Dwalin

### Affiliation:

Balin, Thorin Oakenshield, Fili, Kili, Bilbo Baggins, Ori, Bofur, Bombur, Nori, Dori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur

### Enemies:

Azog, Bolg, Smaug, Wargs, Orcs, the Great Goblin, Goblins (also missionaries), Giant Spiders of MirkwoodFormer: Elves of Mirkwood

## Behind the scenes

### Portrayed by:

*Graham McTavish*

**Dwalin** is a protagonist of *The Hobbit*. He was the second son of Fundin and younger brother of Balin. Thorin and Dwalin were not only kinsmen, but they have been the best of friends since they were young. Even also close with Thorin's nephews, Fili and Kili. He has been a warrior ever since he was young and was about twenty-seven when Thrain went missing and Thror was killed in the Battle of Moria. Dwalin was one of the twelve companions of Thorin and Bilbo in the Quest of Erebor.

 Background

Dwalin was born in 2772 of the Third Age, two years after Thorin's family were driven into exile by Smaug He
was younger than Thorin by twenty six years and became his best friend.

### Battle of Moria

In the
year 2799, Dwalin was 27 years old in the Battle of Moria. In TA 2799, Thrór ordered every dwarf lord to fight. Dwalin was still young when he was ordered to fight. He fought extremely well, and fought when Thorin called on him. A heavy number was
lost. Not only that, but also Dwalin's father Fundin was killed. Dwalin and his
brother embrased each other in the war while the Dwarf's brother noticed Thorin
was one who would call king. Dwalin lived in the Blue Mountains until the Quest
of Erebor.

## An Unexpected Journey

Like his book counterpart, Dwalin
was the first dwarf to come to Bilbo's door. The dwarf introduced himself and
bowed to the Hobbit. Gandalf asked why Thorin is not among them and Dwalin
answers that he is late because of a meeting in Ered Luin with their kin. After
Thorin arrives, Dwalin inquired if Dáin is with them, but Thorin says they will
not come. He was like all the other dwarves who thought Bilbo was not going to
survive in the Wild for being too soft. The former just proves this by saying
that gentlefolk can't defend themselves.

When Bilbo is captured by trolls,
Dwalin with the others rescue Bilbo. After all of the dwarves are put into
sacks for the trolls to eat later, he was on the spit over the fire. Luckily
thanks to Bilbo and Gandalf's interferences, the Trolls all turn to stone. When
the Troll hoard is discovered Dwalin accompanied Thorin, Gandalf and a couple
of dwarves invade it. His cousin, Bofur, and Nori bury treasure, which Dwalin
scuffs in disgust.

During the chase, Dwalin killed a
warg with his axes. In Rivendell, after Kíli's flirting with an elf, and also
on another elf, Dwalin is aware it is a male and not a female, saying that it
was not an Elf maiden that Kíli looked at. And he also throws food around when
Bofur's singing "The Man in the Moon" song. In the Misty Mountains,
after Thorin had saved Bilbo, Dwalin helped Thorin come back to the Mountain.
The company is captured by Goblins while Bilbo escaped and Dwalin fights well
while escaping with the others and the Great Goblin's carcass landing on the
broken dwarves.

Even though the dwarves and Bilbo
escaped the Goblin Tunnels, Azog the Defiler finally cornered the Dwarves out
of the forest. The trees start to fall, and Dwalin hoplessly watches as Thorin
is crushed until Bilbo himself leaps up and saves Thorin. Dwalin eventually
regains his footing and rushes in to defend Bilbo and Thorin's unconscious body
along with Fili and Kili. The eagles finally come and the Company escapes Azog
the Defiler

## The Desolation of Smaug

Dwalin is seen next to Thorin, and
asks a returning Bilbo if the Wargs picked up their scent, which they hadn't
done yet. All of them are driven to no other choice but to run to Beorn's
house, travel through Mirkwood. In Mirkwood, Dwalin looses all of his
possessions, especially his weapons. Bilbo eventually saves them and lets them
escape.

