Dwarves: Underrated Badasses of Fantasy
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Image from The Hobbit
The genre of Fantasy is filled with all sorts of amazing beings, but one species that often goes overlooked, is dwarves.
Image from the film Snow white and the seven dwarfs (1937)
The dwarves that I knew growing up were the ones in Snow White, men who blushed bright red, sang silly songs, and worked all day in sparkly diamond mines before returning to their woodland cottage. While the show Once Upon A Time did a good job of giving the seven dwarves some personality outside of their names, they still aren’t the dwarves that you’ll find in most fantasy works.
Nowadays, dwarves are portrayed in the style of Germanic folklore. They are beings that live within mountains and underground. Much like Snow White’s dwarves, they are known for being good at mining. In fact, modern fantasy often sees mines as part of dwarven kingdoms.
What many don’t think of, too distracted by ethereal beings like elves, is that dwarves are more than just mines. They are masters in smithing and crafting. With their mines, they have access to the valuable metals and gems that form within. They use their resources to create some of the strongest weapons in a fantasy setting.
Dwarves are warriors, despite usually being overshadowed by other beings. They create hidden fortresses of stone which they defend expertly.
I've seen books focused on humans, elves, hobbits, werewolves, vampires, you name it. I've only really seen dwarves used as secondary characters and plot devices.
Image from midkemia wiki
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit include dwarves as fairly major characters, but even then they are not the real protagonists. The Lord of the Rings focuses on the hobbit Frodo Bagins, or even the human Aragorn, leaving the one dwarf included in the Fellowship of the Ring to act largely as comic relief through his little disputes with the elf Legolas. Though I must admit, seeing the pair compete over who killed the most enemies while defending Helms Deep helped display dwarven fighting abilities.
At least in The Hobbit, most of the adventure included dwarves. They were trying to reclaim their homeland from the dragon that had invaded it. Be that as it may, the entire story centers around yet another Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.
While this is simply an assessment of how dwarves are portrayed in one world, this trend has largely continued throughout modern fantasy works. It seems that everywhere I look, the dwarves are left to their mines. Everyone ignores another aspect of these beings included in Germanic folklore; dwarves are known for their wisdom.
Dwarves join elves in the category of races that typically live longer than humans, leaving them plenty of time to collect knowledge and wisdom.
At the end of the day, dwarves just need more credit. They are talented crafters and warriors. They deserve to be more than comic relief. In short: dwarves are the underrated badasses of fantasy.
Emily-Rose Moskau
Emily-Rose is a student at Algonquin College. Her favourite genre to read and write is fantasy. In her free time she can be found surrounded by various creative projects, be it visual art, sewing, baking, or writing.
