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Dwarf (folklore)

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This page is about a legendary race. For other meanings see Dwarf (disambiguation).

A dwarf is a short humanoid creature in Norse mythology as well as other Germanic mythologies, fairy tales, fantasy fiction and role-playing games. Its plural was traditionally dwarfs, but Tolkien used the plural dwarves, which has gone into general usage. Dwarves are much like humans, but generally living underground or in mountainous areas. Here they have heaped up countless treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones, and pass their time in fabricating costly armour. They are famed miners and smiths although, like humans, they specialise in any number of trades. Generally shorter than humans, they are on average stockier and hairier, usually sporting full beards. Dwarvish smiths created some of the greatest and most powerful items of power in Norse mythology, such as the magic chain which bound the wolf, Fenris.

Mythology and folklore

For Norse dwarves specifically, see that article.

Dwarves are also called little Hill-men (Swiss), Earth-men (Härdmandle, pl. Härdmändlene. - Swiss) and Kröpel (German). Dwarves were described as the height of a 3-year old human child (about 3 feet tall), ugly and big-headed. Nidavellir is the land of the dwarves in Norse mythology. Some dwarves of mythology and fairy tales are: Rumpelstiltskin, the dwarves from Snow White, Snorri, Dvalin, Lit, Fjalar and Galar, Alvis, Eitri, Brokk, Hreidmar, Alfrik, Berling, Grer, Fafnir, Otr, Regin (rarely given as Mimir), and Andvari (or Alberich.)

The creation of dwarves in Norse mythology

"Then the gods set themselves in their high-seats and held counsel. They remembered how the dwarves had quickened in the mould of the earth like maggots in flesh. The dwarves had first been created and had quickened in Ymir’s flesh, and were then maggots; but now, by the decision of the gods, they got the understanding and likeness of men, but still had to dwell in the earth and in rocks. Modsogner was one dwarf and Durin another. So it is said in the Völuspá:

Þá gengu regin öll
á rökstóla,
ginnheilög goð,
ok um þat gættusk,
hverr skyldi dverga
dróttir skepja,
ór Brimis blóði
ok ór Bláins leggjum.
Þar var Mótsognir
mæztr um orðinn
dverga allra,
en Durinn annarr.
Þeir mannlíkön
mörg um gørðu,
dvergar, ór jörðu,
sem Durinn sagði.(standardised)
Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones,
and council held,
To find who should raise
the race of dwarves
Out of Brimir’s blood
and the legs of Blain.
There was Motsognir
the mightiest made
Of all the dwarves,
and Durin next;
Many a likeness
of men they made,
The dwarves in the earth,
as Durin said. (Bellow's translation)

Dwarves in Non-Germanic Cultures

The Egyptian god Bes is a dwarf. In Judaism, the wise men of the Talmud said that the Egyptian Pharaoh of the Bible and the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar were dwarves. A number of Native American peoples also believed that dwarves had special powers and often chose dwarves born among them as priests.

Finns had folklore about different kinds of small creatures. Sometimes small creature appeared from the sea and made miraculous deeds, which nobody else could do. There were also tales about the folk or race of creatures called Hiisi. Hiisis were usually evil and small sized. Pre-historic stone structures were told to been built and big stones were told to been erected by Hiisis and giants.

Dwarves in Arthurian Legend

Though most dwarves in the Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes seem to be short humans, there is a reference to a kingdom or kingdoms of dwarves (suggesting a non-human race) in "Erec and Enide." The following passage is from Carleton W. Carroll's translation.

"The lord of the dwarves came next, Bilis, king of the Antipodes. The man of whom I'm speaking was indeed a dwarf and full brother of Bliant. Bilis was the smallest of all the dwarves, and Bliant his brother the largest of all the knights in the kingdom by half a foot or a full hands'-breadth. To display his power and authority Bilis brought in his company two kings who were dwarves, who held their land by his consent, Gribalo and Glodoalan, people looked at them with wonder. When they arrived at court, they were very cordially welcomed; at court all three were honoured and served like kings, for they were very noble men."

Other mythological beings characterised by shortness

Dwarf places

The Dwarves' Cavern : (In Hasel, Germany) was once home to many dwarves. This legend gives the cavern its name.

Harz mountains : (Germany) On the north and the south sides of the Harz mountains, and in areas of the Hohenstein region, there once lived many thousands of dwarves, according to local tradition. In the clefts of the cliffs still exists the dwarf caves.

Tyre : In ancient Jewish scriptures, dwarves were numerous in the towers of the fortresses of Tyre.

