# differences between humans and dwarfs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015 "2007-08-26T20:21:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015/21 "2007-08-27T17:02:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Something that always bugged me about Tolkien was that the dwarves didn’t have anything on the elves, really. Dwarves do have one huge advantage over the other Children of Illuvatar: They’re essentially uncorruptable. An elf can be driven to reject the Valar, or to ally with the Enemy, or to kill for a lady’s hand, but about the worst impact that evil can have on a dwarf is to increase their miserly tendancies. Also, on the subject of craftsmanship, while the Elves have a few outstanding craftsmen, the Dwarves are still better overall. If you took a list of the greatest smiths of all history (excluding the Ainur, of course), the elves would have the top four or five spots, but after that, it’d be almost all dwarves. Even an average dwarf is better at making things than all but the best members of the other races: Despite being trained primarily for war, Gimli still has the skill to make synthetic gemstones. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015/22 "2007-08-27T19:19:38Z")
> [@](#): > > - Dwarves do not have a upper limit on their lifespan, and usually do not become enfeebled with age. They do definitely get craggier and greyer with age and in practice usually die eventually in battle or accident. Sorta like oak trees. As discussed by others, Dwarves are typically not portrayed as immortal, though they do have a longer lifespan than humans and are not much prone to disease or the kind of infirmities elderly humans typically must endure. > [@](#): > > - Dwarves are not only shorter than men but proportionally stockier as well. Especially in upper body strength, they can be as strong or stronger than the human norm. Think of a Dwarf as having considerably greater mass than the average human, though packed into a shorter frame of denser material (they’re often said to spring from stone itself). > [@](#): > > - There’s less sexual dimorphism in dwarves than humans; dwarf females usually look and dress like the males. To everyone else’s eye, certainly, but Dwarves know the difference instantly. > [@](#): > > - Dwarves are extraordinarily hardy against wounds, disease and poison. Yup. > [@](#): > > - It’s very rare for a dwarf to be purely evil, but quite often they can be greedy, stiffnecked, prideful and parochial. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I agree wholeheartedly. > [@](#): > > - Dwarves prefer when possible to live in excavated warrens rather than build aboveground. They prefer to be closer to the living rock from which they are said to have been formed by (insert name of creator). It also means they don’t have to hike over hill and dale on their short, stubby legs to get to work each day. > [@](#): > > - Dwarven craftmanship is first rate, often out-and-out magical. Well, they lock themselves away for decades at a time, removed from distractions, working goodness-knows how many hours at a shift, pursuing perfection with a steadfast resolve beyond the pathetic capabilities of humans. Not to mention being possessed of trade secrets handed down from untold generations of fanatically secretive ancestors. As to the works of their hands being magic, a dwarf in a modest mood might, with great reluctance, admit that the gods themselves choose to bestow their blessings on items whose craftsmanship is worthy of their attention. > [@](#): > > - When there are three major humanoid races, of which humans are one and dwarves are the second, the dwarves and the third race are often antagonist (elves in Tolkein, trolls in Discworld, etc.) Elves and dwarves might be seen as representatives of two opposing perfections: the ideal and the physical. Consider that elves are eternal, wise, and according to some writers (Tolkien), their physical form is merely a projection into the earthly plain of a being that is almost entirely spirit (like the shadows on the wall of Plato’s cave). Dwarves, on the other hand, are _really_ real. They dwell in the hard, cold realities of the physical world, but possess sufficient strength, determination and hardiness to imbue perfection into their crafts. Being representatives of opposing philosophies, it is only natural that they should gravitate away from one another and work together only with great reluctance. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015/23 "2007-08-27T21:37:25Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Ooh! Cite?! 🙂 Dwarves seem to have a low sex drive, with some [notable exceptions.](http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Giamo_Casanunda) [/QUOTE] [http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/bes.html](http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/bes.html) > [@](#): > > It is unknown why Bes was depicted as a dwarf. In Egypt, there are examples of dwarfs living in Egypt - from Seneb, who was rich enough to afford a tomb where he is shown with his normal sized wife and child, to personal attendants in the royal family, to entertainers and jesters. Other examples of dwarfs were a predynastic drawing of the “Dwarf Zer” from Abtu (Abydos) and a 5th Dynasty statuette of Khnumhotep from Saqqara. It seems that dwarfs were accepted members of Egyptian society, and they possibly had an important part in the Egyptian religion, being linked with Bes. There are also confused references that may refer to Pygmies ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015/24 "2007-08-27T21:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=Max the Immortal] A male dwarf without a beard is a true rarity, though. [/QUOTE] In one of the Dragonlance novels, a famous dwarf hero shaves his own beard (something forcibly done to dis-honored dwarfs) to protest what he feels is a great dis-honor done to his clan when they go to war against other dwarfs. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015/25 "2007-09-11T18:39:50Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Something that always bugged me about Tolkien was that the dwarves didn’t have anything on the elves, really. . [/QUOTE] But why would they? In LOTR elves were better at almost everything, than just about anyone else, and better looking to boot. FWIW, I remember that dwarf miners (another stock portrayal) also appear in _The Phantom Tollbooth_, in the Numbers Mine. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015/26 "2007-09-11T19:54:15Z")
the dwarf priests get fear ward. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-humans-and-dwarfs/417015.md?page=1)