#tolkiens dwarves
Thorin
Pros:
-buys the best food
-remembers when the bills are due
-will do the dishes
Cons:
-his bedroom is cluttered as heck
-he likes hisspace
-he hates decorating for any holiday
A day may come when the longing lullaby of this song and the voices of Thorin and Company fail to stir my soul toward places far away, but it is not this day.
In the Silmarillion Tolkien says that dwarves, or as they prefer to be called dwarrows, are made by Aule in secret. I always found it a bit weird, considering Tolkien was a Catholic (a religion who names God as sole creator). However, dwarves keep their culture secret and the Silmarillion is rather biased towards the elves, so here is my interpretation!
Dwarves were created by Eru, who is the sole entity that can give life. Where does Aulë come in? The dwarves are Aulë to care for, to guard, and to eventually wake. Perhaps they were suppose to be men but Aulë in his excitement and impatience, woke them up too early and/or added some genetic modifications? Can we be surprised? Curiosity is what drives Aulë drive to create.
Of course, Eru is unhappy with him, because not the dwarves are not what it intended them to be and he has, altered the song. Realizing his errors and grief stricken for having offended Eru, Aulë offers to destroy them. Eru halts his hand, the dwarrows are STILL his children BUT because of Aulë’s interference in their creation Aulë is their father as well. Aule has fundamentally altered their development and ultimately their purpose.
For the dwarves the Life-Giver is a feminine figure that they refer to as the Great Mother. They call Aulë father, and their prayers for everyday things are addressed to him because the Aulë is less removed. Like they pray to him for luxurious beards (*caugh* Kili son of Dìs *cough*), and to keep the fire in their forge hot, but in more serious instances, like childbirth, they address the Life-Giver.
When the dwarves establish contracts, or have hold trials, they turn to the Life-Giver, because they associate it with justice, mercy, and life. If most of their temples are dedicated to Aulë, it’s because nothing can encompass the gift that is life. This is why they Elves believe Aulë is the creator of dwarves. Rather they offer intangible gifts to the life-giver, like Gimli offered the distance he ran to the Life-Giver, or a mother might offer the pains of her labor.