Fairy tales with dwarves in them

Aid & Punishment, Chamois-Hunter, Curiosity Punished, Dwarf in Search of Lodging, Dwarf-Husband, Dwarf's Banquet, Dwarves Borrowing Bread, Dwarf's Feast, Dwarves on the Tree, Dwarves Stealing Corn, Dwarf-Sword Tirfing, Friendly Dwarves, Gertrude and Rosy, The Hill-Man at the Dance, History of Dwarf Long Nose, Journey of Dwarves Over the Mountain, Laird O' Co', Loki & the Dwarf, Lost Bell, Nihancan & Dwarf's Arrow, Nutcracker Dwarf, Rejected Gift, Rose-Red and Snow-White, Rumpelstiltskin, Sir Thynnè, Smith Riechert, Snow White, Thorston & the Dwarf, Wonderful Little Pouch, The Yellow Dwarf, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Possible origin

Stories of dwarves may have a historical background: during the Bronze Age, tin miners from southern and south-eastern Europe slowly migrated northwest, since the relatively rare tin, which is needed to make bronze, was more common in the north. Being southerners, they generally were of shorter stature than northern Europeans and had darker skin, hair and beards. Their knowledge of metallurgy might have seemed magical to the northerners, whose lifestyle was still neolithic; the southerners' superior weapons and armour might well have been perceived as enchanted. This would explain why stories of dwarves are especially common in Northern Europe, and also why dwarves are portrayed as workers, while few other mythological creatures seem to be associated with any kind of organized industry.

More generally, the pygmies of Africa, the short Eskimos, Sami (Lapps), the Asian Dropa pygmies of Tibet, short rain forest natives, people with dwarfism, and similarly short people may have had a hand in the origin in dwarf legends in many countries.

Another possibility is that dwarves are folk memories of the Neanderthals that populated Europe and Asia up to the end of the Neolithic era (dying out approximately 50,000 to 30,000 years ago), coexisting for part of this time with modern humans. This fits rather well into the picture of the dwarf, as Neanderthals were on average shorter but burlier than humans and possessed stronger features (broader noses, more pronounced brow ridges, and so forth), which could be seen by ancient humans as deformities (dwarves are commonly said to be "deformed"). It is also thought that Neanderthal culture revolved more around tool and weapon crafting, explaining why dwarves of legend were known as craftsmen. Finally, Neanderthals (like so many humans) used caves as shelters, thus making them "subterranean" beings. However, this theory depends on the belief that memories of events can become stuck in a culture's psyche and be passed down accurately for many thousands of years. Such things were proposed by Sigmund Freud, but depended upon Lamarckism as a scientific basis, which has been discredited.

The field of Comparative Mythology has also found that dwarfs are most frequently symbols of what Carl G. Jung called the "Shadow." The Shadow is what has been suppressed by consciousness in the unconscious in a personal, societal, or collective manner.

Dwarves in modern fantasy fiction

Tolkien's dwarves

See Dwarves (Middle-earth)

Traditionally, the plural of dwarf was "dwarfs", especially when referring to actual humans with dwarfism, but ever since J. R. R. Tolkien used dwarves in his fantasy epic novel called "The Hobbit" or "There and back Again" and the subsequent three-volume novel, The Lord of the Rings, the plural forms "dwarfs" has been replaced by "dwarves". (When discussing Tolkien's universe, though, only the latter should be used.) Two other plural forms, dwarrows and dwerrows, were also suggested by Tolkien, but he never used them in his writings, apart from the name 'Dwarrowdelf', the Western name for Khazad-dûm or Moria, a calque of the Westron name Phurunargian. The Dwarves' name for themselves was Khazâd, singular probably Khuzd.

The Dwarves were created by Aulë, one of the Valar, when he grew impatient waiting for the coming of Children of Ilúvatar. Ilúvatar gave them life after speaking to Aulë about what he had done and seeing that he was both humble and repentant.

Dwarves in Tolkien are long-lived, living at least four times the age of man, but are not prolific breeders, having children rarely and spaced far apart, and having few women among them. Dwarvish children are cherished by their parents, and are defended at all costs from their traditional enemies, such as orcs. A longstanding enmity between dwarves and elves is also a staple of the racial conception.

Dwarves after Tolkien

Tolkien's immense popularity led to numerous imitators, and rewrites and reworkings of his plots were extremely common, as a bit reading through the advertisements in the back of paperback fantasy books printed in around 1960-1980 will show. Gimli became the father to hordes of dwarves that would follow, with his surly, somewhat suspicious demeanour passing to an entire race. Still, re-envisionings and creative reuses of the concept exist.

Dwarves in politics

During the 1980s, behind the Iron Curtain, in Poland, the Dwarves entered into politics. This happened thanks to an underground artistic opposition movement known as the Orange Alternative. The Orange Alternative was created in 1981 by Waldemar Fydrych alias "Major", a graduate of history and art history at the University of Wrocław. He began his opposition activities by painting absurd dwarf graffiti on spots created by the authorities covering up anti-communist slogans. Then, in the mid-nineteen eighties, the dwarves left the city walls and began actively participating in large scale happenings organized by the Orange Alternative in the major Polish cities, aimed at ridiculing the Jaruzelski regime and breaking up the fear barrier present in the population as result of the Martial Law instauration in December 1981.

