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How did the Petty-Dwarves attack the Elves? What did they use? Fists? Teeth? I find it hard to believe that a race that “from the first days of their Fathers they had marvelous skill with metals” would not be using metal weapons in their attacks. Metal weapons=Higher intellectual capacity than beasts.
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Just working from memory here, I recall that the morquendi knew zilch about metal. They had bows, and maybe spears- not swords, armor, and axes. So I don't really think the metal weapons of the dwarves would in any way cause the Elves to see a similarity between themselves and the Petty Dwarves. And similarity is important, of course, because Elves would naturally use themselves as the measuring stick of what an intelligent rational being was.
If an Elf came into contact with a Petty Dwarf for the first time and received a cut from an axe, the elf wouldn't think "Ooo, this little guy must be smart because he mined metal out of rock and used a furnace to melt it and forged a blade." Elves didn't know didly-squat about mining, furnaces, and forging. For all we know, the Elves might've thought "What the heck! That shiny silverish thing is sharp! What is it? Do those little things live somewhere where they grow from the ground? Is it dark magic? Do they eat rocks and poop out those shiny things?"
Anyway, you get my point.
And my second point is this- I wouldn't care if I
knew the Petty Dwarves were rational beings. If they attack I'm going to defend myself and my family, and if they continue to be a problem (killing my friends, stealing my stuff, and so on) I'm going to track them down and kill them.
If you just up and attack me without notification or reason, then you have, in my mind, lost the right to be dealt with in a peaceful fashion. If you instigated the attack, the most I'd be willing to do is extend a hand of peace once, and once only, and if you tried to cut the hand off... well... I'm through with you. I'm hunting down every last one of you in order to prevent you from doing any further harm to me or my people.
It's all basic survival.