Whether Dragon Age, The Witcher or World of Warcraft: Dwarves are part of the inventory in most fantasy settings. And they are almost always excellent blacksmiths, stonemasons or other masters of a craft. But why actually? There are old legends behind it.
Dwarves. The small, human-like people from the mountains. Most often depicted with a full beard, hard drinking and pride as tall as the shoulders are wide. And more stubborn than almost any other people. The stubborn tank in every MMORPG? Mostly a dwarf.
These mostly short and stocky fellows are not only robust, grumpy and bearded, but also mostly one thing above all: master blacksmiths, virtuoso stonemasons and handy with all kinds of tools.
Tolkien already portrayed the craftsmanship of the dwarves as some of the best in the world in his Lord of the Rings. And with this the writer refers very precisely to the origin of the people, which has its origins in Nordic legends.
Tolkien’s dwarves are even the model for an entire game, Return to Moria:
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria PS5 Launch Trailer
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Dwarves are literally the flesh of the primordial giant
Like so many other things that we encounter today in all sorts of forms, especially in the fantasy genre, the dwarves also have a connection to or even their origin in Nordic mythology. It was recorded and disseminated in the Song and Prose Edda – collections of old Nordic sagas, legends and poems.
There are stories about creatures living in the underground of Svartalfheim (i.e. the home of the black elves) who are said to have been completely black on the outside. Literally translated, dwarves are actually black elves – although the old word for elves can have several meanings here and the relationship to the elves we know is controversial.
The dwarves, who according to legend were born from the flesh of the giant Ymir, were close to the gods. It was not uncommon for people to have respect for each other. However, there were also those who shamelessly exploited the dwarves’ craftsmanship in order to enrich themselves from the results or to have better weapons than the other deities.
Every result is a critical success
Dwarves are in possession of great wisdom and, in addition to their technical skills, also have magical powers. They also often made use of this when it came to forging weapons and jewelry. Things that weren’t for just anyone, but for none other than the gods themselves.
And when the customer base consists (almost) exclusively of deities, it quickly becomes clear that only goods of the best quality will be good enough. So it happened that the dwarves had no choice but to forge and forge again day in and day out.
So it’s no wonder that they only further improved their already – in the truest sense – God-given abilities. And some of her works can still be found time and again today in many different entertainment media.
Also very well known is the spear of the All-Father Odin, Gungnir. The dwarves gave it particularly powerful magic when forging it. This made it a weapon that not only caused terrible storms when wielded. Whenever Gungnir was thrown at a clear target, he hit it every time without exception.
Of course there weren’t just weapons. Among the dwarves’ marvels were Freyja’s necklace, the Brisingamen, and her half-brother Freyr’s ship, Skidbladnir.
The modern dwarf and his traces
Various weapons and other dwarven-made things have found their way into our favorite medium in various ways: video games. But what about the dwarves themselves? Where and how do we encounter them in all the games that were not least inspired by Nordic mythology?
One of the oldest franchises that is still getting new content today and in which dwarves play a role is Warcraft. Dwarves are already part of the playable people in the strategy game Warcraft 2 from 1995. Incidentally, Blizzard only released the old Warcraft parts again as a remaster in 2024.
World of Warcraft (2004) was one of the first games in which you could even play as a dwarf. Although you started in the city of Ironforge or Ironforge, Blizzard had already come up with a lore with clans, conflicts and stories.
JRR Tolkien and his influence on gaming
Dwarves are such a popular motif in gaming that there is now a separate dwarf category on Steam in which only dwarf games can be classified. Valve initially resisted this, but dwarf fans are stubborn.
The most defining species, however, is none other than the dwarf created by Tolkien. In Return to Moria you play as a dwarf who has to dig himself out of the deep mines after an accident – if possible without awakening anything from the depths.
Return to Moria lets you experience Tolkien’s version of the dwarves in detail and shows you their blacksmithing and, above all, their stonemasonry skills. You discover sunken cities that are only briefly touched upon in the film.
Dwarves have been part of many games with a (high) fantasy setting for over 40 years and have been interpreted in different ways for just as long. But this back and forth is by no means limited to the games. Dwarves were constantly changing in terms of their nature depending on the era, religion and culture.
Of course, beer is also very important for dwarves! Those who celebrate well work better.
From the evil offender to the friendly blacksmith next door
Over the centuries since they were first mentioned, dwarves have been attributed many different characteristics. After their glorious time as the smiths of the gods, they often also stood for evil and treacherous things. They were said to have once been devious creatures who committed no crime, from dastardly pranks to child abductions.
For a long time they were suspicious and greedy creatures who spared no effort to enrich themselves. Sharing with others was less likely to occur to them. Especially not if these others weren’t dwarves. The dwarves placed a curse on their treasures so that they would turn into ordinary stones once the thieves got home with them.
Then there were the times when they were the nice little helpers in fairy tales – and therefore the complete opposite. The almost stupid dwarves who, for example, gave Snow White shelter out of pure charity without first receiving anything of equal value from her.
Either way, they were often reduced to a minimum that was little more than an almost interchangeable addition. They were neither in the service of the gods or at least kings, nor did they have any powers of any kind worth mentioning. For the sake of simplicity, they had been robbed of their depth of character.
It was only with Tolkien’s stories “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” that the dwarves again became multi-dimensional characters who played a central role. This version of the small folk would later serve as a blueprint for pretty much every fantasy dwarf. Whether for novels, films or video games, Tolkien’s version of the bearded dwarf, which closely follows the Nordic original, is still the dominant archetype today.
What type of dwarf are you and who is your favorite dwarf?
If you ever find yourself in the situation of having a grilled dwarf in front of you, it’s questionable how you got there, but at least one gamer couldn’t resist the temptation to give it a try: Player accidentally eats a dwarf in Baldur’s Gate 3 , is surprised by the result