Concerning Dwarves

Are there such thing as female dwarves? I don't recall there ever being a mention of them in any of the books...there would have to be feamales dwarves...? [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Lady of the Lake]

Maybe female dwarves looked just like male dwarves and had beards and were called he... lol... like in Discworld... anyone ever read any Pratchett? [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

[Bruce MacCulloch]

There is one female dwarf mentioned. Dis, Thorin Oakenshield's sister and the mother of Fili and Kili.

[Mat_Heathertoes]

There are other female dwarves implicitly referred to in yet another one of Tolkiens wonderful letters.

Aulë, for instance, one of the Great, in a sense 'fell'; for he so desired to see the Children, that he became impatient and tried to anticipate the will of the Creator. Being the greatest of all craftsmen he tried to make children according to his imperfect knowledge of their kind. When he had made thirteen,* God spoke to him in anger, but not without pity; for Aulë had done this thing not out of evil desire to have slaves and subjects of his own, but out of impatient love, desiring children to talk to and teach, sharing with them the praise of Illúvatar and his great love of the materials of which the world is made.

*One, the eldest, alone and six more with six mates.

Letter 212 - Draft, never sent, in continuation of a letter (211) to Rhona Beare, October 1958

The One is of course, Durin - Father of the Longbeard tribe and the six more with their mates are the other Fathers of the Dwarves. Poor Durin! Having no missus and having to walk around on his own for countless years naming things. Makes you wonder how his tribe ever got started.

[ March 02, 2002: Message edited by: Mat_Heathertoes ]

[Kuruharan]

After they had all been wandering around the world for awhile, they eventually all bumped into each other and Durin took one of their daughters.

[Aralaithiel]

Oh goodie!!! Another fan fiction story! I definitely think the female dwarves need some recognition! Anyone wanna give them some, i.e names, history, etc.?

Yes there are dwarf women

Dis was the daughter of Thrain II. She is the only dwarf-woman named in these histories. It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need. They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men, that the eyes and ears of the other peoples cannot tell them apart. This has given rise to the foolish opinio among Men that there are no dwarf-women and that the dwarves 'grow out of stone.'

(from appendix)

[Kalimac]

If the dwarf-women were indistinguishable from dwarf-men to outsiders then they probably *did* have beards, especially since you never hear of a dwarf without one (Bilbo in "The Hobbit" feeling comforted that at least no one could mistake him for a dwarf, as he had no beard). There are more disconcerting things in mythology, but it's still hard to really picture a dwarf-woman with a full beard. Cultural background, no doubt.

[Raefindel]

Sounds like a great circus act,huh?! The amazing, bearded Dwarf Women... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]