Dwarfs (Discworld)
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Dwarfs in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are similar to the Dwarves of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, which they largely started out as a homage to, and dwarfs/dwarves in other fantasy novels. In other words; short, stocky, bearded metal-workers, generally seen wearing armour and brandishing axes. However, they have many unique qualities.
(As the above indicates, incidentally, Pratchett uses the plural "dwarfs", not Tolkien's "dwarves", and "dwarfish" instead of "dwarven".)
Dwarfs originate from the Ramtops and Überwald, but many have moved down to the Sto Plains (Ankh-Morpork is now the largest dwarfish colony on the Disc outside of Überwald).
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[edit] Biology and psychology
Dwarfs are shorter and wider than humans, nearly always bearded (with the exception of Count Casanunda), and live to about 300. Despite this, the dividing line between dwarfs and humans seems somewhat blurred, and Pratchett has hinted that humans and dwarfs can interbreed, for example, Nanny Ogg's thick skull is put down to dwarfish ancestry. Dwarfs see their dwarfishness as a matter of culture, rather than genetics or height. Hence, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson is accepted as a dwarf, despite being a six-foot tall human.
As Tolkien implied of his dwarves, Discworld dwarfs of both sexes have beards. However, while Tolkien stated that female dwarves are rare, and disguise themselves as male when they must travel, female Discworld dwarfs are common, but are traditionally indistinguishable from males at all times. Dwarfs tend not to concern themselves much with this; the dwarfish language has a gender neutral pronoun, usually rendered as "he" when speaking human languages. Dwarfish courtship is an incredibly tactful affair, primarily concerned with finding out which gender the other dwarf is.
Most dwarfs are intensely literal-minded, even by Discworld standards, and have absolutely no sense of metaphor or allusion. There are exceptions; the greatest playwright on the Discworld is a dwarf named Hwel. Despite their mistrust of outright metaphor, the dwarfs do have a deep love of word association, as long as such associations are direct. For instance, their word for "smelter" is also their word for a police investigator, since the two are said to be performing the same task, separating out the dross to uncover the pure truth beneath. The senior advisor to the Low King is called an "ideas taster," and in their language, if someone "sees the light", he has been blinded by the morals of surface society.
Their scientific or species name (in Latatian) is Hortus decorus (i.e. "Lawn ornament").
[edit] Culture and society
Dwarfs tend to be miners. They have a natural fascination with minerals (especially iron and gold) and feel more comfortable underground. Their mining has lead to a longstanding enmity with trolls, who are made of rock, and have a tendency to remain motionless for long periods. The most famous troll/dwarf fight was the Battle of Koom Valley, in which both sides are traditionally said to have ambushed the other, on several occasions. Each time shouting "Remember Koom Valley!". The dwarfish board game of Thud commemorates this/these battle(s). The full history of the battle is revealed in Thud!.
A dwarfish community is run by a dezka-knik or chief mining engineer, a title usually loosely translated into Morporkian as "king". All dwarfs owe allegiance to the Low King, (a parody of High King) who is selected by council in the Überwald dwarf city of Schmaltzberg. The current Low King is Rhys Rhysson, son of a small coal-mining clan in Llamedos. He got the job largely because he wasn't from a significant Ramtop or Überwald family (see below). The Low King acts as a final court of appeal in disputes.
The primary weapon other than bread products (see below) in dwarf culture is the axe, which is often used even when the frequently confined spaces of underground tunnels make them impractical. A traditional dwarfish axe is multifunctional; one side is a pickaxe used for prospecting, and the other side is a battleaxe used if anyone tries to stop you. Axes are so important culturally that dwarfish Ankh-Morpork City Watch members are allowed to use them instead of the regulation swords, and both male and female dwarfs typically carry a (decorative) axe to social functions. Cheery Littlebottom's attempts to feminise this tradition have not been met with great success, at least by human standards.
There is a tendency among dwarfs, who in their native mines are often soft-spoken, filial and respectful, to suddenly transform into beer-swilling, brawling, axe-waving cliches when they go abroad. Some dwarfs attempt to project greater machismo by carrying more and larger axes, and wearing heavier and more elaborate armour than standard. This is known as "clang" (a play on bling).
When dwarfs are married, it is customary for the debts to their parents (consisting of all the money spent on them before they married, such as for food and lodgings) to be paid off by their partner. However, it is then common for the new couple's parents to turn around and present them with a wedding gift even larger than the debt, so this may be seen as ceremonial.
