J.R.R.Tolkiens Dwarves

I think the best place to start looking at the concept of dwarves would be in Tolkien's collection of fantasy writings. Tolkiens imagery is probably the best well known, as well as the most commonly accepted in other genres. I think this would be a good place to start looking at dwarves, as it is the most in-depth back story, which will allow me to get a good understanding of the character, style and proportions of them.

• Aulë the Smith is a Vala (God on Earth) and one of the Ainur (Gods that created the Earth). Aulë is given lordship over the matter that composes Arda (Earth) and is a master of all the crafts that shape it. He created the Dwarves, who call him Mahal, the Maker.

• Desperate for pupils onto whom he could pass his knowledge, and unwilling to wait for the emergence of the Children of Ilúvatar (Men and Elves), Aulë created his own race of beings, the Dwarves. However, he did not have a clear idea of what the Children of Ilúvatar would be like, and because of the presence of the chaos caused by Melkor (one of the Gods turned evil), Aulë made the Dwarves strong and unyielding, and not willing to endure the domination of others, as well as embodying some of his values and desires for Middle-earth. However Aulë did not have the power to give independent life to his creations. They could act only when his thought was on them.

• When Aulë had completed his work he began to instruct the Dwarves in the language he had made for them, Khuzdul. Then Ilúvatar (Another of the Ainur) spoke to him, asking why he would seek to exceed his power and authority by attempting to make new life. Aulë repented, answering that the drive to create was kindled in him by Ilúvatar, and that he only wished for other beings to love and teach, with whom to share in the beauty of the world. He admitted that his impatience had driven him to folly and submitted his creations to Ilúvatar. Assuming that they should be destroyed, he made to smite the seven Fathers of the Dwarves with a great hammer, weeping as he did so. But as the Dwarves shrank from the blow, Ilúvatar stayed Aulë's hand and showed that he had already accepted his offer by gifting the Dwarves with spirits of their own, else they could not have been afraid.

• Ilúvatar accepted them as his adopted children, however as it was ordained that the Elves were to be the firstborn race, he set the Dwarves to sleep until after the Awakening of the Elves. He told Aulë that while both were his children, their creation was outside the scope of the Music of the Ainur, and often strife would arise between the Dwarven race and the Elven race as the events of the world unfolded. The Dwarves believe that after they die their spirits remove to halls Aulë has set aside for them, and their role will be to rebuild Arda after the Final Battle that is yet to come.

I really like this deep and rich background that Tolkien created for his dwarves. This rich history makes the character believable to the audience, but also helps to sculpt the characters image and temperament, giving valid reasoning in their history. Obviously I wont be going into as much detail as Tolkien did with the backstory and history of his dwarves, however it is definitely something I will need and want to consider, as I really feel it helps to create a well rounded and fully believable character, and creates a good base for the narrative to work with.

• Dwarves are described as shorter and stockier than Elves and Men, able to withstand both heat and cold. Though they are mortal, Dwarves have an average lifespan of 250 years. In The Lord of the Rings Tolkien writes that they breed slowly, for no more than a third of them are female, and not all marry; also, female Dwarves look and sound (and dress, if journeying—which is rare) so alike to Dwarf-males that other folk cannot distinguish them, as well as this both males and females have beards. Tolkien's Dwarves, much like their mythical forebears, are great metalworkers, smiths and stoneworkers. Fierce in battle, their main weapons are axes (referenced in many subsequent fantasy works), but they also use bows, swords, shields and mattocks. Unlike other fantasy dwarves, Tolkien does not explicitly have them use war hammers. Since they lived underground, Dwarves did not grow their own food supplies if they could help it, and usually obtained food through trade with Elves and Men. Dwarven and human communities often formed relationships where the Men were the prime suppliers of food, farmers and herdsmen, while the Dwarves supplied tools and weapons, road-building and construction work.

This description of the dwarves physical attributes helps to create a mental image of what a dwarf should be. I should remember however, that a lot of dwarves in todays media are based on Tolkiens descriptions of them, meaning that this image is the most well known. From this description I can gain that dwarves should be a lot stockier than humans, with much broader shoulders. It makes me feel as if dwarves look old from a very young age, as they take beatings from both extreme heat and extreme cold. This has given me a very strong understanding of the dwarf culture, however, I still need to look at them in a lot more detail to get a better understanding of their physical structure and anatomy.