Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Dwarf-small.jpg|frame|Standard Issue Dwarf.]]
{{quote|''A short, sturdy creature fond of drink and industry.''
|''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''}}
You know them. Gruff, [[Greed|gold-loving]], blunt-speaking, Scottish-accented, [[Horny Vikings|Viking-helmed]], [[The Alcoholic|alcohol-swilling]], [[Elves vs. Dwarves|Elf-hating]], [[An Axe to Grind|ax-swinging]], [[Stout Strength|stout]], [[Badass Beard|long-bearded]], stolid and unimaginative, [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|boastful of their battle prowess]] and their vast echoing [[Elaborate Underground Base|underground halls]] and mainly just the fact [[Have I Mentioned I Am a Dwarf Today?|that they are '''Dwarves''']].
Ever since Tolkien did his thing with some modified [[Norse Mythology|Norse myths]], the Dwarves have been rolling off the assembly line as the same basic model. (Although many "Tolkienesque" Dwarves are more like the [[Theme Park Version]].) Since [[The Film of the Book]](s), they now even all talk the same. A lot of dwarves are Scottish, Irish, or Russian. An [[Planet of Hats|entire race]] of miners and blacksmiths, with names like [[Luke Nounverber|Dwarfaxe Dwarfbeard and Grimli Stonesack]], who are overly sensitive about any perceived slight, always [[Violent Glaswegian|spoiling for a fight]], unable to speak two sentences in a row without calling someone "lad" or "lass," and possessed of a love of gold and jewels that drives them to dig deep and greedily ([[Dug Too Deep|often with catastrophic results]]). Expect dwarf-tossing jokes.
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See also [[Five Races]], [[Elves vs. Dwarves]]
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{{examples}}
== Franchises that use this ready-made model of Dwarfdom ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'' had a handful of dwarf characters. The most notable was Ghim from the first series, who played the role of [[Older and Wiser]] mentor to the hero, Parn; he was grumpy, fought with an axe, had a beard, and possessed incredible stamina, like you expect from a dwarf.
** The sequel, ''Chronicles of the Heroic Knight'', introduced a dwarf priest named Father Greevas, who subverted the trope by being quiet, gentle, and fatherly, with a bowl-cut and goatee instead of the standard bushy beard.
===
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is the origin of the trope. Interestingly, in an attempt to make them sound fundamentally different from other races, Tolkien's Dwarvish language is constructed along the lines of the [[wikipedia:Semitic languages|Semitic languages]]; none of them ever speak with a Scottish or Welsh accent at all. When you combine the quasi-Semitic language with their lost homeland and usual status as a minority in lands ruled by other races, many writers have compared them to [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|analogues to the Jews]] (an allusion that also comes up in the [[Discworld]] series). Tolkien himself alluded to the idea in response to allegations that it was a negative depiction; he was particularly sympathetic [[World War Two|given the time he was alive]]. His dwarves are different from dwarfs of folklore and fairy tales primarily in that [[Proud Warrior Race|a lot of them are warriors]] in addition to being miners and craftsmen. They of course, pay tribute to their roots, being quite Nordic in culture (Rohirrim are primarily Saxon-land-Vikings, an Gondor has a Nordic vibe too), and having names stolen from the Poetic Edda. A thing that Tolkien long regretted as it forced him to come up with an explanation why a Real-world language such as Old Norse would exist in a Fantasy world.
** [[The Silmarillion|Tolkein's background notes]] reveal the reason Dwarves are so different from the other races: that they were made by Aule, one of the [[Powers That Be|Valar]] - not [[The Omnipotent|Eru Illuvatar]] himself, although after the fact Eru gave them the spark of free will that Aule couldn't provide. Since he knew that [[The Devil|Morgoth]] was loose in the world, Aule designed the Dwarves to be able to resist suffering and evil - a fact that came in handy millenia later, when Sauron offered them [[Don't Touch It, You Idiot!|seven golden Rings of Power.]]
* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' features dwarfs, but depicts them as a race that is almost [[
** Interestingly, many black dwarves resemble mongol raiders in the movie adaptation.
* A brief mention in ''Gnomes'' by Wil Huygen and Rein Poortvliet. Quote: "An almost extinct species of the male sex." (Could there be a connection there?) "Height 1 metre 20 cm, often smaller. Can still be found in the middle of inhospitable forests and in the mountains. They dig for gold and silver in extensive mines; they are masters of metalwork. They are good-natured except for a solitary few who are capable of ugly deeds. If a dwarf falls into human hands, he buys his freedom with gold. They do not have beards."
* Likely influenced by ''[[Dungeons
* Meredith Ann Pierce had no problem with "dwarrow" in ''[[The Darkangel Trilogy]]''. The [[Phantasy Spelling|duaroughs]] (yes, that's basically pronounced "dwarves") are basically Tolkienian, except [[Weaksauce Weakness|sunlight]] [[Taken for Granite|temporarily turns them to stone]], forcing them to wear heavy, enveloping garments if they go aboveground during the daytime.
* [[David Weber|David Weber's]] [[The War Gods|Bahzell]] trilogy has dwarves. Heavy emphasis on mining and living underground, technology better than anyone else's, and an absurd emphasis on family and clan that no other race can even follow.
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** Also, a nod to the 'craftsman' stereotype in that they are good at ''any'' craft. Mostly the typical metalworking and stoneworking, but they are very good at anything. In particular they are as good at ''baking'' as they are at metalwork and stonecarving. However, their bakery is mostly good for weaponry. They grind down rocks to make the flour. The best way to enjoy Dwarfbread is to keep it uneaten, so that ''any'' other food will taste good by comparison. The "Scottish" stereotype is brought up here as the Low King (low being better than high for a mining people) of the Dwarves being crowned on the Scone of Stone. In Scotland, Kings were always crowned on a giant stone called the ''Stone of Scone'' (pronnounced Skoon) because it was held in Scone Abbey, Perthshire.
*** They also practically monopolize the cosmetics industry, most likely because they have real chemistry instead of alchemy..
** Dwarf folklore is an interesting deviation; it holds that dwarfs and trolls are diametric opposites and will forever hate each other. ''[[
* Dwarves of ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' are polytheistic and devotely religious people who pretty much play the trope straight in all other respects. [[Christopher Paolini|Paolini]] makes a point of mentioning dwarf women, but doesn't detail much about how they differ from dwarf men. They have some cities underground, but also some aboveground, even with a [[Lampshade Hanging]] when Eragon is surprised to find that Dwarves have open surface cities just like everyone else, and a dwarf tells him that they like the open air as much as anyone else. They also have seven toes, and two dwarves hold a bet on whether or not humans actually have only five toes. According to history, they are the oldest of sentient races, and lived in Alagaesia before the elves or humans arrived.
