Sites
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Meta
- Follow The Dwarrow Scholar on WordPress.com
Tag Archives: Dwarves
Could a Dwarf Fall in Love with an Elf?
Could a Dwarf fall in love with an Elf, Man or Hobbit? A closer look at what Tolkien tells us about Dwarven love, marriage, family, biology and relationships with other peoples. Continue reading
Posted in Life & Death, Marriage, Women
Tagged children, Dwarven Marriage, Dwarves, love, races
Leave a comment
The Fields Beneath The Mountain
Rethinking Dwarven Agriculture: A 2026 Revisit Many years ago, I asked a question Tolkien, quite understandably, never spent a great many pages answering: What did the Dwarves eat? Here we aren’t talking about the cakes the Dwarves scoffed when visiting … Continue reading
The Hidden Characteristics of Khuzdul
Tolkien gives us very little spoken Khuzdul, but Dwarvish speech in the Common Tongue may still preserve traces of its social habits. This article explores guarded speech, politeness, formal courtesy, mining and craft metaphors, language shift, and the ways Neo-Khuzdul develops these patterns further. Continue reading
Posted in Language, Uncategorized
Tagged diglossia, Durin's Folk, Dwarves, dwarvish, Dwarvish culture, Dwarvish language, Gimli, Khazad-dûm, khuzdul, language shift, Longbeards, moria, neo-khuzdul, politeness, Thorin Oakenshield, tolkien, Westron
Leave a comment
Possible Sources and Influences in Tolkien’s Khuzdul: A Comparative Etymological Review
Introduction This review examines the known and reconstructed words of Khuzdul one by one, looking for possible sources of inspiration behind Tolkien’s Dwarvish vocabulary. Each entry considers the form and meaning of a Khuzdul word and compares it, where a … Continue reading
The Extraordinary Longevity of Khuzdul
Linguistic Conservatism, Mobility and Institutionalisation Introduction One of the most remarkable statements Tolkien made about Khuzdul is not that the language changed very little, but how little it changed despite the immense distances and periods involved. The history of the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Language, Uncategorized
Tagged Dwarves, khuzdul, language evolution
Leave a comment
How Geology Shaped the Great Dwarven Mansions
When we think of Dwarven architecture in Tolkien’s legendarium, we often imagine vast halls, endless pillars, and cities carved deep beneath the mountains. Yet one crucial factor is often overlooked: the stone itself. Not all mountains are alike. And for … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Aglarond, Blue Mountains, Dwarves, Dwarvish Halls, Erebor, Geology, Grey Mountains, Iron HIlls, Khazad-dûm
Leave a comment
On the Governance of the Dwarven Clans
A study of Dwarven political structures in Tolkien’s legendarium General Note: While this study refers to the Seven Clans as a whole, the available material is overwhelmingly drawn from the history of Durin’s Folk. The Longbeards are by far the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Life & Death
Tagged durin, Dwarves, Erebor, khuzdul, line of durin, moria, neo-khuzdul
1 Comment
Slow to Be Born, On Dwarven Reproduction
A Reconsideration of Dwarven Gestation Length It has been a long while since I last posted on this blog, as I have mainly been writing through Tumblr in recent years, often in the form of replies to questions rather than … Continue reading
Is Durin’s Day upon us ?
UPDATE 2026: The interpretation of Durin’s Day presented in this article has been superseded.When I wrote this in 2013, I treated the Dwarvish New Year and Durin’s Day as two separate dates, with Durin’s Day following roughly two days after … Continue reading
Posted in Calendar & Festivals
Tagged Astronomy, autumn, calendar, Durin's Day, Dwarves, equinox, moon, New Year, secret door, thorin, threshold of winter
11 Comments
Traditional Dwarven Map of Middle-Earth
This has been a work in progress for some time now… in between other items whenever I had a moment to spare. This might be a bit odd to look at, at first, but as is traditional among the Dwarves, … Continue reading
