smiths. Young dwarfs have skin the texture of stone which as they age takes on a more polished almost marble like appearance. It is also made clear that dwarfs are a type of Fairey and whilst the elves are part of the nobility the dwarves are true workers. They live under ground, only come out at night as the sun harms their eyes and are able to turn into rocks or tree stumps albeit with a distinctly dwarf look about them. It is also true of Spiderwick Dwarfs that they are supernaturally strong. Again they do appear to be greedy and ruled by a certain desire for wealth and a fascination with machinery.

Tips for making Dwarves fun

Why not take a leaf out of the folklore and make dwarves turn to stone in day light this does restrict their use in campaigns where dwarves are player character races however it does give them limitations to offset the fact that most dwarves are able to craft magical items, are extremely long lived and all-round tougher than most humans. Also do not be afraid to allow them to have rune smiths, alchemists, enchanters and other kinds of wizards. In legends Dwarf Magic is supposed to be very powerful, dwarves make magical items for gods after all. Combine this with the ability to see into the future, shape change and become invisible and you have a formidable hero or villain. In my own story telling I use Dobbin a Dwarven Wizard,  he has skills as an alchemist and as a rune master as well. He has overcome his weakness to the sun through use of a magical ring he forged. He is able to shape change and uses his powers of divination to guide my players in their adventures. He is knowledgeable about enchantments and enchanted items, creatures and lands. A skilled smith when younger he now devotes himself to the arcane arts. He has knowledge of runes but is no rune smith. Although greedy his greed has altered from a desire to be rich and have gold to acquiring magical lore.