Dwalin openly distrusts Bard and
suggests that they throw the human over board and take his boat by force.
Thorin confides that he knows that Bard is untrustworthy to Dwalin. He also
calls Bard a traitor as Bilbo spies on him. Dwalin is the first dwarf to enter
through the toilet and the plumbing system and Threatens to rip of Bain's arms
if he speaks of this to anyone.

After Bilbo, Balin and Thorin
discuss the day Smaug attacked, Bain says that his ancestor broken the scale
off of the left breast, but Dwalin dismisses it as a myth. Their company is
later brought before the master of Laketown, where Dwalin stood up to the
Master and presented Thorin as "This is Thorin, son of Thráin, son of
Thrór. He was one of Thorin's remaining companions who traveled to the Lonely
Mountain (Thorin, Bilbo, Balin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bombur, and Glóin were
the additional members also not staying behind.)

When Bilbo awakens Smaug, Thorin rushes in to rescue their friend.
Afterwards, Dwalin along with the other dwarves storm in to Bilbo's and
Thorin's rescue before being chased by Smaug in different directions.

## The Battle of the Five Armies

Dwalin is first seen hugging his
friends that returned from Laketown. Next he is seen with his brother Balin at
his side, the dwarf king looking at the broken throne, and Bilbo standing
behind/next to Thorin. The brothers reports to Thorin that the Arkenstone has
not been found, and even yells it. He spotted the Laketown survivors streaming
into Dale and putting up a fortress by Thorin's orders.

Thorin also any one of the dwarves
are holding the Arkenstone in his possession. The friend Dwalin once knew was
gone when Thorin attacked Bilbo, and Dwalin and Fíli tries to protect him from
Thorin's wrath.

Even when he tells Thorin that Dáin
is surrounded and that they are failing the war, Thorin shows no sign of pity.
Dwalin accuses Thorin of not being of who he once was and that he isn't the
friend he once knew. The former threatens to kill his own friend if he does not
leave. After Thorin broke from madness, Dwalin fallowed his friend to end this
with Fíli and Kíli, and Bilbo fallowing to warn them.

Bilbo eventually completed it.
Dwalin wants to engage Azog now, but Thorin says it's not wise and that they'll
"live to fight another day." He ordered for Dwalin to retrieve Fíli
and Kíli while Thorin would lead Bilbo out of Ravenhill. Fíli is revealed to be
captured by Azog and his band of Orcs, and Dwalin watches along with Thorin,
Bilbo, and Kíli as Fili dies and is dropped dead in front of his own brother.
He apparently is nowhere to be seen after that, but when the Goblin
missionaries attack Bilbo, Dwalin rushes in to defend the Hobbit and Bilbo
assisting him until he was knocked out.

After Bilbo discovered Thorin's
dead body, Dwalin is shown mourning for his best friend. He later says goodbye
to Bilbo and smiles but also cries, as he leaves. Bilbo then tells Dwalin that he can eat him out fo food whenever he comes in and visits.

## Character

Dwalin is a very aggressive person. He is a cunning warrior who defends the lives of his friends and family. He is fiercely loyal to Thorin and would be honored to die for his best friend. He also wants his personal space not breeched. Behind his aggressive side, Dwalin is also protective, caring, and sensitive. He loves his brother, Balin, and also gained Bilbo's respect as well, seeing that he bows to him According to the description, he will bow to no one unless they've earned his respect. Dwalin was always protective of the younger dwarves, his brother, Thorin, and Bilbo. He absolutely refuses to abandon Balin to the Orcs, but he tells him to not worry about him.

## Appearance

Dwalin is very muscular. He has a bald spot on his head with tatoos on it and also some on his arms. Some of his left ear is missing and also wore ear piercings. He wore furs and mostly wore brown in the first film as well as black braces on. His hair was a dark brown or black. His eyes were brown, a trait he shares with his brother Balin. He was 27 in the flashbacks and 169 in the present story timeline.