* The dwarves of ''[[The Fionavar Tapestry]]'' pretty much fit the mould except for the [[One-Gender Race]], and the one dwarven main character being more of a [[The Quiet One]]. Dwarf women in Fionavar are sylph-like and graceful; as one character admits to herself, she should no more reasonably expect them to look like their men any more than she herself resembles her male companions.
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* In ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'', on the world of Pryan, Dwarves are played straight. On Chelestra, they're less xenophobic and more friendly, especially in regards to other races. And on Arianus, they live in devotion to something called the Kicksey-Winsey Machine, which their entire lives revolve around. They're dead on Abarrach.
* Dwarves in the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' books at least follow the blunt-speaking and stolid parts, which caused [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity To Ensue]] when Gilderoy Lockhart hired a bunch of surly dwarves for Valentine's Day. Lockhart dressed them up like cupids and set them up working as letter-carriers, which they did not seem to enjoy and nor did anyone else, least of all the other teachers. However, that's the only major appearance of dwarves in the entire series.
* [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]'' trilogy features two races that could qualify as Dwarves, both of whom (intentionally) avert the typical stereotypes. The Qanuc are actually referred to as [[Our Trolls Are Different|Trolls]] and [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|borrow many aspects]] of Inuit culture while living in snowy mountains and taming sheep for mounts. They do brew a mean liquor, though. On the other hand, the branch of the Tinukeda'ya that went underground became known as
* Markus Heitz's ''[[Dwarves]]'' manages to play this trope perfectly straight, yet gives each character enough [[Character Development]] to be an effective character, rather than just the trope. Not surprising, since all main characters are dwarves.
* [[Invoked]] in the [[Council Wars]] series. Dwarfs are humans who have used advanced technology to deliberately change themselves into the standard representation of Fantasy Dwarves.
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* In Chris Evans ''Iron Elves'' trilogy Sergeant Yimt is a [[Boisterous Bruiser]] [[Sergeant Rock]]. The only other dwarf met in the series is a veteran turned unscrupulous merchant. Dwarves were once enslaved by the Empire and brought to it from across the sea, resulting in a a racial claustrophobia of being inside ships. Due to the racial habit of chewing crute, a metal infused spice, most Dawrves are literally [[Made of Iron]], or at least their bones are. While they do use axes other common weapons are the drugar, [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|whose description sounds a lot like a machete]], and the shatterbow, a cross between a crossbow and a shotgun that fires explosive bolts.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* [[Star Trek]] has the Tellarites, one of the founding members of the Federation. They had a fierce rivalry with the [[Our Elves Are Better|Vulcans]], are stubborn, undiplomatic, and generally have the competence to back up their boasts, all dwarven hallmarks.
* The Seven Dwarves in [[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]. Grumpy gets the most screen time for some reason and fits the trope to a T.
** Later appearances of the dwarves in the series show some more unusual characteristics, one of which is the fact dwarves aren't born, they're hatched in ''eggs''.
=== Oral Tradition, folklore, Myths and Legends ===
* [[Norse Mythology]]—here's where it all started. Though they were somewhat varied, the basics of common lore goes back to mythology. The long beards, skilled at metallurgy, lived in caves, etc. They also turned to stone (sometimes temporarily, sometimes not) when exposed to sunlight. There was also discrepency amongst how long they lived, some myths had them be an adult at three years old and an old man by nine, some myths had them always looking old but being immortal. They had coal-black hair, extremely pale skin, actually were a type of elf and were human-sized at first, but [[Memetic Mutation]] changed them a lot even during the Viking era. By the late [[Middle Ages]], they were much closer to the Dwarves we'd recognize today. In [[Norse Mythology]], dwarves were originally endoparasites. Like ''tapeworms'', living in the intestines of some of the first giants.
** In one version, they first appeared as maggots in the corpse of Ymir, whose body was then made to form the earth itself. In this light, the stated origin for the dwarves seems an appropriate metaphor, what with their penchant for tunneling and living beneath the surface of the earth.
** [[Marvel Comics]]' use of the Norse Mythos (via the super-hero [[The Mighty Thor]]) have Dwarves that look like the modern model but otherwise are more like their ancient inspiration. In effect, they are cave-dwelling magical gadgeteers.
** Tapeworms aside, it should be mentioned that they usually appeared as cave-dwellers forging weapons and jewelry. Sometimes with remarkable results. It was cavedwelling dwarves who made Thor's hammer (always hits, destroys its target, returns to the user), Odin's spear (always hits its target), Freya's necklace (shining like the sun), and the nine golden rings (give birth to new rings). Thus the legend of the stunted master forgers in the mountains was born.
==
* The subterranean Dawn People, or [[Celtic Mythology|Thuatha]], from [[Prince Valiant]].
==
==== Card Games ====
* Dwarves have appeared sporadically in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', though the game designers seem not to like them much. They live in the mountains and like to fight so they belong to the Red color/philosophy, but the stoic and orderly culture of traditional fantasy dwarves is more White, not to mention how goblins hog all the slots for person sized red creatures, so they're sort of an odd race out. ''MtG'' did shake up the usual dwarf formula in the ''Odyssey'' block, where the dwarves were portrayed as passionate artisans and warriors with a strong affinity for fire magic. Later in the game's history, the kithkin in ''Lorwyn'' were portrayed as sort of a cross between hobbits (which is what they were [[Captain Ersatz|originally intended to be called]]) and dwarves, combining the Little Folk's general smallness and pastoral living with the Stout Folk's tenacity and well-organized communal defense; the kithkin become even more dwarflike in ''Shadowmoor'', where they have abandoned their country villages for heavily fortified castles and become rabidly xenophobic.
** The ''Eventide'' expansion to the ''Shadowmoor'' block added actual dwarves known as duergar, with affinities for both white and red, and modified the design of dwarves to axe the hair and make them up more pasty. These creepy dwarves are based on the folklore of Britain.
==== Tabletop RPG ====
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''—not surprising, given how much it was originally based on Tolkien.
** One widely used D&D addition is the idea that Dwarves are inherently more resistant to [[Functional Magic|magic]], being that they're all stolid and stony like the earth and all. Yet in the original myths, dwarves produced all manner of magical artifacts for the Aesir. Even Tolkien's dwarves managed to make mithril, the local [[Unobtainium]]. That said, they were resistant to [[The Corruption]].
