LotR --- Appendix A: III -- Durin's Folk

[Lalwendë]

I often use the example of the Elves' and the Dwarves' seeming distrust of one another and the friendship forged between Legolas and Gimli as an example when countering accusations that Tolkien was racist. In that friendship Tolkien showed that such distrust was wrong as they actually had much in common and he showed that an Elf and a Dwarf were as cpaable as anyone of being friends. In this section of the Appendices I see a lot more similarities between Elves and Dwarves.

Firstly in the line descended from Durin there seems to be a peculiar kind of continuation with 'Durin the Deathless' reappearing several times to all intents and purposes. This makes me wonder what happens to these 'Durins' when they die. Do they go somewhere, to a Dwarven Halls of Mandos and then return?

Dwarves prefer to live underground where possible, and that's something which Elves themselves have shared. Did the Elves learn this from the Dwarves in the First Age? They have not always been enemies, as there are examples of other famous Elf-Dwarf friendships. As one, Eol was known for trading with Dwarves and may have learned some of his skills from them.

The Dwarves and Elves alike have a history of being dispossessed and having to move on and found new homelands. There is even a history of taking vengeance in both cultures. And both races also seem to breed slowly. Elves do not have children when the times are hard and they are engaged in war, and large families are not common (Feanor's being an exception). Likewise the Dwarves do not have a tendency to produce many children. What Tolkien says about Dwarf women is very interesting:

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 other peoples cannot tell them apart. This has given rise to the foolish opinion among Men that there are no dwarf-women, and that the Dwarves 'grow out of stone'.

It is because of the fewness of women among them that the kind of the Dwarves increases slowly, and is in peril when they have no secure dwellings. For Dwarves take only one wife or husband each in their lives, and are jealous, as in all matters of their rights. The number of dwarf-men that marry is actually less than one-third. For not all the women take husbands: some desire none; some desire one that they cannot get, and so will have no other. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts.

It is unusual that there are so few Dwarf women. I wonder if this had always been the case or not? If it had then I wonder how the Dwarf population managed to grow at all? Not only that, but if a female Dwarf was widowed then she would take no new husband; it makes me laugh a little that Tolkien felt he had to point out that the lack of women did notmean that each had two or three husbands. But the Dwarf women also seem to have much independence, refusing a so-so husband if they cannot get the perfect one and maybe refusing marriage altogether in favour of work. Middle-earth's career women are Dwarf women! In light of all this, it makes me even more annoyed at the cheap jokes thrown into the film scripts about Dwarf women!

And if they are so alike, how would an enemy know if they were being challenged by a male or female dwarf? It might provide some interesting ideas for RPG characters...

Happily this part of the appendices ends on a positive note. Gimli's friendship with Legolas and chaste love for Galadriel ends in his sailing for Valinor. To me, this symbolises the relationship that 'could have been' between both races throughout their history.