[edit] Religion
Dwarfish society has no religion, but does have gods "just in case". Their creator god, called Tak, is believed by the dwarfs to have fashioned the three races of the Discworld, Dwarf, Human and Troll, from a geode. Tak is said to have "written the Laws," and "written the world", in that order (in a similar vein to Jewish theology). For this reason Dwarfs place a very high value on words and writing, and the destruction of a word (such as say, erasing a blackboard) is seen as a reprehensible crime by the strictest of conservatives. Despite this, Tak is not worshipped; he left after creating the world and demands little from his believers. As Grag Bashfullsson says in Thud!, "Tak does not require that we think of Him, only that we think." Further details of these gods are not known, with the exception of the trickster, Agi Hammerthief. Dwarfs do not believe in demons or similar either, but traditionally bury their dead with good weapons in case the demons don't know about the fact.
In place of demons, they do have several dozen different words for "dark", many of which are highly mystical and dangerous, such as the "closing dark," the "calling dark" and the "waiting dark" (the dark that waits to fill new holes). Worst of all is the "Summoning dark", which is said to have a mind of its own and to seek out and corrupt certain victims susceptible to it.
In the past, a significant part of dwarfish culture was the "Knockerman", who went into mines ahead of the other dwarfs to check for firedamp. The Knockermen wore leather armour, designed to be shock-absorbing, and conical leather hats. The ones who returned were respected for their bravery, and told stories of hearing the hammering of dead dwarfs trying to tunnel back into the world and Great A'Tuin's heartbeat. They became advisors and lawmakers. If dwarfs had a religion they would have been considered priests. It is possible that these are the "grags" (renowned masters of Dwarvish lore) mentioned in Thud!, though they would be more akin to rabbis or imams than priests.
This fell out of practice in the Ramtops when a dwarf in Ankh-Morpork invented the Davy lamp. The Überwald dwarfs, however, felt the Knockermen were too important to be replaced by a device, and this caused something of a rift between the two groups. Many traditionalist Überwald dwarfs now refuse to come to the surface at all and, if they must, wear the Knockerman's outfit to protect themselves from the sun. They are called drudak'ak, which translates as "they don't get out in the fresh air enough". In Morporkian they are called "deep-downers"
[edit] Feminisation
Another recent development is the trend for young dwarfs in Ankh-Morpork and elsewhere to be openly female. This trend seems to have been started by Cheery Littlebottom, a member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who was surprised at the way human females distinguished themselves from males. The trend seems to have been picked up in the Ramtops (where some dwarfs already had names like Gloria Thogsdaughter), but is something else found offensive by Überwald traditionalists. Since, historically, the "typical" dwarf was not actually assumed to be male (it was more the question being deemed irrelevant) this is a curious reaction, except inasmuch as the disapproval is of dwarfs not (in the drudak'ak's opinion) acting like dwarfs.
It is not yet known what the effect has been on dwarfish society of certain strong hints by Low King Rhys that he is, in fact, Low Queen Rhys, and may be getting a dressmaker.
[edit] Cuisine
Bread is also a significant part of dwarf culture throughout the Disc. Dwarf bread is like hardtack, only more so. It will enable you to survive for days (by making you realise you are surrounded by things that look more edible) and never goes stale, possibly because it was always stale. Its primary use is as a weapon (although it is also used as a kind of currency), and it is made in many different types. These include boomerang biscuits, drop scones and close-combat crumpets. Reportedly the process of "forging" a loaf of dwarf bread includes gravel as part of the recipe, and kitty litter is apparently a preferred seasoning. (It is a parody of cram and waybread.) The Low King sits on an (apparently) ancient loaf of dwarf bread called the Scone of Stone (a parody of the Stone of Scone).
Besides dwarf bread, dwarfish cuisine consists largely of things found underground, such as fungi, rodents and bits of rock. Rat is a staple of the dwarf diet, provided it's completely covered in ketchup or a similar sauce to hide the taste. Ankh-Morpork's rich abundance of rats is one of its main selling points to potential dwarf immigrants.
[edit] Language
The language of Discworld Dwarfs (Kad'k) bears a superficial resemblance to Khuzdul, in that it has a lot of guttural k's and z's. It is not spoken much in front of humans (the drudak'ak often speak nothing else, but avoid speaking to humans). Dwarfs who speak Morporkian invariably translate any meaningful parts of their name when doing so.