*** Seemingly because they love gold and cunning more than they love power.
*** D&D has shown an interesting evolution in the question of Dwarven females. In the oldest editions, the race was essentially monogendered. Later on their women [[Cute Monster Girl|became more feminine]]
*** There's other differences as well. Dwarves are noted as being good with [[Religion Is Magic|Divine magic]], and they're one of the go-to races for Clerics. (see: [[Order of the Stick|Durkon]]). And players and [[Game Master
*** Interestingly, the ''Races of Stone'' Supplement for 3.5 provides a special [[Prestige Class]] that allows the casting of spells in armor, providing a description that's best summed up as "Nobody thinks there's any Dwarven Wizards because they wear Armor like the rest of the Dwarves". Of course, [[Playing with a Trope|this is still entirely fitting with this trope]].
** Even [[Eberron]] - the setting that brought you good undead, necromancer elves, intelligent giants (granted that's ancient history), removed alignment restrictions, among other things - cannot escape this. Its dwarves are pretty much the same, except that they are also bankers, and tend to be more corrupt more often.
*** Though if [https://web.archive.org/web/20090602061818/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd
** [[Forgotten Realms]] with its [[Loads and Loads of Races|dazzling]] level of diversity and details [[Subverted Trope|subverts]] this trope a few times with sub-races like the wild dwarves and arctic dwarves, plus Gray Dwarves (duergar). Shield dwarves and gold dwarves are closer to the stereotype, as a beard-combing grimly determined [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] is never too far. Gold dwarves tend to be tradition-bound, suspicious, greedy, obscenely rich and almost as haughty as elves, though trade with humans and other folk a lot. Shield dwarves are split. Some are "The Hidden", isolationist clans. Most are "The Wanderers" who got a clue from all those empty clanholds that dwarves aren't too far from extinction, and see interacting with the world proactively as they duty. These are borderline [[Boisterous Bruiser]] sort, allying with anyone up to elves and half-orcs if necessary, adventuring, working as smith in non-dwarven cities. They are fairly traditional, but marry whoever they like including humans, gnomes or halflings instead of checking exact age, social status and opinions of all elders in both clans before starting a family.
** [[Dragonlance]] played with the trope a bit. They had the Hylar, Niedhar, and Daewar clans of dwarves, all of which were in the general neighborhood of [[Lawful Good]], and the Daergar, who were [[Lawful Evil]]. But they also had the Thiewar, a [[Chaotic Evil]], magic-loving clan, and the Klar, a clan with insanity in their genetics, making them [[Chaotic Neutral]] when not being manipulated by the Daergar and Thiewar. Which, sadly, happened a lot.
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** Just like elves, dwarves in ''D&D'' have a subterranean [[Evil Counterpart]]: the Duergar, or Gray Dwarves, who are built on the folktales of dwarves as nasty schemers with supernatural powers. The Duergar have limited [[Psychic Powers]] and have a grim, humorless society based around slave labor and constant toil.
** [[Dark Sun|Athas']] Dwarves play this straight, except for few noticable differences. They're completely hairless, and they have a tradition of working toward short and longterm goals that only they know of.
* ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' has the Wizened, humans who were made to work as [[The Fair Folk|the Gentry's]] craftsmen and servants. Like dwarves, there's usually something "diminished" about them (sometimes size, sometimes muscle, sometimes social presence), they tend to be cranky (see "diminished social presence"), and they're very, very good with crafts.
* [[Winterweir]]'s Bathas are evil sociopathic slavers but still live underground and have an interest in wealth. They also invent things.
* Dwarves in ''[[GURPS]]: Banestorm'' are a race of natural artificers and merchants. All adults have at least one point worth of [[Iconic Item|signature gear]].
** In the ''[[GURPS]]'' predecessor ''[[The Fantasy Trip]]'', dwarves are straight out of the Tolkienian mold. However, some details (mostly concerning dwarf women) are left unspecified, meaning that players will form [[House Rules|their own conclusions]].
* ''[[Burning Wheel]]'' not only plays straight dwarf stereotypes but even builds upon the tale of Moria from [[The Lord of the Rings]] by working an attribute called "Greed" into the rule system: all dwarves are covetous. The higher a dwarf's Greed, the more likely they are to betray others, or even go [[Ax Crazy]], in the pursuit of possessing objects of high value and/or craftsmanship. They get bonuses to rolls done in the pursuit of wealth. However, if the Greed attribute reaches its maximum through indulgence of the vice the dwarf hides himself away with his hoard of goods in paranoid seclusion never to be seen again.
* The Jotun of ''[[New Horizon]]'' were once compared to dwarves, except being huge [[Insistent Terminology|wafans]] instead of short humans. [[Refuge in Audacity|Subsequently a group of dwarves raided the forum, decapitated the person who made the claim, and told everybody never to compare them to war machines again]].
==== War Games ====
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' plays them straight , but once upon a time, had the Chaos Dwarfs, which were based on ancient Mesopotamia of all things and diabolic slavemaster warlocks with cloven hooves and addicted to [[Black Magic]]. Sadly, their army nearly dropped off the face of the earth, and the few new Chaos Dwarfs we've seen (as crew for a war machine model) seem very much standard, if eviler-looking.
** The ''[[Gotrek and Felix]]'' novels play with the accent, as most Dwarfs have the typical slightly-Scottish speech that is still easy to understand. Then they introduce a Dwarf character whose speech is much closer to a real Scottish brogue, and even the other Dwarfs can't understand him half the time.
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**** They distill their ''helicopter fuel'' from it!
*** Mmmmm, [[wikipedia:Bock|beerfood]].
** Interestingly, while the individual Dwarf in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] is fairly slow (it's the little legs), Dwarf infantry is effectively among the fastest in the game. This is because the game mechanics say that you can't march (read: move at double your normal speed) when there are enemies within 8". Dwarfs, by virtue of being [[Determinator
** ''[[Warhammer
** The Tau themselves seem to fulfill some of the functions of dwarves in the 40,000 Verse. They are shorter and stouter than humans, they have a weak presence in the Warp (meaning they're not very magical), they have a highly ordered and stratified society, and a strong warrior culture.
*** ''A strong warrior culture''? Really? They're perhaps the least war-like race in Warhammer. And it shows, heavily. Even by other standards, they'd be rather peace loving.
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* The now-defunct ''[[Mage Knight]]'' minatures game had standard Tolkieny dwarves. All male, all bearded, all craftsmen and miners (some not by choice), and their craftiness led to literal [[Steampunk|Steam Punk]] tech such as Steam (mecha)Golems and steam-powered mounts.
