Words Have Power

Dwarves shit huge and pee little… elves pee large and shit barely at all

Dwarves work in mines, their kidneys are in overdrive clearing all of the toxins and heavy metals they come into contact with. Their diet is mostly high efficiency foods, such as meat and fat and mushrooms. They probably don’t get a lot of plant matter in their diets.

Meanwhile elves’ diet is almost 100% plant matter (and all of the fiber that comes along with that) and their lifestyle is obsessed with fresh air, clean water, and a pure environment.

Face the facts: dwarves pee huge and shit little, and elves shit large and pee barely at all

However:  Dwarves find belching polite and good fun, a compliment to the drink and cook. Farting, however, is crass– after all, farting in a mine shaft? Just think about it. It’s like blasting your buddies in the car and locking the windows, but in this case there are no windows to lock. You’re just sealed up in the darkness, inhaling Dvalin’s particular brand of beer-cheese-eggs-and-mushroom while your beard hairs curl and your eyes water.  Conversely, Elves rip ass all the time because they subsist on fart fuel. Because they eat plant matter, they aren’t too ripe but they are loud enough to rattle the surrounding forestry, which the Elves delight in. Proper Elvish farts are released right next to an innocent victim in a stealth maneuver, as quietly as possible. The aggressor stands innocently nearby, until the victim begins to protest and complain and accuse, at which time a good laugh is had by all (except the unfortunate victim). The other beloved Elvish tradition is to loudly rip one in a quiet room, then firmly and solemnly chasten the nearest Elf for it– this one is favored by elder, Elves with the most dignified personalities. 

Who the fuck decided we needed this?

God did when she moved my fingers to type the original post. 

It’s been nothing but hardship and regret from there on, but I still trust that it’s part of a greater plan.

You know, Tolkien basing a race on Jewish people and making them good guys who may have made a few mistakes in the past, but are still good guys was a pretty ballsy move back in the late 30s, when antisemitism was still an accepted ideology because Nazi crimes were yet to fully come to life.

@jewishmagpie @angryrussianlady @jewishpolitics thoughts?

It pisses me off when people go, “Tolkien was antisemitic!” when he called Hitler a “ruddy little ignoramus” and supported Jews. 

Tolkien is in heaven right now so we can all be happy.

What race is this?

According to Google searches, people think the dwarves are a Jewish allegory. 

I don’t really see it. But that might be due to the fact that modern dwarves are depicted in more of a Celtic light.

Yeah that’s what people say, but I just don’t see it either. 

Tolkien’s dwarves speak a language based on triple consonant cluster roots, akin to a Semitic language. This is important considering how much thought Tolkien put into his made up linguisitics. Dwarves also used public names drawn from the tongues of non-dwarves while keeping their own Khuzdul names secret (which both reflects Jewish naming customs of having a name reflecting the majority culture and a Hebrew name, though the secrecy of the name probably has more to do with fairy lore and the magical tradition of True Names.) And Khazad itself even sounds like a fake Hebrew word.

We don’t hear much of the language in the Legendarium, but Gimli’s battle cry at Helm’s Deep, “Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!” Contains elements that sound almost exactly like “blessed” and “our nation” in Hebrew (though it actually means “Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!”).

The Dwarves have a separate but equally valid “covenant” with Eru Ilúvatar (who endorsed their creation by Aulë, but did not plan it) from Elves and Men, reflecting developments in Christian though in regards to the place of Jews. There is also a hint of the golem legend in their origin, though then again making people out of clay is a pretty common thing in mythology.

The Dwarves were driven from Erebor by Smaug, and only of late (from the perspective of the War of the Ring) began to reclaim and rebuild their homeland. And in Moria, too, the Dwarves’ attempt to build a new civilization for themselves met with disaster when an old evil arose under the influence of a new evil regime, which, oh boy does that ring true to early 20th century Jewish experience.

Tolkien outright states that dwarves are considered greedy, stubborn, and insular by Men (who are, in character and depiction, basically either Northern European gentiles or nameless, vaguely Orientalist mooks of Sauron when it comes to Middle-earth). But dwarves, in truth, generally lead quiet lives as skilled artisans or in squallor in mines in a general state of diaspora, hoping one day to return to the halls of the ancestors (“Next year, in Erebor!”). There are also other, more neutral stereotypes involved- traditionalism, strict rationalism, industriousness and practicality, a hilarious mix of both stoicism and kvetching, beards.

Mining is not really a stereotypically Jewish trade, but Tolkien is drawing from European dwarf lore, too, hence all the Germanic elements. Not everything has to be a 1:1 analogue. Tolkien said that he never went for outright allegory, but rather for resonance, and there definitely is a lot of resonance with Jewish stereotypes and history when it comes to the Khazâd.

