Dwarf

**Dwarves** are a species of fae. Duribard is the only named dwarf in the canon, though there are a number of dwarves who show up as other minor characters.

## Physical Description

Duribard is short and squat, with burly arms and curly hair. His head is square and he has small eyes and a weathered face.

## Characteristics (culture, habits)

Dwarves seem to work mostly with blacksmithing, metals, and precious jewels: Duribard works with weapons creation and repair, whereas the dwarf merchant at Many Meadows sold jewels. Augus Each Uisge implied that it's likely Gwyn ap Nudd obtained 'quality weapons' for the Seelie Court from dwarves, (which is proven true when Gwyn goes to Duribard, who made weapons for the Seelie military), and the Glasera are weapons and armor crafters.

Gwyn noted 'If you make contracts with dwarves, it’s best to get receipts, I find.'

Dwarves will also fight when needed: during their journey to deal with the ice plague, while Gwyn, Augus, Eran Iliakambar, Mosk Manytrees, Ash Glashtyn, Julvia Dubna Vajat, and the Nain Rouge traveled to the coastline, Gwyn told Ash to take Augus and Julvia to safety, and the remaining party members ran across a party of dwarves, korrigan, and brownies, led by Katel, who attacked Gwyn's party (and the attackers presumably all perished in the attempt).

## Folklore/Mythology

'In Germanic folklore, including Germanic mythology, a **dwarf** is an entity that dwells in mountains and in the earth. The entity is variously associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting. Dwarfs are sometimes described as short and ugly, although some scholars have questioned whether this is a later development stemming from comical portrayals of the beings. Dwarfs continue to be depicted in modern popular culture in a variety of media.

. . . Norse mythology provides different origins for the beings, as recorded in the *Poetic Edda* (compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources) and the *Prose Edda* (written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century). The *Poetic Edda* poem *Völuspá* details that the dwarfs were the product of the primordial blood of the being Brimir and the bones of Bláinn (generally considered to be different names for the primordial being Ymir). The *Prose Edda*, however, describes dwarfs as beings similar to maggots that festered in the flesh of Ymir before being gifted with reason by the gods. The *Poetic Edda* and *Prose Edda* contain over 100 dwarf names, while the *Prose Edda* gives the four dwarfs Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri (Old Norse 'North, South, East, and West') a cosmological role: they hold up the sky. In addition, scholars have noted that the Svartálfar (Old Norse 'black elves') appear to be the same beings as dwarfs, given that both are described in the *Prose Edda* as the denizens of Svartálfaheimr.

. . . After the Christianization of the Germanic peoples, tales of dwarfs continued to be told in the folklore of areas of Europe where Germanic languages were (and are) spoken. In the late legendary sagas, dwarfs demonstrate skill in healing as well as in smithing. In the early Norse sources, there is no mention of their being short; in the legendary sagas, however, they are "small and usually ugly". Anatoly Liberman suggests that dwarfs may have originally been thought of as lesser supernatural beings, which became literal smallness after Christianization.

. . . Dwarfs in folklore are usually described as old men with long beards. Female dwarfs are hardly ever mentioned. Dvalinn the dwarf has daughters, and the 14th-century romantic saga *Þjalar Jóns saga* gives the feminine form of Old Norse *dyrgja*, but the few folklore examples cited by Grimm in *Teutonic Mythology* may be identified as other beings. However, in the Swedish ballad "Herr Peder och Dvärgens Dotter" (Swedish 'Sir Peder and the Dwarf's Daughter'), the role of supernatural temptress is played by a dwarf's daughter.

. . . In Middle High German heroic poetry, most dwarfs are portrayed as having long beards, but some may have a childish appearance. In some stories, the dwarf takes on the attributes of a knight. He is most clearly separated from normal humans by his small size, in some cases only reaching up to the knees. Despite their small size, dwarfs typically have superhuman strength, either by nature or through magical means. Many dwarfs have the ability to make themselves invisible, typically via a "Tarnkappe" (cloak of invisibility), which seems to be a very old attribute of the dwarfs. They also possess other magical objects, and often appear as master smiths. Typically they live inside of hollow mountains, though in some cases they may live above the ground. Depending on the story, they may be hostile or friendly to humans. Male dwarfs are often portrayed as lusting after human women, whereas female dwarfs seek to possess the male hero in the legends.'

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 December 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/6186821. Chapter 21: Fracture.
2. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31845930. Chapter 16: Leave Be.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 not\_poignant. “Game Theory.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 13 September 2013. https://archiveofourown.org/works/915296/chapters/1894662. Chapter 11: Abandoned.
4. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own*, 30 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/7101860. Chapter 28: Solidarity.
5. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 21 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37471571. Chapter 29: Don't Look.
6. ↑ "Dwarf (folklore)". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf\_(folklore). Accessed 8 May 2021.