** There are some differences from the standard model here. They are actually '''shorter''' lived than humans, an elderly dwarf being about 30, and they play up the resistance to magic. They were actually forced by [[The Empire]] of Atlantis into slavery, mining for magic [[Phlebotinum]] because they were immune to the deadly radiation. They joined the Black Powder Rebels in order to free their comrades from this slavery.
=== Theatre ===
* [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring Des Nibelungen]]'', epic predecessor and undoubted inspiration to Tolkien (the clue's in the title). His Nibelung dwarves are, true to their Norse roots, subterranean miners and metalcrafters. His dwarven brothers Alberich and Mime inspired the thieving dwarf Mîm who appears in ''The Silmarillion''.
** These legends of course [[Older Than You Think|all predate Wagner by a fair few centuries]].
=== Video Games ===
* In ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|every single dwarf]] has a description listing, amongst others, [[Description Porn|physique, hair style and colour, eye colour, facial features, interpersonal skills, age and fondness for giant toads]]. The last line of every description, however, is that they "must have alcohol to get through the day". (Or, depending on how the fortress' alcohol stocks are doing, something like "must have alcohol to get through the day, and has gone without a drink for far, far too long.") It's a biological necessity, even for babies and children; lack of alcohol causes them to work slowly and inefficiently.
* ''[[Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords]]'': Khrona doesn't hide her most obvious gender identifiers, but still sports a nice, long beard.
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* Averted in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', where dwarves are 7-foot tall miners. They are all the same, but not like dwarves in other fantasy fiction.
** The joke is more apparent when they are referred to by their proper names, [[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|The Seven-Foot Dwarves]].
* ''[[Golden Sun]]'''s dwarves, in the Loho mining camp from ''The Lost Age'', probably don't have Scottish accents, since [[Funetik Aksent]] is used for the two humans with Scottish accents but not the dwarves. Additionally, some are historians, which is why the dwarves are in Loho, excavating the ruins there. However, they all have awesome facial hair and a love for digging-- "If you live in Loho and don't dig, you just don't belong"
* Played mostly straight in Bungie's [[Myth]] series of fantasy games. Dwarves there are short, construct underground cities, are good with gadgets, greedy, and have chemistry far beyond that of the other races leading to them becoming explosive and demolition experts. However, instead of sounding Scottish, they are voiced to sound more like crabby old men.
* Two "Dwarven Swordsmiths" appear in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]''. They are the only dwarves to appear in the entire ''[[The Legend of Zelda|Zelda]]'' series, and nothing is made of their presence in a village otherwise made up entirely of Hylians.
** However, the Gorons of later games have pretty much all of the traits of dwarves, except instead of having full beards, they have goatees.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Lusternia]]''. The dwarven race were originally called the Clangoru (having descended from the Elder God Clangorum); when the humans arrived in Lusternia from a different dimension, they puzzled everyone by [[Insistent Terminology|calling the Clangoru dwarves]]. They did this because the Clangoru - alone of every other mortal race - were recognisable to the humans, being ''indistinguishable'' from the dwarves of their native dimension.
* Dwarves are a recurring race in the ''[[Shining Force]]'' series, at least in the older games. They follow the Tolkien/D&D model fairly
** It's because Luke from Shining Force is a hobbit, Gort is a Dwarven Warrior, but Luke is a hobbit. Jaha in Shinning Force II is also a Hobbit, but Gyan and Randolph are Dwarves, funny because Randolph is beardless.
* In both ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' games, this is both played straight and averted. When it's played straight, it's hilarious. When it's averted, it's averted '''hard'''.
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* ''[[Master of Magic]]'' has a fairly stereotypical dwarves: tough, hard-working, good at mining and climbing mountains, but not fond of ships. They also make golems and steam cannons.
* The Mountain Dwarves in ''[[Dungeon Crawl]]'' are standard issue. Deep Dwarves are different, though: see below.
* In [[
* Subverted by the ''[[Rune Factory]]'' games. The first has a human blacksmith who was trained by a dwarf, and matches all the standard dwarf traits so well that you can't help but imagine his mentor looked that way too. However, when dwarves actually make their debut in the forth game the ''only'' dwarf trait they have is that they mine and forge (with one character claiming he wouldn't be much of a dwarf is he hadn't made is own weapon). Only one of them is even a fan of forging, and if you mention the common dwarf idea to the other, he'll get offended and call it a ridiculous sterotype.
* While no actual dwarves, or any other conventional race, appear in the series, the Godom of [[Paladin's Quest]] certainly invoke this archetype. They're a subterrainian race who excell in weapon smithing and explosives, but are generaly bad at magic. Their appearance, on the otherhand, is anything but. They actually resemble large bipedal dinosaur, insect, ram... things.
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[Twice Blessed]]'' has Vadim as a main character, who meets most dwarf stereotypes, but comes from a Russian-type culture and has a matching accent, drinks Vodka, uses the word "brother" in place of "laddie", and never seems to feel the need to point out that he is a dwarf.
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' has recently added Dwarves to its array of races, and from their first appearance, we have bearded females, and a long-standing rivalry with ''[[Hobbits|Halflings]]''. Mostly over beer nowadays.
* [[The Dreamland Chronicles]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20120626072911/http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/chapter-12/ Just look at them]
=== Web Original ===
* ''[[Dorf Quest]]'''s Beardbeard, and every other dorf we've seen, has been this trope taken to psychotic extremes - every problem can be solved with a [[Drinking Contest]], violence, or a [[Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs|violent drinking contest]].
* In ''[[The Salvation War]]'', [[Evil Genius|Belial's]] [[Elaborate Underground Base]] of [[Dwarf Fortress|Palelabor]] is staffed by a horde of very squat, heavyset demons with long gray beards, who are, for all intents and purposes, dwarves.
=== Real Life ===
* Yes, they're short humans rather than a Tolkienesque race, but it's worth a mention: the Mississippi state legislature has considered giving dwarfs a special dispensation to use crossbows—a stock fantasy-world dwarf's favorite projectile weapon—to hunt deer in archery season, as short limbs really do impede the use of conventional bows.
* Gold-smithing in [[Ancient Egypt]] was often carried out by dwarf artisans, who were favored vassals of the royal household.
=== Anime
* Senshi from ''[[Delicious in Dungeon]]'' breaks the norm for dwarves, at least as far as he is concerned. Sure, he's a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] with a [[Badass Beard]] who [[An Axe to Grind| swings a mean axe]], but he has no skill in blacksmithing or mining (having difficulty even telling valuable ores apart) his specialties being cooking, hunting, and farming. This did cause other dwarves to regard him as something of an oddball.
