Seven Dwarfs

The Seven Dwarfs are fictional dwarfs in the 1812 fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations.
The Seven Dwarfs live in a tiny cottage and work in the nearby mines. Snow White stumbles upon their house after being told by the Huntsman to flee from the Queen's kingdom.
The Seven Dwarfs return home and immediately notice someone has snuck in, because the house has been cleaned. During their loud discussion, they discover the sleeping Snow White. She wakes up and explains to them what happened. The Dwarfs take pity on her, saying: "If you will keep house for us, and cook, make the beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you shall have everything that you want." They warn her to be careful when alone at home, and to not let anyone in while they are working in the mountains.
When the Queen disguised as an old peddler ties a colorful silk bodice onto Snow White, it causes her to faint. The Seven Dwarfs return just in time and Snow White is saved when the Dwarfs cut the lace.
The Queen comes once again, this time dressed as a comb seller. She gives Snow White a poisoned comb, but the Seven Dwarfs save her again.
The Queen then appears disguised as a farmer's wife and gives Snow White a poisoned apple. Snow White bites into it and falls to the ground, apparently dead. This time, the Seven Dwarfs are unable to revive the girl, because they can't determine Snow White's physical state and, assuming that she is dead, place her in a glass coffin. After some time, a Prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He walks up to her coffin and, enchanted by her beauty, instantly falls in love with her. As the Prince transports her body back to his castle, her coffin is hit hard and a large piece of apple in her throat is released, thus reviving her. The prince then marries Snow White and they "live happily ever after."
As a prominent cultural portrayal, the Seven Dwarfs have been controversial among people with dwarfism. One critical scholar has said it "followed the conventions of the freak show and perpetuated contemporary prejudices in their constructions of people with dwarfism," portraying them as "incapable, humorous, weird, childlike," and "overly naïve, perhaps even dim-witted." In 2022, the actor Peter Dinklage criticized Disney's planned live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as being responsible for "renewing damaging stereotypes", saying "You're progressive in one way but you're still making that fucking backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave. What the fuck are you doing, man?"
Others in the dwarfism community like Jeff Brooks and Katrina Kemp expressed different views. Professional wrestler Dylan Postl, better known by his ring persona Hornswoggle, voiced his disagreement with Dinklage's condemnation of the Seven Dwarfs' portrayal, saying that Disney's replacement of them with anonymous "magical creatures", portrayed by voice actors, would have deprived dwarf actors of a possible starring role in a film based on an established property. Comedian Brad Williams also expressed a similar sentiment, stating that while he agreed that the portrayal was "mildly offensive", there are ways to work around the issue by depicting the Dwarfs as a potential love interest for Snow White and de-emphasizing the prince's role in the story, also complimenting the positive aspects of the characters: "I mean, they have jobs, you know? They got good friends. They got a house. They like to protect her [Snow White]. They're diamond miners, so they're rich. They're self-made, wealthy."
A Disney version of the Seven Dwarfs appeared in the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
The Seven Dwarfs also appeared in other animated projects like Seven Wise Dwarfs, All Together, The Winged Scourge, House of Mouse, The Lion King 1½, and Once Upon a Studio. They also appear in video games like Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and its prequel Kingdom Hearts χ, and Disney Magic Kingdoms.
In the early 2000s, DisneyToon Studios (DTS) joined Disney Consumer Products (DCP) as their internal Disney conglomerate video partner in developing the new Disney franchises. While DCP eyed other potential franchises, DisneyToon looked to the Seven Dwarfs for a male-centric franchise to counterbalance the female-centric Disney Fairies. By 2005, The Seven Dwarfs animated sequel to Snow White was officially underway. Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi was one team that was given an attempt at a movie pitch, which was to follow the Dwarfs in which they trap the villain in the magic mirror and setting it up for Snow White movie. Given the possible demand, Buena Vista Games brought in Obsidian Entertainment, a game developer, who pitched a video game focusing on the Dwarfs' similar ancestors. DTS executives were not feeling that the two franchise launching projects were coming together well enough that they turned to Mike Disa, who worked on the Tinker Bell story. Disa and Evan Spiliotopoulos pitched a The Lord of the Rings-style epic for the dwarfs while "connecting seamlessly" with the original film, which was given permission to move forward. With interfering managers wanting a tragic back story for Dopey, Disa decided that he could not go forward. Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer John Lasseter about two month later ended production on the film.