## Relationships

### Balin

Dwalin's brother who is eight years older his senior. Balin and Dwalin have a very strong relationship, and love each other. Balin is always there to support his brother. When they were young, they fought with their family and are seen hugging each other after the Battle of Moria. After years of not seeing each other, Dwalin and Balin bash their heads in together. In The Desolation of Smaug, Dwalin gets impatient about his brother's sweet-talking Bard. They stand next to each other in The Battle of the Five Armies when reporting to Thorin.

### Thorin

Dwalin's best friend and are third cousins biologically. Since they were young, Dwalin and Thorin grew close. They lived through every pain and every joy in each other's lives. Even looks after Thorin's nephews, Fili and Kili. He defended an unconscious Thorin and Bilbo from the Wargs about to eat them. When they are in Laketown, Dwalin confided to Thorin that they didn't know if Bard would betray them or not. Thorin tells him they don't. In the Battle of the Five Armies, the Thorin Dwalin once knew was gone even when he attacked Bilbo and not bothering to save their kin was the last straws. Dwalin said that he's changed and cannot see what Thorin's become. After Thorin succumbs away from the Dragon sickness, Dwalin traveled with him to Ravenhill. Thorin's death is sudden as he is seen mourning the fallen king.

### Fíli and Kíli

Dwalin sees them as his own younger brothers, and are actually third cousins twice removed. And, Dwalin also protects them. He joked with Kili of an Elf 'maiden" who turned out to be a male Elf. After Fíli's death, Dwalin can't bare to watch him killed.

### Bilbo Baggins

Dwalin's fellow companion and friend.

Bilbo was awkward when he first met Dwalin Dwalin in fact bowed to Bilbo, showing that he earned Bilbo's respect a little. The hobbit was awkward when they first and found it odd that a dwarf was there. At first, Dwalin doubted Bilbo and his skills, but eventually came to respect Bilbo. He put a protective arm over Bilbo when they were hunted and Radagast was distracting the Wargs. Relieved that he was alive, and even helped Bilbo regain his footing when he was about to fall off of the Misty Mountains Dwalin defended Bilbo and the unconscious Thorin when Azog finally cornered them. Sometimes, the hobbit can get annoyed by Dwalin's distrust in Bard the Bowman, and sometimes just annoyed by Dwalin himself. Bilbo says he's grown very fond of them.

In the Incident on Ravenhill, Dwalin charges at Orcs that were about to kill the hobbit, and also says his goodbye to Bilbo at the end of the final film. Bilbo says that he can eat his out of food whenever they come to visit.

## Name

* Dwalin comes from the Old Norse name Dvalin in the Voluspa, meaning "dawdler," refers to taking more than necessary. This could be a reference to him stealing more food then necessary in *An Unexpected Journey.*
* **Son of Fundin**, because him being the Son of Fundin
* **Mister Dwalin**, by Kili

## Powers and abilities

Dwalin is fierce warrior, making him good in a fight or more. He fought bravely in the Batlte of Moria, and the Battle of the Five Armies.

## Trivia

* His name was the dwarf named Dvalin from the poem written in old Norse.
* Dwalin is eight years his brother's junior, and also the third oldest member of the Company.
* His cousin, Oin was slightly younger than him by two years.

## Possessions

### Grasper and Keeper

*Although we use steel and aluminium to make a lot of our swords, often we benefit from the casting of these in a high impact urethane as we are able to capture the complexity of detail we are wishing to cast into some of our weapons. We have therefore chosen to present our collector’s ion of Hobbit weapons in the same material used for the making of the film props to exactly replicate the techniques and artistry used in the films."*

—Richard Taylor's description

Dwalin has kept this axes for many years. They are named by Graham McTavish. During shooting, McTavish had said that This one Grasps your soul, this one keeps it" during the recording.

## Appearances

* *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*
* *THe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug*
* *The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*