=== Comic Books ===
* ''[[Gold Digger (Comic Book)|Gold Digger]]'' Dwarves have optional beards on both sexes, no specific accents, aren't all short tempered and have plenty of non-miners, but otherwise fit the mold. A female Dwarf villain, G'nolga, insists that the beauty of dwarf women is legendary. While she and other dwarf females definitely don't look bad, one does wonder how much of this comes from her [[Hot Amazon|being acknowledged as one of the ten strongest fighters on the planet]].
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', even
* Dwarves of ''[[The Lands of Arran]]'' are short, resilient, strong, violent, often greedy, good at working stone and metal, don't like elves and orcs, have an orderly caste-based society (at least, theoretically) and their pantheon is more or less an abridged and cooperative [[Expy]] of the [[Norse Mythology|Norse]]. They have some berserkers (though obvious ones are exterminated, as a heretical legacy of a defeated old faith) and minor rune magic is common, but no other (at least, currently by "proper" dwarves). Then again, they as a rule don't live underground (though they mine a lot), consider an axe an improvised weapon or a substitute for those prohibited from possessing swords, and there are dwarven farmers, dragon riders, assassins and [[Magnificent Bastard]]s.
=== Film ===
* The film version of ''[[The Hobbit (film)|The Hobbit]]'' is taking pains to avert this trope. The dwarves are all short, hairy, and crusty, but they have great variety in their faces, beards, clothing, body types, personalities and weaponry.
=== Literature ===
* [[Margaret Weis]] and Tracy Hickman have tried to avert this. ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' was basically about what happens to Tolkienesque races' cultures when put in completely different worlds, and [[The Sovereign Stone]] Trilogy [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|recast them as Mongol-style nomads (the Elves were Japanese]]). Didn't really work, because the dwarves always got the least characterization, but they tried.
* The ''[[Shannara]]'' series has dwarves mutated from human stock (like most of [[Five Races|the races]] of the books) but with the added caveat that, [[Lamarck Was Right|due to their ancestors' millennia of hiding in shelters]], they are claustrophobic and dislike going underground. They actually appropriate the typical elven skill in that they are skilled woodsmen, and their crafts are mostly carved from wood rather than stone.
* Flint Fireforge, from the ''[[Dragonlance]] Chronicles'' trilogy, was originally going to be a well-dressed fop. Eventually, though, they decided against this, and just made him the standard dwarf. The well-dressed fop concept later became the preferred mortal guide of Reorx, god of the forge.
* The Valerians of the ''[[Lensman]]'' series are a race of strong, tough, [[An Axe to Grind|axe-wielding]] [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|proud warriors]], but they're really human [[Heavyworlder
* Dwarfs in [[Narnia]] are expert archers, a trait more commonly associated with elves. Just so happens that there aren't any elves in Narnia, or at least not the Tolkien sort, so dwarfs got to appropriate one of their talents. The dwarfs as a rule are cynical and
** They also come in red-haired and black-haired models. And it's explicitly mentioned that Trumpkin (red) smokes and Nikabrik (black) doesn't, which kind of sticks out as a way of acknowledging personal preference, since pipe-smoking is usually right up there with drinking as the substance abuse of choice for dwarfs.
* Possible example: Gregory Maguire's ''[[Mirror Mirror (novel)|Mirror Mirror]],'' in which the eight (yep) dwarves are, at least initially, shapeshifters. They're also far more, well, ''mineral'' than your typical humanoid character.
* In Adrian Tchaikovsky's ''[[Shadows of the Apt]]'' series Beetle-kinden are essentially clean shaven dwarves in a [[Clock Punk]]/[[Steampunk]] setting. Short, stocky, technological and capitalistic with the [[Proud Scholar Race|Collegium beetles]] emphasizing the tech side and [[Proud Merchant Race|the Helleron Beetles]] emphasizing the capitalist side.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* The Mountain Folk of ''[[Exalted]]'' draw heavily on the Norse Dwarves for inspiration, but two of their castes (Artisans and Warriors) are actually human-sized; the Artisans are tall, beautiful super-geniuses, and their warriors look like ''neanderthal [[Space Marine|space marines]] in [[Powered Armor|power armor]].''
* Mike Pondsmith's ''[[Castle Falkenstein]]'' roleplaying game (from R. Talsorian Games) had dwarves based more on the ancient Germanic myth
** Falkenstein's Dwarves started out as more typical Faerie, but gave up most of the classic traits thereof in exchange for the ability to handle iron with impunity.
** Young Falkensten dwarves are also raised and named by their mothers. Their main drive toward industrialism and workmanship is so they can make or discover something impressive enough to make a name for themselves with, so they don't have to introduce themselves as "Buttercup" or "Morningblossom".
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*** Subverted by 'Chucky', a Dwarf with dwarfism who wore hooks on his ears to make his beard ''look'' fake, and pretended to be a Human child in order to be ignored by everyone, PC and NPC alike.
* In ''[[Talislanta]]'', the Yassan and Vajra races are both short, stocky artificer/miner types—in other words, indubitably [[Five Races|stouts]]. However, this being ''Talislanta'', the Vajra are scaly, ovoviviparous, and have a [[Unstoppable Rage|berserker rage]] ability (which can usually be used [[Heroic RROD|exactly once]]), and the [[Gadgeteer Genius|Yassan]] are silver-gray, six-fingered, and flat-faced. Additionally, both races are hairless and closer to the short end of average human height.
* As mentioned above, ''[[Dungeons
** The wild dwarves from ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' are barbarians who live above ground in jungles and hunt with poisoned blades. Still very gruff and loyal, though.
** The derro are a race of insane sorcerers with traces of human ancestry. They have bluish skin, blond hair, and huge pupilless eyes, and many go beardless. (In ''[[Pathfinder]]'', though, they are actually [[The Fair Folk|evil fey]] with no connection to dwarves.)
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** 3.5 presented several environmental variants with only minor differences from the standard hill dwarf. Desert dwarves are gruff miners who are good at finding water. Glacier dwarves are gruff miners who are good at surviving in the arctic. Seacliff dwarves are gruff miners who are good at swimming. And so on.
=== Video Games ===
* The Dwarves of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' were a breed of elves, roughly human-sized, with a material culture like that of ancient Mesopotania with a hint of classical China. And yet, they lived in fortresses under mountains, tapped magma to power their forges, were masters of metalworking, made really high-quality beer steins, developed technology millenia ahead of any civilization before or since, had huge beards, were reclusive, hated (other) elves, and finally dug too deep and vanished from the face of the earth. Though neither Scottish nor Norse in the least, they were, unmistakably, ''Dwarves''.
