Petty-dwarf

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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Petty-dwarves, or (Sindarin) Noegyth Nibin or Nibin-Noeg, were a diminutive race of Dwarves.

The Petty-dwarves were Dwarves of several houses, which had been exiled for reasons unknown in very ancient times. They were the first to cross the Ered Luin in the First Age, and established strongholds in Beleriand before the building of Nogrod and Belegost in the Blue Mountains, and before the Elves arrived. These very ancient settlements were at Nargothrond and Amon Rûdh.

The Sindar, not acquainted with Dwarves yet, saw the Petty-dwarves as little more than bothersome animals, and hunted them. Not until the Dwarves of the Ered Luin established contact with the Sindar did they realize what the Petty-dwarves were. Afterwards they were mostly left alone, but not before the Petty-dwarves came to hate all Elves with a passion.

Petty-dwarves differed from normal Dwarves in various ways: they were smaller, far more unsociable, and they freely gave away their names: other Dwarves kept their Khuzdul names and language a secret. This may have been one of the reasons they were exiled.

By the time of the War of the Jewels, after the return of the Noldor, the Petty-dwarves had nearly died out. The last remnant of their people were Mîm and his two sons, who lived at Amon Rûdh.