Dwarf
- This page is about the legendary race, for the medical condition see dwarfism
A dwarf is a short, stocky humanoid creature in Norse mythology as well as other Germanic mythologies, fairy tales, fantasy fiction and role-playing games.
Etymology
The word "dwarf" appears in numerous forms in the old languages of Europe: In Middle Dutch is is dwerch, in contemporary Dutch it appears as dwerg; in Old High German it is twerg, while in Middle High German it is dwerch or dwarch, and in Old Frisian it appears as dwirg. The contemporary English spelling comes from the Old English dweorg or dweorh.[1]
The plural form dwarfs has been traced to the 17th century. The alternate plural dwarves has been recorded in the early 18th century, but was not generally accepted until used by Philologist J. R. R. Tolkien in his fantasy novel The Hobbit. Neither is the historical plural: dwarf was pluralized dwarrow in Anglo-Saxon.[2] Although dwarrow has passed from the language, both dwarfs and dwarves are in current use. Many grammarians prefer dwarfs, many fantasists prefer dwarves. The form dwarfs is generally used for real people affected by dwarfism; the form dwarves is used for the mythical people described by Tolkien and others.
Description
Generally dwarves are described as shorter than humans, about the height of a 3-year old human child (about 3 feet tall), ugly, big-headed, stockier and hairier, and usually sporting full beards. Though slow runners and poor riders, dwarves are said to be excellent warriors and defenders of their strongholds. They prefer to live underground and/or in mountainous areas. Some literature and games ascribe to dwarves the ability to see in the dark and other adaptations for living underground, where they have accumulated treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones, and pass their time in fabricating costly weapons and armour. They are famed miners and smiths although, like humans, they specialise in any number of trades. Some myths and games also ascribe to dwarves the ability to forge magical items. In Norse mythology, for instance, dwarvish smiths created some of the greatest and most powerful items of power, including the magic chain Gleipnir that bound the wolf, Fenris as well as Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.
Possible origins
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 rainforest natives, people with dwarfism, and similarly short people may have had a hand in the origin of dwarf legends in many countries. Another origin might go back to hunter-gatherer times, when only those with physical defects would be available to do anything other than hunting and gathering. Those with dwarfism might be stuck as permanent craftsmen, and an association between crafting, and dwarfism might have developed.
Mythology and folklore
In Norse mythology, dwarves are highly significant entities associated with stones, the underground and forging. Apart from the Eddas, they notably appear in the fornaldarsagas. They seem to be interchangeable and may be identical with the svartálfar (black elves), and sometimes the trolls (compare also with vetter, a class of beings from later Scandinavian folklore). The Völuspá divides the dwarves into what may be three tribes, lead by respectively Mótsognir, their first ruler; secondly Durinn, and finally Dvalinn, who according to the Hávamál brought them the art of rune writing.
The dwarves came into existence while Odin and his brothers Vili and Vé fabricated the world from the corpse of the cosmic giant Ymir. They spontaneously generated, as maggots were thought to, in the dead flesh (i.e. earth or stone). The gods later gifted them with intelligence and human-like appearance. So it is said in the Völuspá:
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They are mostly seen as selfish, greedy, and cunning. They are skilled metal-workers and the makers of most of the artifacts of the gods, both Æsir and Vanir. Among their most famous creations are the spear Gungnir and the golden ring Draupnir of Odin, Mjolnir the hammer of Thor, the golden hair of Sif, Freyja's necklace Brísingamen and even the ship Skíðblaðnir of Freyr. The dwarves also fabricated a certain kind of helmet, called huliðshjálmr (concealing helmet), or sometimes a cloak, with which they could make themselves invisible. (Once more, cf. wights.)
They are also vengeful and Hervarar saga relates that when king Svafrlami had forced the dwarves Dvalin and Durin to forge the magic sword Tyrfing, the dwarves cursed it so it would bring death to Svafrlami and cause three evil deeds. In Ynglingatal it is told how King Sveigder is lured into a stone by a dwarf.
Dwarves in Fiction
Dwarves made appearances in European stories and folklore for centuries. Often times they were depicted either as mischevious, elusive creatures, akin to faeries. Other times they were viewed as working for humans as craftsmen and engineers. The Adventures of Billy McDaniel, Aid & Punishment, Bottile Hill, Chamois-Hunter, The Cobbler and the Dwarfs, 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, The Field of Ragwort, Fir Cones, Freddy and his Fiddle, Friendly Dwarves, Gertrude and Rosy, The Girl Who Picked Strawberries, The Hazel-nut Child, The Hill-Man at the Dance, History of Dwarf Long Nose, Journey of Dwarves Over the Mountain, Knurremurre, Laird O' Co', Little Mukra, Loki & the Dwarf, Lost Bell, Nihancan & Dwarf's Arrow, Nutcracker Dwarf, Rejected Gift, Snow-White and Rose-Red, Rumpelstiltskin, The Silver Bell, Sir Thynnè, The Skipper and the Dwarfs, Smith Riechert, Snow White, The Story of Maia, Thorston & the Dwarf, The Three Little Men in the Wood, Thumbkin, Timimoto, Wonderful Little Pouch, The Yellow Dwarf
Tolkien's dwarves
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 nearly four times the age of man(about 250 years), 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.
Many modern views of dwarves have been inspired by Tolkien's works. An example of this is Christopher Paolini's Eragon. In both cases dwarves are small, stout, bearded men-like creatures who favor the mattok or battle axe as primary weapons. These dwarves also burrow in mountains, being very skilled miners and making entire civilizations under the mountains. In The Lord of the Rings, one of these mine-civilizations is called Moria. In Eragon, a very similar civilization is called Farthen Dur.
Modern Fantasy
Tolkien's immense popularity led to numerous imitators, and rewrites and reworkings of his plots were extremely common, as a bit of reading through the advertisements in the back of paperback fantasy books printed in around 1960–1980 will show. The Dwarves from the book The Hobbit became the fathers to hordes of dwarves that would follow, with their surly, somewhat suspicious demeanour passing to an entire race. Still, re-envisionings and creative reuses of the concept exist.
Pop Culture
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. Like most modern interpretations (originating with Tolkien and used in Dungeons and Dragons) dwarves have an antipathy against Elves.
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 Jalis Ironhammer, a powerful warrior who uses a mighty hammer, and the racist Stone Summit, who believe that only Dwarves are pure and worth living. They are lead by a powerful elementalist Dagnar Stonepate, 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 foul smelling. 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.
Notes
Bibliography
- Carleton W. Carroll, trans. "Erec and Enide," in Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances. William W. Kibler, trans. London: Penguin Books, 1991.
- Vandebrake, Mark, Children of the Mist: Dwarfs in German Mythology, Fairy Tales, and Folk Legends 135 pages. A work that interprets dwarf depictions throughout German history as shadow symbols.
External links
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