** Of course, they didn't hate other elves for anything like the usual reason—they hated anything other than Dwemer, [[Evilutionary Biologist|viewing other beings as at best potential slaves or experimental subjects]], with few exceptions (a brief alliance with the Dunmer, for one). They also eventually [[Critical Existence Failure|annihilated themselves]] by ''trying to use the heart of a dead god [[A God Am I|to become gods themselves]]''.
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* ''[[Age of Mythology]]'' goes back to the roots of Norse myths, making Dwarves simply good craftsmen and gold-diggers. They don't use axes, except for gathering wood or when transformed into Heroes of Ragnarok by the Ragnarok godpower.
** Eitri uses an axe to fight in the campaign, though he can use it to cut wood. His brother Brokk has a hammer instead.
* ''[[Warcraft]]'' is an interesting case. For most of the RTS games, this was played straight, but right before ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' hit, dwarven miners unearthed (no pun intended) evidence that linked them to the
** Female Dwarves are quite common in dwarf settlements and for the most part look like short, stout women of average attractiveness. However, among the player base they are quite rare (perhaps in part due to the fact they are just plain looking compared to other races). Lore mentions bearded women and are considered quite beautiful among dwarves, however, none are shown in game.
** Warcraft also features a few subraces for dwarves:
*** The main playble race is called Ironforge dwarves, who live in the city of Ironforge and follow the above information. Most Ironforge dwarves belong to the Bronzebeard clan.
*** The next is the Wildhammer dwarves who live above ground, live at peace with nature, fly gryphons as a major part of their culture, and are slightly [[Ax Crazy]]. Until they actually joined the Alliance they were fairly neutral and had good relations with the Horde-allied Tauren.
*** On the other end of the spectrum are the Dark Iron dwarves, who were until recently enslaved by a massive fire elemental (that they summoned in a failed attempt to destroy the other two clans). They're pyromaniacs and were [[
*** Beyond this you have earthen, which are stone-flesh creations of the titans that the dwarves evolved from, but besides being made of stone pretty much fit this trope to a tee, and...
*** The frost dwarves, who are the frozen counterparts to the Wildhammers. They are descended more directly from the Earthen as indicated by their proximity to the Titan Architecture found around their homeland.
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** Prior to Cataclysm, Dwarves mostly fit into the melee archetype, with their only available classes being physical damage dealers and tanks, with the exception of Priests and Holy Paladins. But after the expansion, Dwarves gained the ability to be Mages, Warlocks, and Shaman (explained in lore by the Wildhammer and Dark Iron clans joining Ironforge, with the Wildhammer teaching Shamanism and the Dark Iron bringing arcane and dark magic), making them the most versatile Alliance race (they can be everything but Druids), and make perfectly viable casters in addition to brawny melee and hunters, though their passive racial bonuses still favor melee more than magic.
* In ''[[Magical Starsign]]'', dwarves are basically [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|tiny balls of fluff]] who consist mainly of a beard with hands, feet, and beady little eyes. Not much is made of their physical prowess, but they're the best starship engineers in the galaxy.
* In [[Class of Heroes]], dwarves have the same typical culture of other dwarves, but they look [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706022111/http://www.atlus.com/classofheroes/students-dwarf.html more like beastmen]. Or [[Furry Fandom|furries]].
* Even ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' doesn't stray from the path too far. Yes, their dwarves are [http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/7-Foot_Dwarf_%28Royale%29 7-Feet Tall], but other than that they act exactly the same as here.
* A few deviations by the dwarves in ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins''. Dwarves speak with American (and Cockney in Bodahn's case) instead of Scottish accents, and are often mustachioed or even clean-shaven instead of bearded. In addition, dwarven alcohol is brewed from dirt and lichen and apparently tastes awful, to the extent that the one dwarven party member, Oghren, much prefers surfacer booze. Finally, dwarven women are readily distinguishable from the men and often quite attractive. They're also not especially honorable, or even fair, given one of the two remaining examples of their native society has many of them incredibly obsessed with status and rank. They still seem to take honor seriously, but if you can get away with poisoning or undermining rivals cleanly then they pretty much encourage it, similar to MANY cultures with strict honor codes and insular tendencies). In other regards, they play the trope dead straight, with a closed, insular, hidebound society (they have a rigid caste system); elaborately braided beards among the upper class; great underground halls; skill at mining and smithcraft; axes, hammers, and crossbows as their preferred (though not only) weapons, and heavy plate as their favored armor; squarish, angular motifs in their equipment and architecture; a fondness for ale; and so on and so forth.
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* ''[[Delve Deeper]]''. It's played mostly for laughs, but they're about as generic as it gets.
* In ''[[Battle Fantasia]]'', Donvalve is the [[Mighty Glacier|biggest character in the game]] and he's dressed in a very [[Steampunk]]-ish armor.
* ''[[Rune Factory 3]]'' introduces two dwarves. One is a craftsman and
* ''[[Rift]]'''s dwarves seem to be rather more inclined towards magic use than the usual, and don't always have beards. Also, the women are [[Cutesy Dwarf|ridiculously cute]].
* The dwarves in [[Diggles]] are a bit skinny and less grumpy, but borrow heavily from the dwarf stereotype.
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* The Dwarves of the old [[Might and Magic]] verse customized their dwarves by removing one of the traditional details: rather than hating elves, they were ''allies'' (up until Heroes IV). Well, except for [[Might and Magic]] VIII, but the Dark Dwarves of that game customized the model by being xenophobes to the point that no one is really sure if they are allies or servants of the Earth Elementals instead.
=== Web
* ''[[Twice Blessed]]'' has Vadim as a main character, who meets most dwarf stereotypes, but comes from a Russian-type culture and has a matching accent, drinks Vodka, uses the word "brother" in place of "laddie", and never seems to feel the need to point out that he is a dwarf.
* ''[[Unforgotten Realms]]'' averts this about as far as is possible. ''Any'' character which isn't obviously another species is invariably a Dwarf. Probably the only character who even has a beard is Sir Schmoopy of Awesometon, one of the two main player characters.
* The Dwarves in ''[[Looking for Group]]'' are either [https://web.archive.org/web/20170706003958/http://www.lfg.co/page/4/ classic] axe-brandishing, hard working sort exceptionally skilled architects, blacksmiths, and sappers. Or [https://web.archive.org/web/20171013101349/http://www.lfg.co/page/221/ the other sort] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20171013102013/http://www.lfg.co/page/175/ Clan Breem] aka "Diggers") - evil, pierced punks wearing black leather [[Spikes of Villainy|with spikes]], who are very, very good at digging and artillery.