Kad'k is famed for having no words for rock. It has hundreds of words describing different kinds of rock, but not a single word that simply means "rock", much like the Inuit language supposedly has many words for different kinds of snow (in fact a fallacy, see here). "Show a dwarf a rock and he sees, for example, an inferior piece of crystalline sulphite of barytes." (Witches Abroad)
Known words and phrases, besides those mentioned above, include:
- AaDb'thuk - "Okay" (literally, "All correctly beamed and propped")
- Bura'zak-ka- "Town hall"
- 'Bad'dhakz- "Yeast bowl"
- B'tduz - A game in which two dwarfs stand a few feet apart and throw rocks at each others' heads.
- B'zugda-hiara- "lawn ornament"; a deadly insult, unless used by a very close friend (Wyrd Sisters).
- D'hrarak- "Not dwarfs", refers to dwarfs who have been cast out of dwarfish culture
- Dr'zka - "Not really a dwarf", refers to dwarfs who do not obey all dwarfish traditions, but are not quite d'hrarak.
- G'daraka- "Fresh" is a loose translation. Dwarfs who have just married and have had their debts paid off are said to be in a state of G'daraka. This means they are "free, unencumbered, new dwarfs."
- Gr'duzk- "Good day"
- Ha'ak- Exact translation unknown, but it is an offensive term for an openly female dwarf.
- Jar'ahk'haga- Literally "ideas taster", the senior advisor to the Low King
- K'ez'rek d'b'duz'- "Go around the other side of the mountain", according to Nanny Ogg. A name for Granny Weatherwax.
- Kruk- "Law". The kruk is mostly about mining rights, but covers all aspects of dwarfish culture.
- Kzad-bhat - "Headbanger"; Carrot's dwarfish name.
- Sh'rt'azs- A family name, translated as "Littlebottom".
- T'dr'duzk b'hzg t't- "Today is a good day for someone else to die." The famous well-thought-out dwarfish battle-cry. After being declared somebody HAS to die.
- Zadkrdga - "Smelter". Also, as explained above, "investigator".
The (admittedly small) lexicon of Dwarfish words reveals only 15 letters: a, b, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, n, r, s, t, u, and z. The capital "D" in AaDb'thuk may be a separate letter, or it may simply be a differently inflected "d."
The word Hnaflbaflwhiflsnifltafl (a predecessor to the game of Thud) could be a Dwarfish word, but since it is obviously derived from the Scandinavian "Hnefatafl", and since it contains a number of letters (f, l, w) not found in any Dwarfish words and lacks any of the diacritics one would expect in a Dwarfish word that long, it is probably of human, rather than Dwarfish origin.
The enclitic -ak or -'ak appears to mean "not," and generally to indicate the opposite of something.
[edit] Names
Dwarfish last names are, as mentioned above, usually translated into when speaking other languages. Knowing what the name means is part of knowing who the dwarf is. They can be descriptive clan-names (Littlebottom, Rocksmacker) or patronymics (Albrechtson), although these can be based on relations other than the father (Snoriscousin) and even get recursive (Glodssonssonsson).
Dwarfish first names are usually either the same as humans of the region (Rhys, Bjorn, Gloria), mono- or duo-syllables reminiscent (to a greater or lesser extent) of Tolkien's dwarf names (Glod, Gimlet, Timkin, Hwel), or emotional descriptors (which, like the surnames, are translated) (Cheery, Nosy, Dozy). (The last is based on the dwarf names in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).
[edit] Minesign
While dwarfs are noted for gossip, they can also be taciturn even amongst themselves. "Minesign" is how they convey their feelings to other dwarfs. Minesigns can be scratched or drawn on any available surface, and generally refer to the different kinds of dark referred to above.
The basic minesign is the Long Dark, which merely announces the presence of a mine. It is a circle with a single horizontal line through it. (This resembles the logo of London Transport, which was originally the symbol for the London Underground.)
The minesign for the Summoning Dark is one small circle enclosed by a larger circle with a tail - or an "eyeball with a tail". Enscribing it is a curse that brings the Summoning Dark down on the area. Once it is awakened, the minesign reccurs in its surroundings, seemingly by coincidence. It is very dangerous to leave any of these in the dark.
