Tolkien dwarves kick ass. Master smiths and craftsmen, fearless warrior, loyal friends - what’s not to love?
They weren’t perfect, as was obvious from The Hobbit. If Thorin was any example they could be prideful, stiff necked, possessive, and parochial. Mountains could wear away before a dwarf would forgive or forget a wrong done them. They could be fearless warriors, or as useless as Bombur.
Pratchett has the trolls and dwarves as Jewish and Islamic people, but it’s not always clear to me which is which
…And it never even occurred to me that the Troll/Dwarf conflict was a metaphor for the Jewish/Islamic conflict.
I thought that was particularly visible in Thud!
Oh, yeah, it’s absolutely obvious, now that you mentioned it. I just somehow missed noticing it before.