Dwarves (Middle-earth)

The Dwarves are a race featured in Tolkien's Legendarium. They mostly resided inside the mountains, becoming miners or great warriors.  
==Background==
Dwarves are short and are close to the same size of Hobbits, but they are only taller than them, but are shorter than Men. They usually grow beards and have spouses and are heavily built.
The women also grow beards and have children just like the female human and hobbit race. Some of them have at least side-burns with it. Only one-third of the population is female, so having a child was considered quite rare.
They can usually live up to 250 years. Some, such as Dwalin have lived into their three hundreds.They were also physically strong, great endurence and were also known for their crafting. They were usually quick in learning their own mining and crafting.
Dwarves usually live in Colonies under the mountains with their family.The dwarf colonies were usually ruled by a King or a lord. All seven dwarf families answered to the one who wields the Arkenstone. However, this tradition presumably stopped after it was buried back into the earth with Thorin when he died.
Their language is sacred to them, and is forbidden to outsiders. However, there are some exceptions, as Istari such as Gandalf knew their secret language. They even had their own true, secret names that only their family knew of. Their names weren't even written on their tombstones when they passed. They also made axes as their weapons that could be used as a tool or a weapon. They also favored chainmail and other metallic armor. They also valued mithril above all else, including gold and silver. The dwarves could also make beautiful songs.
Working-class dwarves were typically miners while high class dwarves were kings, queens, princes and princesses.
For some reason, hair was also of importance, which is why they grew long beards. For example, Bombur was a ladies' man because of his unruly red hair while Kili was considered quite ugly by dwarf standards based on his stub of a beard. They usually put braids in their hair, as it appears to hold some significance. They also value friendships and loyalty above everything. For example, Thorin valued his company's loyalty when they offered it to him before his quest to reclaim Erebor began and gave his friendship to Bilbo Baggins after he had saved his life.
Category:Middle-Earth characters
Category:Middle-earth creatures