Furthermore, it was fairly common knowledge in academia that Wagner used the dwarfs of Germanic legend to perpetuate antisemitic tropes; Tolkien may have been actively trying to subvert this depiction by portraying his dwarves with nuance and tragedy. There are still some unflattering and perhaps antisemitic shades to his depiction- Tolkien’s dwarves are often bumbling, stubborn fools, and greedy, but the Khazad are pretty cool dudes over all and we never really get a dwarf character who is a huge world-ruining asshole, unlike the Maiar, Valar, Elves, and Men.

And the Scottish accent seen in modern dwarves is nowhere to be found in Tolkien’s original text.

Fantasy world in which Dwarves are not motivated by greed or love of gold, only by a profound scientific enthusiasm for geology.

I’d love to see this implemented, especially as TTRPG start becoming more self-aware of their racist / sexist foundations and start working to better themselves. 

The legendary Dwarven treasure is not a horde of gold and gemstones, but a paleontology museum with a vast collection of rare and exquisite fossils. Dwarven universities specialize in the natural sciences, Dwarven economies based on the trade of interesting rocks and minerals, Dwarf detectives able to identify different muds and soils on sight.

“You said there were precious stones in here.”

“… yes?  These stones hold pieces of ancient life in them; what could possibly be more precious?”

This is a Good Post, especially because it reminds me of that scene in LotR where Gimli waxes poetic about carefully carefully chiselling into caverns to bring out their potential beauty.

Last year I set up Dwarf Appreciation Week, and was totally blown away by the response it got. So I decided to make it a yearly thing, as well as to set up a blog to keep everything all nice and archived. So if you love dwarves, take a gander over at @dwarfappreciationweek!

Dwarf Appreciation Week will run from July 24th to July 30th. If you’d like to take part, please tag your posts with #dwarf appreciation week! I’d love a chance to reblog all the awesome dwarf-centered art, fics, graphics, meta, headcanons, fanmixes, cosplays that people come up with. If it’s dwarf-related, tag it!

DAILY THEMES

To aid in creative efforts, I’ve decided to do a daily theme throughout the week, focusing on various dwarves of Thedas.

July 24th: Cadash Appreciation–A day to focus on our lovely Inquisitor Cadash. Tell us all about your inquisitor, through art, fic, personal headcanons, graphics. It’s up to you! What choices did they make throughout the events of Inquisition? Who did they romance? How did they come to be, even before the Breach? July 25th: Warden Appreciation–Focusing on our dwarven Wardens, Brosca, Aeducan, and Kader. What sort of Warden did they become, who did they romance, what choices did they make during and after the Blight? July 26th: Dwarven Gals–A day to love and appreciate the fine lady dwarves we’ve met throughout Dragon Age. Tell us your love for Dagna, Bianca, Sigrun, Lace Harding, or any of the other lady dwarves that come to mind. July 27th: Dwarven Dudes–Can’t forget our fantastic dwarven dudes! Got love to proclaim for Sandal, Bodahn, Varric, Oghren, or any other dwarf dude in Dragon Age? Today’s the day to do just that. July 28th: Shale Appreciation–As a golem, Shale canonly has no gender, but that doesn’t mean you can’t love them any less. Show some slightly squishy love for Shale today. July 29th-July 30th: Dwarves of Thedas–A more generalized focus on dwarves of Thedas. Perfect for any meta, graphics, fanart, or fanmixes for dwarves that don’t apply to one character or another.

As stated, I’ll be reblogging anything that’s tagged under #dwarf appreciation week. But please be courteous to others and tag your nsfw! Otherwise, have fun and enjoy the awesome content that you or others have created.

Feel free to reblog as well! Let’s get the word out for the event.

      ❛ the dwarrow’s ability to withstand force, stress, or even evil without being distorted or damaged is likely one of the key elements of being a dwarf. Mahal, known also as Aulë, made them sturdy and hard to survive the dangers and hardships of the time they were created. forever would they remain strong & unyielding, making light of heavy burdens, oft making them even stronger than many men & elves. ❜

Honestly that is such a pet peeve of mine. I know everyone loves elves because they’re delicate and pretty but Brosca, Cadash, Sigrun, Oghren, Varric, and Dagna are all literal nonentities as far as Orzammar is concerned. And it bothers them to different degrees (Varric literally doesn’t care, Oghren drinks to forget, and if I remember WoT correctly, it bothers Sigrun more than she’ll admit), but the fact remains that Dust Town is a slum worse than the alienages, the casteless aren’t people as far as the rest of dwarven society is concerned, and the only people who have any way of rising out of the slums are the women (and that’s only if they can find a noble willing to take a risk that they’ll be able to sire a son).

And that’s not even counting the fact that surface dwarves–Orzammar-born or not–aren’t considered “true dwarves” and that being sent to the surface is a form of exile… despite the fact that Orzammar relies on surface trade to keep the nobility living in the lifestyles they’re accustomed to. (Oghren actually left Orzammar to fight the Blight, helped defeat the Archdemon, and still can’t return.)

It’s also explicitly stated in Awakening that “duster” is a slur, and yet this is a thing.

I just don’t know why they’re so overlooked. Is it because they’re not pretty? Is it because they’re not as important, story-wise? Why?