Arcane Topic Warning: Part the Fourth

[Kuruharan]

Disclaimer: This particular topic in my little series contains approximately one (maybe slightly less) original idea attributable to me. The rest have been shamelessly looted from other places, particularly Michael Martinez’s article “Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves” so you may just want to go read that rather than this. When you do so, it will become evident that I am indebted to him for a number of other ideas from my other little topics, although I disagree with or expand upon a number of his points.

Anyway, with that pitiful excuse of an excuse out of the way…

You may recall that in my prior topic I said…

What I think other inter-Dwarven warfare could be referring to I’ll save for my fourth arcane topic.

Well, here it is…my take on Dwarf vs. Dwarf.

The critical passage in question to start this up is…

A warlike race of old were all the Naugrim, and they would fight fiercely against whomsoever aggrieved them: servants of Melkor, or Eldar, or Avari, or wild beasts, or not seldom their own kin, Dwarves of other mansions and lordships.”
-"Of the Sindar" emphasis mine

Unfortunately, as far as I know, that is the only time that Tolkien mentioned this type of warfare (although, if somebody could point me to something I’ve missed/forgotten/blatantly overlooked I’d appreciate it).

For the early period, I may as well quote Martinez…

The other fact is that the Dwarves fought among themselves. Although the nature of these feuds or wars is never discussed, it may be that if there was a primeval Dwarven community it dispersed not so much due to population pressure but perhaps in part due to rivalries among the various houses. As the Dwarven population grew food would be more and more difficult to acquire (except through trade with the Elves) unless the Dwarves grew their own, and the essay on "Dwarves and Men" says they preferred not to grow food if they could avoid doing so. And yet as the population increased the Dwarves would also have to develop greater sophistication in governing themselves, and thus rival factions may have developed.

This is, of course, entirely speculative, but it seems evident that Tolkien envisioned some close interaction among the early Dwarves which eventually was replaced by more distant and cool relations. Durin the Deathless appears to have been generally revered by all the Dwarves as the eldest of their race and the longest lived. He would have possessed a considerable presence among their early kings after the other fathers had died off. Durin's Folk, the Longbeards, were not directly descended from him -- not in the first generations. Unlike the other fathers Durin did not have a mate made by Aule. So he had to find a wife from among the children or grand-children of the other fathers. And his people were originally recruited from the other houses as well. The Longbeards would thus have been the most cosmopolitan and mainstream group of Dwarves as variations in customs and preferences began to appear among them.

Durin's presence among the early Dwarves begs the question of when they actually began founding cities. He is credited with founding Khazad-dum, which bears the distinction (among Dwarf cities) of being the only location named for the entire Dwarven race ("Khazad-dum" = "Dwarf-mansion"). It may be incorrect to suppose that Gundabad served as a home for the Dwarves for very long. Durin may have brought the Dwarven people south to Khazad-dum instead, and though he was called Deathless because he long outlived the other fathers of the Dwarves, the day did come when he died.

Suppose that critical event which led to the dispersion of the Dwarves across Middle-earth were the death of Durin? If he had been the glue holding them together in a united tradition, and if their increasing numbers had gradually strained their ability to support themselves, then Durin's successor and his fellow kings may have decided that the time was ripe for a change in Dwarven society. Instead of all Dwarves living together the six other houses departed from Khazad-dum and returned to the lands where their forefathers awoke.

This explanation for early conflict seems entirely reasonable. Another possible instance could be whatever it was that caused the expulsion of the Petty-Dwarves. However, Tolkien’s statement seems to imply that fighting continued beyond this point.

In my previous topic I commented…

However, warfare amongst the Dwarven Houses after the very early period when they were all together would have been, in many ways, a rather impractical affair. The early stage warfare that may or may not have taken place when all Seven Houses were together in the Misty Mountains would have been before the Eastern Houses fell into evil. After Dwarven civilization split up and went its separate ways it would have been difficult (to put it mildly) for the “good” Western Houses to go fight the “evil” Eastern Houses. First of all, just getting there would have been almost impossibly difficult. Then after they got there, what were they supposed to do except just burn and kill everything in sight (which would not have been very easy anyway) and then turn around and leave? It just does not seem very practical or useful.

There I was specifically discussing Good Dwarves vs. Evil Dwarves but any fighting carried out between houses that were based in widely distant mountain ranges would experience the same problems. How then do we reconcile the statement that such dwarf vs. dwarf fighting took place at least enough for the Elves to hear about it? I think one obvious potential solution is that the houses that were located in close proximity to each other (like Nogrod and Belegost) would be likely candidates for participating in this kind of activity. The impression I have is that the Blacklocks and Stonefoots were also based fairly close to each other and the same holds true for the Ironfists and Stiffbeards. If each pair of houses were near, they would likely be in competition for resources and things could all to easily get out of hand. There would be a near limitless source of conflict there. How often this would have happened is anybody’s guess. I suppose it would depend on what else was going on at the time. If there was an external threat, infighting was probably tamped down. If there was nothing much going on…well, boredom does set in… However, there is a slight problem in that Nogrod and Belegost were the ones facing a long-term external threat in Morgoth, but they are the only ones that the Elves could have known about fighting each other…

This may go a long way toward explaining the long-lasting prosperity of the Longbeards. They did not have a direct rival living just the other side of the valley.