[Kransha]

Oh, huzzah! A Dwarf thread. Again, Huzzah! Hail and well met ye dwarf-lovers.

I am indeed a supporter of Gimli and all his relative dwarfishness. I come, but to point out an extremity which, I believe, has never been given to dwarven credit. An offhand remark in the movie, another addition to movie-Gimli's comic aura, was generally: Our beloved dwarf making a remark to Eowyn about Dwarven reproduction and lack of females. This may have been a strangely accurate point.

I put it to you, fellow dwarf-lovers, that during the making of the dwarves, there were 7 dwarves laid down in Arda's many subterranean empires, 13 dwarves overall. Explicitly, Illuvatar himself "commanded Aule to lay the fathers of the Dwarves severally in deep places, each with his mate, save Durin the eldest who had none." (Tolkein Letter #212). This means that there were 6 females, since there were seven males. So Durin had no mate. How exactly did the descendants of Durin become...well, the descendants of Durin?

Again, I put to you my theory. Perhaps, either the dwarves are even more learned in the magicks of the world than Olorin himself, making dwarves, or they have perfected the art of pulling dwarves from the ground like rabbits! Either way, we should all bow our unworthy heads to the incredible magic/genius/scientific knowledge accumulation/social skills of the mighty Durin and all dwarves.