Elves and Dwarves (EFX)

What exactly is a dwarf in fantasy? Dwarves (or dwarfs, which honestly is more accurate, although not much used in fantasy specifically) come from Germanic folklore. Old English had the word dweorg, which became the modern dwarf, but Old Norse had the cognate dvergr, and Old High German had twerg, for instance, all of which are meant to be the same folkloric or mythological creature. The best descriptions of them from mythology come from the Norse; the post-Viking Icelanders, and the Eddas describe the dwarves in some detail. In the Poetic Edda, for example, in the Voluspa (I’m omitting the diacritics, because they’re too much trouble) we have the description of the formation of the dwarves by the Aesir. Durin(n) and Motsognir were the first and mightiest, but the remainder of the dwarven names used to Tolkien come from here. Including, curiously, Gandalf. While listed as a dwarf, his name translates to “wand-elf”. Of course, Tolkien’s Gandalf is neither an elf nor a dwarf, nor does he use a wand, but in the Dvergatal, he’s both an elf and a dwarf, I suppose. (Thorin and Oakenshield, or Eikinskjaldi, which is Norse for Oakenshield, is listed separately, curiously.) Tolkien tried to distance his dwarves somewhat from Norse dwarves, but only a little (part of the reason he created an alternate, archaic “what if” spelling of the plural modeled after words like calves, thieves, wolves, hooves, knives, turves, elves, etc.); they clearly are very, very similar and were always meant to be. Richard Wagner also used a very mythological variation on his dwarves when he included some of them in Der Ring des Nibelungen, the Nibelungs themselves being dwarves. Originally from a singular character, probably, named Nibeling or Nyblung, although the same name refers to the royal house of the Burgundians from actual Germanic history. It also seems to be applied to a cadet branch of Pippin’s dynasty; one of the Frankish Carolingian kings; a nephew of Charles Martel himself was called Nibelungus. Dwarves in Germanic mythology were usually associated with earth or stone. They didn’t necessarily live underground, although many did. Many think this is because of their association with death (and therefore burial) however, and they were usually seen as—if not outright evil, then certainly either malicious or unconcerned about the affairs or men, unless they could take advantage of them. The seven dwarfs of the Snow White story, collected by the Grimms, for instance worked underground, and were very separated from and suspicious of men, but they lived together in a cottage in the forest, and took a shine to Snow White when she came by, becoming fiercely protective of her. Disney actually got most of the salient details right on that one. Rumpelstiltskin is another dwarf, who’s more overtly magical but also more overtly spiteful and cunning, trying to take advantage of the unnamed miller’s daughter. Here, though, Rumpelstiltskin is a name very similar to rumpelgeist or poltergeist, basically meaning a mischievous household ghost-like spirit; similar to a boggart or hob rather than to dwarves as we know them from Der Ring or Tolkien or D&D, etc.

A case has also been made among mythologists that dwarves are identical to dark-elves and black-elves, dokkalfar and svartalfar, or the less usually named myrkalfar, murk-elves. Most mythologists describe all of those as the same creatures, and most will also conflate them with with dwarves, suggesting that they were originally the same. Jakob Grimm himself wanted to separate dark-elves and black-elves and dwarves, but his view has not been much accepted in the years since. It’s worth pointing out that our primary source material for the mythology of Germanic peoples is probably quite flawed; written long after Christianization of the Germanic peoples, and focused on a far western fringe group to begin with; it’s not exactly clear how much the heathen Goths, or Alemani or Anglo-Saxons would have recognized the works of Snorri Sturleson as akin to their own beliefs. 

Regardless, dwarves in fantasy today are almost unanimously called dwarves, not dwarfs, and follow a kind of bowdlerized cartoonish reflection of what Tolkien did with them specifically with a bit of the Grimm Brothers tacked on too. They live underground, they’re master craftsman and artisans, they’re stubborn and grumpy, don’t get along with anyone very well, although they can be privately quite fond of the people that they argue with. They’re generally considered to be good rather than cunning or untrustworthy, and will hoard treasure. They’re resistant to magic as wizards and whatnot practice it; their own magic being much more subtle and usually related to their crafting skills. They’re usually seen as rivals if not even enemies of elves, although because both races are considered good, that is usually represented as grumpiness and dislike rather than outright hostility. 

In EFX, dwarves are a more modern race, as are the elves; (as are almost all non-human races, other than the orcs and goblins) formed when magical spillover from some other realm touched the EFX world and made localized changes. Elves and dwarves in EFX were actually formed at the same time in the same event; a magical realm that was like a platonic ideal of The Wilderness™ hit the area that later became the Reynhowe Frontier, which is where both elves and dwarves first appeared. They are different, but also more similar than they are different. Where elves have green coloration; skin, hair and eyes, and are especially focused on the deep forests that make up much of the Reynhowe territory, the dwarves are more focused on the mountains and the rocky hills that the forest grows on. Like dwarves everywhere, they are on the shorter side, rarely taller than five feet, although stocky enough to have the same weight average as a human. They have pointed ears, red or reddish-ochre colored skin, and dark hair, often with thick beards on the men. Their eyes are bright orange. Rather than living in carved underground “halls”, or dwarf-made caves, they tend to prefer living in semi-subterranean stone houses with turf covered roofs built into the side of mountains or hills. When they live elsewhere, such as in urban places like Cliffgate or somewhere else, they still prefer squat or half-underground houses made of sturdy stone or brick when they can get them, and turves on the roof. They actually often live in integrated communities along with elves, although their houses or even entire neighborhoods are segregated because of the style of house that they prefer to live in. Elves and dwarves, rather than being rivals who don’t get along see each other as complementary sides of the same coin. Whereas elves tend to be the explorers and huntsmen of their communities, dwarves are the artisans and traders. Both like to travel, but usually for different reasons, and they often team up accordingly. In areas where elves and dwarves live outside of the Reynhowe or Valade areas, where they are most common, they do often band together. Where they are able to have their own ethnic neighborhoods, they are in interesting mix of buildings; low stone houses for the dwarves, with the elves living in higher wooden houses, and as many trees and other plants as possible, and fountains of babbling water flowing through naturalistic rocks, etc. 

The dwarves, like the elves, at least within the Reynhowe itself, and to a lesser extent also those from Valade, are somewhat isolationist, and don’t get along super well with their neighbors. They especially dislike the necromancers and death knights of Kharnimrion to the north. However, there has been a diaspora of both elves and dwarves to many of the nations across the EFX continent, and many have no real connection whatsoever to the Reynhowe or Valade regions other that that they recognize that forgotten ancestors must have originally been from there; their loyalty is to whatever other country that they live in now; many for many generations.