Dwarves
Now, there is an uncomfortable element of the dwarves that we need to discuss here that would shed some light on their relationship to Moria and the Lonely Mountain – antisemitism. My sources describe Tolkien’s inspiration for the dwarves as being a “selective reading of medieval documents about Jews". The result is a race in Middle Earth presented as gold hungry, proud and warlike. Other important elements for our purposes are the fact that the Dwarves have a language they do not speak in the presence of outsiders. They are stripped of their homelands and seek to regain them. As a result they live in scattered diaspora communities mixed in with host communities while retaining their own identities. Now, I have no idea if Tolkien actually believed many of the stereotypes in this, like the greedy myths. But those ideas are still all too common today, so it would not surprise me. Seriously Tolkien – I want to like you but you are making it hard for me here.
Rateliff, John. The History of the Hobbit. p.79-80
The unfortunate reality is that we are stuck with this as a foundation for the Dwarves. When these ideas are applied to real world Jews, run away. But they are true when applied to the Dwarves of Middle Earth. Now, we know from history that these ideas have produced a shocking levels of violence even when there is a deficit of supporting evidence to justify believing them. I would suspect that in a world where the targeted group is actually like that, the hatreds would probably be worse. Dwarves can thus be expected to face serious problems in the form of official discrimination in their host nations and communal violence targeting them from their host communities.
We can expect that the desire to secure their homelands would also be motivated not just by a desire to return home and redeem their past failures. It is likely that these homelands would provide much needed security for Dwarves faced with the threat of violence every day. The discrimination and survival mechanisms that it produces were condemned in Zionism as making Jews meek, vulnerable and despairing – traits that then justified further anti-semitism. A national homeland where Jews could become workers and soldiers in their own society could redeem them. Revisionist or Nationalist Zionism added that the Zionist project required military skill and strong will in order to enforce the continued existence of the Israeli state. This is another idea that seems to fit well with the general concept of the Dwarves we have to work with.
The idea then would be a romantic and sentemental attachment to Moria and the Lonely Mountain. These places would be cultural touchstones. The worldview, culture and art of the dwarves would likely be oriented towards them in the same way Islam is literally oriented towards Mecca. It might even express itself similarly with pilgrimages to those sites. There would be a deep sense of shame for having been deprived of their homelands through military defeats. Dwarves would seek to redeem themselves by retaking those places and naturally sensitive to outsiders coming in. These kindgoms would almost be sacred. Extra levels of violence will be used to defend them.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Dwarves are essentially short and stocky versions of humans.
Ecology and Habitats
Dwarves make their homes underground. Primarily in mountains. So much so that a significant proportion of dwarves could live their entire lives without seeing sunlight.
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The homes of the dwarves seem to be exclusively inside mountains rich in mineral deposits. The Iron Hills are obviously based on iron deposits. The Lonely Mountain has gold and jewels. Their other kingdoms are located in the Blue Mountains and Misty Mountains.
Average Intelligence
Their intelligence is quite high in technical areas. But they do not have much in the way of philosophy that I can see. Their art is pretty high and advanced. It appears higher than human and hobbits, but less than the elves.
Civilization and Culture
Average Technological Level
Culturally, the dwarves are known for their skill with masonry specifically. Maybe the early builders of Gondor could match them, but that seems to be the only close competition. The Inca masons were able to make large scale earthquake proof stoneworks without the use of mortar. This seems like a reasonable standard to expect out of the dwarves.
Gold, iron, copper, and silver are mentioned as metals they preferred to work with and had great skill with. Diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire are common gems in their crafts as well. So, we can assume that the dwarves are not just rich due to the vast mineral wealth their kingdoms possess – but also due to their skills in crafting that add significant value to the raw materials.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Dwarves are also known for being adventuresome, proud and greedy. They do seem to relish the idea of getting up close and personal when fighting – preferring melee combat to ranged. Wealth generation is a defining element of their history, with them seeking treasures, mined wealth and jewels. The regaining of the huge amount of gold in the Lonely Mountain was a key motive for Thorin’s quest there. The pride in and love for their homelands was also a powerful motive here and in their attempts to retake Moria. Their other main attribute is their skill at crafting things – often working in construction, road maintenance, tools and weaponry in exchange for food. The weapons and armor of the Lonely Mountain were the best in Middle Earth.
We know that the dwarves have a strong, romantic connection to their homelands. We also know that they are suspicious of outsiders.