The 7D is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is a re-imagining of the title characters from the 1937 film and their adventures prior to the introduction of Snow White. The TV series details the 7D working for Queen Delightful where they protect Jollywood from the Glooms and other threats. For this version of the characters, Doc is voiced by Bill Farmer, Grumpy is voiced by Maurice LaMarche, Happy is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, Sleepy is voiced by Stephen Stanton, Bashful is voiced by Billy West, and Sneezy is voiced by Scott Menville while Dopey's vocal effects are provided by Dee Bradley Baker.
The Seven Dwarfs were given a new theme park attraction called the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coaster.
In Descendants, Descendants 2 and Descendants 3, Dopey is shown to have a son named Doug (portrayed by Zachary Gibson) who can talk and becomes smitten by Evil Queen's daughter Evie. In the Descendants novel The Isle of the Lost, Doc is shown to be sympathetic towards the Goblins that operate on the Isle of the Lost's Goblin Wharf where they want amnesty for their involvement with Maleficent. In the books, Grumpy, Bashful, and Sleepy also have sons (respectively named Gordon, Bashful Jr., and Sleepy Jr.), and Happy is mentioned to have one in Descendants 2 who's his opposite.
Sneezy is among the bootlegged toons in the 2022 live-action/animated film adaptation of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
The guns of the British battleship HMS Nelson, officially known as "Right, Centre or Left" gun in "A", "B" or "X" turret, were unofficially named by the crew, "Mickey", "Minnie", "Grumpy", "Sneezy", "Dopey", "Bashful", "Happy", "Sleepy" and "Doc".
In the 2023 Disney film Wish, the main character Asha's seven friends are inspired by the seven dwarfs, both in personality and in sharing the initial of their names: Dahlia (Doc), Gabo (Grumpy), Hal (Happy), Simon (Sleepy), Safi (Sneezy), Bazeema (Bashful), and Dario (Dopey).
In the 2025 live-action adaptation of the original film, the Seven Dwarfs appear in CGI form with Doc being motion-captured by Jonathan Bourne and voiced by Jeremy Swift, Grumpy being motion-captured by Omari Bernard and voiced by Martin Klebba, Happy motion-captured by David Birch and voiced by George Salazar, Sleepy being motion-captured by Sandy Foster and voiced by Andy Grotelueschen, Bashful being motion-captured by Leah Haile and voiced by Tituss Burgess, Sneezy being motion-captured by Dominic Owen and voiced by Jason Kravits, and Dopey being motion-captured by Jaih Betote and voiced by Andrew Barth Feldman. Unlike the original film after Snow White was freed from the Sleeping Death, the Dwarfs join Snow White and Jonathan's bandits in preparing to confront the Evil Queen as Dopey finally speaks for the first time. The Seven Dwarfs and Jonathan's bandits join Snow White in confronting the Evil Queen as the Huntsman, the royal guards, and the rest of the kingdom side with Snow White. The end of the film revealed that Dopey was the narrator. The Seven Dwarfs later celebrate Snow White becoming the new queen of the kingdom.
In Sesame Street, there were different versions of the Seven Dwarfs where each of them was made from Anything Muppets.
In the first episode of the final series of The Goodies (which was filmed at ITV), The Goodies did a story set in a fairy tale world where they replaced three of the seven dwarfs (two of them died of exposure and another one was eaten by a gold fish). But they are later found out because of their height. The dwarfs take their names from the Disney film (Sleepy, Happy, and Grumpy) while Graeme and Bill renamed themselves to fit in (Soppy and Gwotty). Only Tim kept his name.
In the "Snow White" episode of Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, the Seven Dwarfs are named Sunday (voiced by Clifton Wells in the English dub), Monday (voiced by Kerrigan Mahan in the English dub), Tuesday, Wednesday (voiced by Tom Wyner in the English dub), Thursday, Friday (voiced by Michael Sorich in the English dub), and Saturday (voiced by Edward Mannix in the English dub) and are shown to be allied with a pack of wolves.
The Seven Dwarves appear in the 1990 Snow White film voiced by Jim Cummings and Rob Paulsen.