** And Pella is quite shapely and fan-servicey, not fat and dumpy like dwarven females are so often depicted as.
* Although we have not actually met any dwarves in ''[[Digger]]'', they seem to go at least a little off model - they apparently use large amounts of magic in the construction of their underground cities. Digger the wombat does not approve, as that magic tends to wear off after a while if not carefully maintained, leaving abandoned dwarf cities as veritable deathtraps.
** Come to think of it, the wombats seem to fit the traditional dwarf mold pretty well, themselves.
* [[Goblin Hollow]] features [https://web.archive.org/web/20130303032813/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00059.html a girl who revolts at her dwarf character's having a beard]
* [[The Pig's Ear|Angus]] is a retired adventurer who now works as a pub chef, but otherwise fits the trope straight. So straight that the Scottish creator of the comic gave Angus (and Angus alone) a Scottish [[Funetik Aksent]].
* Flintlocke, of ''[[Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth]]'' plays around with this one. While he adheres to several Dwarf stereotypes, including a love of combat, [[No Indoor Voice|boisterous loudness]], a strange sort of Scottish accent, a few demonstrated instances of marked greed, and some impressive facial hair, he also happens to be something of a cross between a [[Gadgeteer Genius]] and a [[Mad Bomber]], and where most of the other Dwarves are shown as sensible individuals, Flintlocke is about as dumb as a pile of hammers. On more than a few occasions he's managed to outwit ''himself.'' It gets to the point that the ''[[Our Angels Are Different|Spirit Healer]]'' had to get a word in.
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* In ''[[Vanadys: Tales of a Fallen Goddess]]'', dwarfs (note the plural spelling) are the second most numerous race in the world next to humans, and live and work close to humans. The stereotypical dwarf is a keen businessman with a great talent for making money, and many human businesses employ a dwarf, or several, to handle their finances. Berrok, the main dwarf character in the comic, is a trenchcoat-clad [[Deadpan Snarker]] with a shady past.
===
* Dwarves in ''[[Tales of MU]]'' mostly follow the model, with a few additions. Their names have a Germanic flavor, they count in [[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|base seven]], and while they seem like a [[One-Gender Race]], it's been explained that male and female dwarves just don't get along. The one full-blooded female dwarf who appeared was not described with a beard. MU dwarves have a strong disposition for secrecy and privacy, though the college-going ones are willing to make exceptions for attractive women of other races. One recurring minor character, Gebhard, shows a somewhat fussy and fastidious nature.
* [[Limyaael's Fantasy Rants|Limyaael]] suggests that customizing the model is a [http://limyaael.livejournal.com/137511.html really good idea].
* The dwarves in ''[[Arcana Magi]]'' are techno savvy. One dwarf is on the Board of Directors for Avalon Tech Enterprises as head of the metal works division. One dwarf works there in the technology department.
== Parodies and radically different versions ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* It's becoming increasingly common in anime-derived art, including some video games, for female dwarves to be portrayed as cute young girls (often straying into [[Lolicon]] territory). Ymir from ''[[Queen's Blade]]'' is a prime example.
** ''[[Lineage II]]'' uses this
** The Japanese pen and paper RPG ''[[Sword World]]'' does this, with the female dwarves looking more like [[Our Gnomes Are Weirder|Gnomes]] than anything else.
* ''[[Slayers]]'': When Lina first meets Prince Philionel, she wonders whether this mountain of a man could be a dwarf - implying that dwarves in her world are not known for being short.
* ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]'' plays with the trope. Gareth, one of the three leaders of the Loki Familia (the most powerful adventuring group in Orario), is about as stereotypical a Dwarf as one can find. Mia, the owner of an inn, is tall, beardless, and obviously female... but still wants her patrons to order a lot so that she gets plenty of money, and can break a wooden bar with her fist.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', dwarves seem more like traditional pixies or fairies, being [[Lilliputians]] in size, but each [[Super Strength| as strong as a giant.]] (In one notorious scene involving them, [[Ms. Fanservice| Robin]] was a victim of a [[Gulliver Tie Down]].) Most of them have cute, chibi-like features and only the oldest ones have beards. They also have long, furry tails. Natives of Totto Land (in the Dressrosa Arc), their skills unfortunately make them valued by slavers, having been a [[Slave Race]] in Dressrosa until being liberated via [[Big Bad|Donquixote Doflamingo]] being overthrown.
=== Literature ===
* ''[[Discworld]]'' (where it is spelled "Dwarfs", just like Tolkien noted in the preface to later editions of ''The Hobbit''). Vimes' experience with them points to countryside dwarfs usually being quiet industrious types who don't cause trouble, and putting on airs of being rowdy and violent seem to be trait only annoyingly common in his city. This is probably because, unlike their home mines, the city won't cave in on their heads if they're noisy, and there's more beer available. Also they are German and Welsh as well as Scottish. Interestingly, given the Semitic roots of Tolkien's dwarvish language, there [[Fan Wank|are theories]] that Pratchett's dwarfs are Jewish-ish (quiet, hard-working, thrifty, very respectful of ancient traditions that they don't feel they necessarily follow as closely as they're supposed to...).
** The above description also fits many other ethnic and/or immigrant groups besides Jewish-ish.
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*** The love of gold, of course, is very probably from the miner/craftsman aspect (especially since it is often compared to their love of iron) making things seem very recursive. The Dwarfs seem to have the tendency of being put in the place of any immigrant ethnic group whether black (in ''Soul Music'' they come up with "Rap" or "Rat" music) or Muslim (''Thud'') or yes, Jewish. Trolls on the other hand, seem to be just be sentient rocks.
**** Trolls and Dwarfs do share a tradition of "Hole Music".
** Dwarf women are also often seen - however, they are physically indistinguishable from male Dwarfs. This has had an
*** Exemplified by Sergeant Cheery Littlebottom of the Ankh-Morpork Watch, who "comes out" as a female, wearing leather skirts, high-heeled boots, and makeup, much to the chagrin of other dwarfs; but is never without her iron helmet, battleaxe, and ''beard''.
*** This undergoes a change during the novels - in ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'' it's mentioned that part of a dwarf courtship is carefully finding out which gender the other dwarf is, while in ''[[Raising Steam]]'' {{spoiler|the Low King announcing that she's female and thus the Low Queen}}, while important to the dwarfs concerned, is presented as a minor plot point.
