What ever happened to the Dwarves after the Tird Age
 

The elves left and the men took power, but what happened to the Dwarves? I assume that the ents, orcs, and trolls eventually exticnt. One possibility is that all the dwarves were wipped out at Moria, but how does that explain Gilmi. Can anyone shed some light on this?

I don't know either, but I assume that they diminished in the mountains, looking for treasures or something. I'm not surprised there is not a lot of info on this because dwarves usually did isolate themselves from the other races of middle-earth. I'll try to find some more info for you.

This is just my opinion from the character of the dwarves. I really doubt that thay would become exticent. Thay are much to hardy and have been around to prove that. YOu think the dwarves will just sit down? Hey who knows thay might have gone to Morodor and mined there taken back Moria and developed the mountains by Helms Deep. Thats about all i have to say.

I'm always confused about those kind of questions too, but I do have an idea. I believe they "hid in their caves seeking riches" eventually leading to their own extinction from Middle Earth. Even though it is a pretty bad way to end your existance, the civilization of Dwarves was ment to end to make room for men, by the Fourth Age, it is the time of Men. I don't know for sure, that is only and educated opinion. Someone please correct me if I have gone horribly wrong, which is probable! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Interesting topic...

im gessing there numbers slowly fell over the years until they faded to small clans liveing in the mountains like the orcs did

They were assimilated into the civilizations of Men and slowly became...our "little people" (along with the hobbits [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]).

I dont understand why the dwarves did not re-populate moria after the balrog was defeated by gandolf...

I just thought of a good way for them to leave, they dig deeper and deeper into the ground, until they find the Aule, and he takes them to the place where the valar live

Don't forget that the male dwarves outnumber the females like...I think it was three to one. Besides, many dwarves never married or reproduced. At least, I think this is what it said in the Appendices. Maybe because the "death rate" is lower than the "birth rate" the dwarven race slowly dwindled.

Poor dwarves....
Aylwen

I think that the dwarves went through a brief spell of ’good-fortune’, so to speak (say 500-1000 years), in which Durin 7th was probably born, until they begin to dwindle after his death and eventually nearly die out, sharing the fate of the Elves and Ents.

The last of the dwarves dwell in deep caverns under George Lucas' ranch.

They evolved into Ewoks, didn't they?

Anyway, from part III of Appendix A:

Good post Legalos. No wonder Gimli thought Galadriel was so beautiful. All the women of his kind looked like the dwarf men. You'd think that would lead to dwarf men having a different standard for female beauty than other races.

It meant that they only looked like that when they ventured out of their homes in foreign lands where elves, men, et. al might see them.

But still, I can't imagine them being beautiful - much less any competition for Galadriel's looks!

I'm not familiar with where this quote comes from (I quoted Legalos' quote [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] )so I may be out of context, but that seems to say to me that dwarf women (dwarfettes?) looked and sounded like dwarf men. When they were on journeys, they not only looked and sounded like dwarf men, but they also dressed like them. No wonder they didn't reproduce much [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] .