Petty-dwarves

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 21:18, 27 June 2011 by Morgan (talk | contribs)
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

The Petty-dwarves were a diminuitive race of Dwarves.

The Petty-dwarves were Dwarves of several houses, which had been exiled for various reasons, such as small stature, bodily deformity or slothful disposition. They were the first to cross the Ered Luin in the First Age, and established strongholds in Beleriand before the Elves arrived, 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 Belegost and Nogrod 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 were 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 Ñoldor, the Petty-dwarves had nearly died out. The last remnant of their people were Mîm and his two sons, who lived at Amon Rûdh.

Names

A name among the Eldar for the Petty-dwarves was Nevain tad-dail, or simply Tad-dail.[1] Another name, used among the Sindar, was Noegyth Nibin or Nibin-Noeg.

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix B. Elvish names for the Dwarves", p. 388
Dwarven Clans
Longbeards · Firebeards · Broadbeams · Ironfists · Stiffbeards · Blacklocks · Stonefoots · (Petty-dwarves)