Judging by the movies, we see dwarven art is very angular. Polygons are quite popular. Curves appear to be absent. Ale and meat appear to be the basis of their diet.
Common Taboos
Apparently the dwarves are not particularly fond of farming. Nor are they fond of mining coal. This means that the use of slaves and land control outside their kingdoms takes on importance. It also would mean that wood would become more valuable. After all, dwarves themselves cannot mine coal without breaking cultural taboos. This means getting wood to fuel their furnaces or the use of slaves to get coal.
History
The stereotypical stubbornness, greed and pride were contributions in them not falling under Sauron’s sway. All 7 of the Dwarf Lords offered Rings of Power took them. Yet none became the dwarven equivalent of Ring Wraiths. In fact, the rings did not even turn them invisible. All that happened was Sauron could cause them to be more greedy and quicker to anger. It also appears that they gained increased life spans.
Dragons were an issue due to the rings. The treasure hoards of the dwarves grew significantly due to the rings, which attracted dragons. So the dwarves still suffered because of them, just not as intended or in a way as easily exploitable by Mordor.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
We can assume that a much higher percentage of dwarves would be soldiers, craftsmen or emigrants than most other societies. Those who make money abroad would most likely do it as traders, craftsmen and mercenaries. The government attempts to control popular revolts would lead to several things. First, unskilled labor would likely emigrate to take jobs in other areas. They would probably then send money back home in the form of remittances – a common feature in diaspora communities. Given the sort of adventuring spirit dwarves are known for, they would also likely become mercenaries or roving bandits. Probably not good for interspecies relations.
If the divide and conquer element works, hate crimes and race riots would be more common than explicitly revolutionary tendencies. But this has a downside as well. Hostility in other societies would naturally grow as family members are sold into slavery, exploited in the guest worker program. Add in the race riots and lynching that these workers would be exposed to.
When the guest worker program, slavery and the other effects of Dwarven labor practices are combined with low skill and low wage jobs being considered unacceptable to dwarves, we can expect high unemployment, high levels of emigration to where better jobs are and low levels of labor force participation. Many would live in poverty, supported by generous state run welfare and remittances from the ex-patriot community.
Generally, out migration serves as a relief valve. The slaves would take unskilled jobs, meaning employment for unskilled dwarves will likely be outside the kingdom. The disillusioned and desperate unemployed that are always a dangerous population would move away seeking their fortunes elsewhere. A common thing such immigrants do is send money home to their families – another thing that might prove useful in preventing revolution. While this would prove effective in prevening dissent in dwarven societies, it might also provide the basis for anti dwarf rhetoric in the host societies. The wealth outflows that the money sent home represents and the jobs held by dwarves would be seen as a threat to the economic well being of the native population.
Because of the crafting tendency of dwarves, I would suspect that the guilds of other states would have a disproportional percentage of dwarves. These would be the highest paid jobs in those societies, making them the richest non nobles on average in their host societies. Again, they would be holding a higher percentage of these jobs than one would expect based on their presence in the wider society. This is important when we look into the unfortunate antisemetic inspiration for the Dwarves.
Lifespan
They can live to be 250 years old.
Average Height
They are also quite short and heavy set. Not hobbit short, but still short enough to affect their weaponry.
Average Physique
So, dwarves are physically have ridiculous amounts of strength. Just go back at watch the beginning of the first Hobbit movie where one of the dwarves holds a rock between two massive hammers as they hit the rock at the same time. The forces hitting that thing would be so huge it would take the rest of this page to write out. Yet the dwarf did not move or show signs of strain at all when I probably would be killed.
They are also very resistant to both heat and cold, plus have high endurance. In the Battle of the Unnumbered Tears, the dwarves were able to effectively withstand dragon fire. Yeah, apparently being a race of smiths and steel masks was all it took.
This provides us with a solid frame of reference for us. The highest melting point for real world steel is 2800 Fahrenheit. This means this is probably the highest point dragon fire can reach otherwise it would melt the helmets. It also means dwarves physically can withstand that much heat. Metal is not good at blocking heat transfer - as anyone trying to pick up a hot pan can tell you. So the helmet would stop the flames but not the heat. Then, the ambient air temperature would be close to that as well. So, it appears the dwarves can withstand air tempuratures of 2,800 Farenheit so long as direct contact with the molten metal or fire they are working with occurs.
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