In Happily Ever After, it was mentioned that the Seven Dwarfs have opened up a mine in the next kingdom. In their place is the Seven Dwarfelles (their female cousins) who have received a power based on nature to help out their boss Mother Nature.
The Dwarfelles consisted of:
The Dwarfelles helped Snow White on her quest to rescue the Prince from the Queen's sorcerer brother Lord Maliss.
In Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, the show's adaptation of "Snow White" that takes place in the American southwest depicts the Seven Dwarves as seven mystical little men who came from the north to mine turquoise. They consist of:
The Seven Dwarfs appear in the Shrek series.
In Shrek, the Seven Dwarfs appear in the first film carrying Snow White's coffin.
They are seen again at the start of Shrek 2, giving Shrek a ring engraved with "I love you" in flaming letters for Fiona (in an allusion to the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings).
In Shrek the Third, one of them is given to Fiona as a wedding present (as a babysitter) from Snow White who says she has six more at home.
The Seven Dwarfs are seen at the end of Scared Shrekless when Shrek and Fiona celebrate by egging them.
In Shrek The Musical, one of the dwarfs, based on Grumpy, is written as Farquaad's father who says he abandoned him in the woods as a child after his wife (from The Princess and the Pea) falls out of 25 mattresses. However, when the fairytale freaks brought Grumpy to Farquaad's wedding, he reveals that he kicked Farquaad out because he was twenty-eight years old and living in his basement.
In Mirror Mirror, the Seven Dwarfs work as highwaymen and rob from anyone that comes down their way by wearing boots with retractable stilts that make them look taller. The Seven Dwarfs consist of:
The Seven Dwarfs help Snow White to form a resistance against Queen Clementianna.
In the Princesses series by Jim C. Hines, the dwarfs are actually anthropomorphic elemental personifications, summoned by Snow to aid her based on a spell from one of her mother's books. The seven dwarfs represent Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Shadow, and Magic, although the 'Magic' dwarf is essentially a spirit that just inhabits Snow and enhances her power rather than appearing on its own, with the others appearing in some form to represent their element. Although powerful fighters that will serve Snow loyally, the consequences of summoning them is that Snow must 'pay' the spirits with seven years of her life, with the result that she appears to be in her mid-thirties when she is really only in her early twenties. As a result, she has only summoned the dwarves twice, initially calling on their aid to help her defeat her mother before the series began, and summoning them again to help her and her allies defeat her mother's spirit in the first book in the series (she contemplated summoning them against to deal with the ruthless Wild Hunt in Red Riding's Revenge, but was advised against it as the spiritual nature of the hunt meant that nobody could be sure if the dwarves could do anything against them).
In Snow White and the Huntsman, the Seven Dwarfs started out as eight dwarfs when they are encountered by Snow White and Eric the Huntsman while fleeing Queen Ravenna. The Seven Dwarfs are:
The Dwarfs were played by actors without dwarfism who had their faces digitally transmuted onto small bodies, prompting a protest from the Little People of America.
In The Huntsman: Winter's War, Nion returns where he aids Eric the Huntsman in retrieving the Magic Mirror which was stolen before it can be sealed away. They are aided by Nion's half-brother Gryff (portrayed by Rob Brydon) who is a debt collector.
In Once Upon a Time, the Seven Dwarfs (who started out as eight) are on the side of Snow White and go by their Disney names.
There were some other dwarfs that were associated with the Seven Dwarfs:
The Italian-French TV series Seven and Me [it], the seven dwarfs appear as the guardians of Snow, a modern-days girl who is a descendant of Snow White.
These dwarfs consist of:
The following is a list of names of the Seven Dwarfs from various adaptations of the Snow White story. Some adaptations do not name the dwarfs, have seven non-dwarfs (such as the seven Leafe Knights in the anime Prétear - The New Legend of Snow White) or omit them altogether (as in the 1998 opera Schneewittchen).
David Bowie's "Little Wonder" on the Earthling (1997) album lists the individual names of the dwarves.
The music video for the 2001 single "Sonne" by German rock band Rammstein is a parody of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, depicting the band members as the Seven Dwarfs mining gold for Snow White.
Taylor Swift mentions both Snow White and the seven dwarves in her song "The Best Day", a track about her mother.