** Being a dwarf also seems to be more a matter of certain actions and traditions than a biological thing, as Captain Carrot is technically a dwarf despite also being a nearly seven foot human.
*** Carrot's making a nature/nurture point - culturally he's a dwarf. He was raised as a dwarf, by dwarvern parents and went through all the normal process of growing up as a dwarf. He may not be as hardline dwarfish as the Deep Uberwald dwarves - mainly due to coming from a surface dwarf community near Lancre - but is still more dwarfish than many an Ankhmorpork city dwarf. He questions the relevance of being (genetically) human in the light of all this.
*** It's pointed out several times that according to dwarf law and custom, Carrot actually is a dwarf. This tends to disturb other dwarfs meeting him for the first time, because they know something's not right but can't quite put their finger on specifically what it is, since their definition of "dwarf" doesn't actually say anything about height.
* And about as averted as you can get in ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' where Dwarves are human/mole/earthworm hybrids with [[Prehensile Hair|Prehensile Beards]] that burrow through the dirt by eating it and then crapping it out as fast as they do. Also, they can suck in water through their skin (a dehydrated dwarf can use this to [[Wall Crawl]]!), and their saliva is a fast-hardening, glow-in-the-dark anesthetic.
** Also, far from being traditional, they tend to have a healthy disregard for the law. They also tend to [[Big Eater|eat anything]] regardless of whether it is alive or sentient. Plus, rather than fighting [[Elves vs. Dwarves|elves]], they have a long standing rivalry with [[Our Goblins Are
* Niven and Barnes were probably playing homage to this trope with Mary-Martha "Mary-Em" Corbett, an eccentric live-action Gamer from the Dream Park novels. Though human, she's 4'1" tall, is built like a muscular fire hydrant, wields a halberd (~battleax), is [[The Big Guy]] of her adventuring party, guzzles beer like a pro, calls a spade a spade, and sings repetatively while she's marching. Although her songs tend to be a hell of a lot raunchier than this trope usually allows.
* ''The Soddit'', being a parody of ''[[The Hobbit]]'', starts by taking the traditional portrayal of dwarves up to eleven and then some, although with ludicrously exaggerated Welsh accents, rather than Scottish ones (well, what would you expect a race of miners to sound like, look you, bach?). It's revealed early on, however, that dwarves ''hate'' having beards, it's just that they're allergic to shaving soap. Later, when Bingo Grabbins [[Fridge Logic|questions]] how they could have possibly carved the great caverns of the Mines of Black Maria with hand-axes (or, as the dwarves themselves claim, trowels), they're forced to admit that they didn't; all the mountains in Upper-Middle Earth are naturally hollow. And at the end of the book it turns out that {{spoiler|dwarves are the larval form of dragons}}.
* In the ''[[Dragaera]]'' novels written by Steven Brust, Easterners, who are identical to real-world humans, are sometimes called "dwarfs" by the tall, elf-like Dragaerans. Easterner society is based on medieval Eastern Europe rather than anything resembling Celtic or Nordic. The Serioli come a bit closer, living underground and forging powerful magical weapons, but are otherwise completely different.
==
* In ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'', dwarves are always "male", are asexual, and are hatched in groups of 8, fully grown (and fully clothed) from ''eggs''. Their names are magically given to them by their pick-axes based on their personality, and it's their job as a species to crush diamonds into fairy dust.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* Matt Cavotta, art director for ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', wrote a column about the lack of dwarves in ''Magic''. He starts with the stereotypical red dwarf and changes it step by step into the ideal, red dwarf. Results are ... [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mc14b interesting].
===
* ''[[Overlord]]'' deliberately exaggerates all dwarf stereotypes for comedic effect. Drinking, mining gold, hoarding gold, doing something altogether unsanitary to gold, sporting gigantic beards, wielding enormous axes, and harassing elves is basically their entire function. They have even less personality than the elves, which is impressive considering that the elves spend all their lives bewailing their lot and [[Our Elves Are Better|talking about how awesome they used to be]]. In fact, the only sound you get from a dwarf is a grunt. Followed by axe swing/flamethrower.
* Aside from alcoholism and beards, ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' lets you play them however you want.
* The Ura of ''[[Bastion]]'' are an odd combination of dwarves and [[Wutai]].
* ''[[Shadow Hearts|Shadow Hearts: Covenant]]'' features a monster called [http://shadowhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Duergar Duergar] <ref>Duergar is the Norse name for dwarves</ref> that was once a stereotypical Dwarf but his hatred of humankind warped him into a creature resembling a bug-eyed alien of some sorts.
* '' [[Valhalla Knights]]'' Have Dwarves who are tall and have somewhat dark skin, they also have alot of Markings/Tattoos and the males don't sseem to have anything more then a goatee if even that. According to the manual, although the Males are still stereotypical Bruisers, Females have increased intelligence and resistance, which is lead to believe they can be farily good spell casters, although they are still great front liners (which when you think about it, means they'd probably be the least 'Squishy' Spellcaster.). They also don't appear to have any issues with Elves.
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' -- [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the quote on the quotes page. Further, Durkon's accent is so inseparable that it even appears in his written speech; though Roy is confused by it, it could be assumed that the dwarves he is writing his letter to would find it natural.
** Also, Durkon gets along about as well as anyone does with their resident elven [[Insufferable Genius]], Vaarsuvius. He is, however, deathly afraid of trees.
* In ''[[DM of the Rings]]'', Gimli brings up the characteristic of dwarves. Aragorn, Legolas, and the DM mention a handful of other things than what he meant.
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* ''[[The Dreadful]]'' gives us [[Ax Crazy]] Burke, who is less like a typical dwarf and more like an [[Expy]] of Yosemite Sam.
=== Web Original ===
* [http://www.geneticanomaly.com/RPG-Motivational/slides/dwarf.html This motivational poster], depicting a [[Lineage]] dwarf.
* It may be difficult to find these days, but an old Gamespy comedy feature article were two writers comparing various things (like sorcerers versus warriors) and once, [[Elves vs. Dwarves]] came up. They pointed out that there are many different depictions of elves, but dwarves tend to all be the same.
* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120825172633/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00729.html dwarves] are practically blind, their toes are prehensile, and their beards are actually a thick coat of fur sprouting out of their chests
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy]]'': The dwarves [[Elves Versus Dwarves|launch an attack on the elves]], in revenge for being stuck farming mushrooms while the ([[Christmas Elves|Santa-esque]]) elves got the much more profitable cookie business.
** "Release the GIANT ONE-EYED DWARF!"
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Our Monsters Are Different]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
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[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
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