Where do Dwarves come from?

The fact that Galadriel chose Gimli as her champion basically and even granted him what she had refused to Feanor is the ultimate testament to this noble race.

About a year and a half ago I read Fellowship for the first time in twenty years. There was a section during Frodo's stay in Rivendell that stuck out to me where Glóin tells him about the stonework the dwarves had been up to in Erebor and Dale. He mentioned the roads paved with many colors and the underground streets with arches carved like trees and all the towers and terraces on the side of the mountain. And I saw then what I hadn't remembered that the dwarves weren't just great builders but had the souls of artists and clearly found immense joy in the act of creation. And in that moment i found that special place in my heart for the dwarves of Middle Earth.

If the Orcs and forces of evil symbolise industry and commerce in the polluted cities of England, and the shire represents the English countryside and village-folk with an agrarian lifestyle, then surely the Dwarves represent English craftsmanship as it should be: Being in tune with the rock, taking only what you need, and dedication to the highest quality of craftsmanship possible bringing beauty to the world.

It's fucking crazy to me how deep Tolkien went with every detail. He could explain a 50 page article in 2 sentences. The way he phrased it was poetic, full of life and meaning, but also to a point. The hardest part of writing is conveying a message with the minimum amount of words, while still keeping the artistic expression.

Dwarves are so cool. It really is a shame that they aren’t taken very seriously in a lot of media.

Tolkien was quoted from an interview for modelling the Dwarves after Jews, with their language inspired by Hebrew. I find this interesting because of their name for Aule -- Mahal. In Hebrew the word Mahal means "he who forgave". I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it would've been really cool if it was a reference to Aule staying his hammer and the Dwarf fathers saw that as forgiveness. After which naming his Mahal -- the forgiver.

Just before the breaking of the Fellowship is forced on them, Aragorn chooses Sam (who would be impossible to separate from Frodo) and Gimli to go to Mordor with him and Frodo. He doesn’t choose Legolas. I don’t hear much talk about that scene but I think it’s really interesting.

The first time I read the lord of the rings as a child, I fell in love with the dwarves. First for Khazad-dûm, then for how Gimli describes Helm's Deep to Legolas. They see beauty in things that many others would find cold, lifeless or only useful. 'Then I will wish you this fortune for your comfort, Gimli,' said the Elf, 'that you may come safe from war and return to see them again. But do not tell all your kindred! There seems little left for them to do, from your account. Maybe the men of this land are wise to say little: one family of busy dwarves with hammer and chisel might mar more than they made.' 'No, you do not understand,' said Gimli. 'No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin's race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the spring-time for firewood? We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap - a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day - so we could work, and as the years went by, we should open up new ways, and display far chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock. And lights, Legolas! We should make lights, such lamps as once shone in Khazad-dûm; and when we wished we would drive away the night that has lain there since the hills were made; and when we desired rest, we would let the night return.'

My belief on the demise of the dwarves is that they just kept doing dwarfish things; digging deeper, and growing ever more suspicious of surface dwellers. Eventually, they traded with men for the last time, and just never came above ground again. Meanwhile, they kept digging deeper, and abandoned the shallow mines and halls as they went.

It is interesting to note how the Dwarven halls in their glory are never described as dark. They are filled with light and brilliance. Even at home in the dark and the deep, comfortable and peaceful there where neither sun nor moon nor stars shall ever reach, the Dwarves ever sought the light and filled their places with it. There are places in the deep that would have never known a single mote of light in all the ages of the earth if not for the Dwarves. The elves rejoice in the sacred purity of the light that already was. The Dwarves made new light to fill the places it could not touch.

Ah yes the adopted children of iluvatar.

Noble, complex beyond human understanding, and they have impeccable table manners, too!

It always makes me a little sad when i see the Dwarves played for laughs. They have long been my favorite fantasy race. They are prideful, boisterous, fiercely loyal, hard workers, hard partiers, great friends, tenacious fighters, and they craft.

I first read LotR in junior high and fell in love with Gimli. From then on I always played a dwarf fighter in D & D. Very useful when battling trolls and assaying gems. And their saving throws vs spells and poisons was always top notch. A most hearty folk.

Dwarves always have been my favorite race for that very reason. Thanks for the video!

I think this is the best video yet on the Dwarves. Thank you Robert

Very Good. I always wondered what happened to them when they died. Additionally. it is interesting how the conceptualization of them by Peter Jackson is so pervasive in the artwork (at least here). There art is always protrayed as blocky and thick. Yet they were fine craftsman and could make delicate things as evidenced by the mithril shirt that Frodo had. One wonder if they could not make items as elegant as what the elves are shown to make.

so wait. the very first thing the dwarves experienced after becoming self-aware was the guy who made them about to crush them with a hammer? That kinda sucks.

Thank you Robert, that was enlightening - did you spot the similarity between similarity Aulë being prepared to sacrifice the Dwarves with Abraham in the Bible being prepared to sacrifice Isaac? In both story God intervenes just as the hammer / knife falls and even the outcome is similar too - because of his faith it is counted as righteousness and God blesses him with innumerable offspring. I'm sure you'll want references so have a look at Genesis 22. There is good interpretaton in Romans 4v1-3 & Hebrews 11v8-19. Its fascinating. 😃

A Dwarf made the sword that cut the Ring from Sauron's hand.