The Dwarf - the symbol of the Orange Alternative - now has a statue in Wrocław (Breslau), Poland, in the place where all Dwarf happenings started

Dwarves in Role-Playing Games

The Dwarves of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game are closely derived from the Old Norse stereotype popularised by J.R.R. Tolkien, although a few unique variants on the theme exist.

In Warhammer Fantasy, dwarves are miners and blacksmiths of great repute who live in massive halls beneath the mountains. In addition, they are consummate engineers who are often portrayed as having a very down-to-earth attitude, similar to Northern England stereotypes. Like most modern interpretations (like Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons) dwarves have an enmity with Elves.

In the MMORPG RuneScape, like in Warhammer, dwarves are very similar to their Tolkien counterparts. One example of this is shown in the fact that the only entirely dwarven city in the game is entirely underground.

In Earthdawn, dwarves are one of the more widespread races. They generally have a lifespan of around 100-120 years and are great craftsmen. Appearance wise, they are around 4 feet tall, stocky and well muscled with short legs and slightly pointed ears.

In Warcraft the Dwarven archetype is taken to the extreme in emulating the highland miners of the British Isles replete with Scottish accents and inhabitting the Brittonic sounding kingdom of Khaz Modan.

Dwarves in the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game are also accomplished smiths, but their distrust of magic dates to the Elf-Dwarf War, where the Dwarves caused many atrocities by misusing magic. Their descendants have since sworn to never use magic.

In the MMORPG Guild Wars, Dwarves are a strong race that resides in the Shiverpeak Mountains, and are in the middle of a fierce civil war between the Deldrimor Dwarves, lead by the King Jalias Ironhammer, a powerful warrior who uses a mighty hammer, and the racist Stone Summit, who believe that only Dwarves are pure and worth living, similar to the ideals of Adolf Hitler, and are lead by a powerful elementalist Dagnar Stoneplate, who rides on a mighty ice drake.

In The Elder Scrolls series of RPGs, the Dwarves are, in fact, a sub-race of elves known as the Dwemer, or "Deep Ones". The name "Dwarves" was given to the Dwemer by a race of friendly giants the Dwemer were reputed to have encountered in the mountains to the west of Resdayn. In the case of the Dwemer, therefore, "Dwarf" is a misnomer, used commonly by the misinformed.

Dwarves in Artemis Fowl

In a rather more creative reworking, the Artemis Fowl series' dwarves act as a sort of earthworm, tunnelling through soil and loose rocks and getting nutrition thereby, excreting it just as fast as they eat it except when they need to build up pressure to break through a layer of solid rock. They are short, round, and hairy, have large tombstone teeth, unhingible jaws, sensitive beard hair, suction-cup-like pores, luminous and hardening spit, and are incredibly smelly. They are sensitive, intelligent, and have tendencies for being criminals. The most famous one is Mulch Diggums. Dwarves are, in some legends, said to have a third eyeball located just below the ribcage, in place of a navel. This was reportedly because they were omnipotent, and could see into one's soul. Dwarves are also known for loving gold and gems, tunnelling, and the dark. They are very sensitive to the sun and can burn in mere minutes. They absolutely hate fire.

Female dwarves

A long standing source of interest (and humour) comes from the allusion of Tolkien to female dwarves having actual beards or simply disguising themselves as such. In addition to being rare creatures they are perhaps not often featured in many fantasy milieu for this reason. A more cynical suspicion is that female dwarves (unlike, say, female humans or elves) lack sex appeal and consequently are of little interest to fantasy fans (stereotypically young men).

In the MMORPG RuneScape, female dwarves are as present in the game as the females of other races.

In Dungeons & Dragons, the status of beards on dwarven women varies by setting: In Greyhawk, dwarven women grow beards but generally shave; in Forgotten Realms they grow sideburns but not beards or mustaches; and in Eberron they do not grow beards at all.

In the Discworld novels, Terry Pratchett says that this is a major problem for dwarves, and states that the point of dwarvish relationships is to 'tactfully find out which sex the other one is under that beard '.

In the RPG Castle Falkenstein, all dwarves are male. They marry with women from other Faerie races, such as Naiads or Selkies; their daughters are all members of their mother's race, and their sons are all dwarves.

In a notable departure from convention, dwarven females in the Korea-produced Lineage II MMORPG are very comely, young-looking women (almost girls, actually), a shocking contrast to the grizzled, old look of male dwarves.

See also

Modern Fantasy with Major Roles for Dwarves

Bibliography

Carleton W. Carroll, trans. "Erec and Enide," in Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances. William W. Kibler, trans. London: Penguin Books, 1991.

See also

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