Erebor

SETTING COMMENT

About

 * "It began long ago in a land far away to the east, the like of which you will not find in the world today. There was the city of Dale, its markets known far and wide, full of the bounties of vine and vale, peaceful and prosperous. For this city lay before the doors of the greatest kingdom in Middle-earth; Erebor, stronghold of Thrór, King under the Mountain and mightiest of the Dwarf-lords. Thrór ruled with utter surety, never doubting his house would endure, for his line lay secure in the lives of his son and grandson. Ah, Frodo, Erebor! Built deep within the mountain itself, the beauty of this fortress city was legend. Its wealth lay in the earth in precious gems hewn from rock and in great seams of gold running like rivers through stone. The skill of the Dwarves was unequalled, fashioning objects of great beauty out of diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire. Ever they delved deep, down into the dark and that is where they found it, the Heart of the Mountain! The Arkenstone. Thrór named it the King's Jewel, he took it as a sign, a sign that his right to rule was divine. All would pay homage to him, even the great Elvenking Thranduil."

History: Erebor, The Lonely Mountain which is taken right before the arrival of Smaug and the destruction he leaves.

Culture
Housing: Little is known about the specifics of housing but see the images up in the physical description.

Families and family structure: To understand dwarven families, you need to understand dwarves. As mentioned below, there are very few women and there's also a very low birth rate on top of that due to a couple of reasons. One reason is that dwarves can and do devote themselves entirely to their craft to the point that they want nothing else in their lives. There's also the fact that dwarves tend to love only once so that if the dwarf they are in love with has another, they'll stay alone as they cannot settle for another because dwarves are a very jealous people.

Dwarves tend to take only one spouse in their life (unless one dies) so this means that dwarves as a population grow extremely slowly so most families are made up by men who, for the most, share a similar naming structure when it comes to their outside name.

Foods: If there's one thing dwarves are bad at, it's growing things and this dates right the way back to the create of the dwarves by Aule who was married to Yavanna. Now Yavanna? She's the giver of fruits whereas Aule is the smith and there was a fear she held that the dwarves would cut down all her trees to help them with all the stuff they needed trees for (that's why Eru made Ents, to protect said trees) and it was said that there would never be much love between the dwarves and things that grow. Dwarves favour meat and ale - if there's food in Erebor, it hasn't come from Erebor itself but whatever food there is is probably damn good because it's Erebor and only the best is there.

Exports/Imports and Local Products: Exports: the finest crafting you have ever seen, gold, silver, every jewel imaginable - Erebor is made of those things, they run through the whole mountain. That's just in raw materials. Erebor is home to incredibly talented dwarves who can craft beautiful things so the next export would be goods: jewellery, armour, weapons and the skills of the people themselves as smiths, jewellers, stone masons etc - you need something done? Get dwarves from Erebor to do it and you'll never regret it.

Imports: food, first and foremost, ale, likely cloth given it comes from plant material etc - if it doesn't come from rock and stone, it's likely Erebor needs to bring it in.

Economy: Erebor's economy is probably horrendously complicated because of dwarves, dwarves who have had history of feeling as though they're cheated and dwarves are, in essence, a greedy race. Erebor was described as thriving in the days before Smaug although there's floundering due to the fact that Thror's goldsickness has meant that Erebor has shut its doors a great deal while he just admires the great vault of gold he has. The economy is still probably good though because they do have great wealth and there will be people in place to deal with that sort of thing although sadly, Tolkien doesn't elaborate as much on dwarf culture the way he does with any other culture.

Arts and Education: Dwarves are devoted to their arts, so much so that they'd rather dedicate themselves to it than even try to find a lady and get married. Dwarves are master craftsmen (and women) because they were made by Aule, the smith. If there's an art form to be done, a dwarf will be doing it from metal to jewels to stone to carving to scholarly pursuits - it isn't just the elves who have their great tales and ballads, dwarves do too and judging by the fact that Thorin's company carry instruments and Gimli bursts into song in places, there's a rich tradition of music.

As far as education goes, there's little really known but likely a system of apprenticeship and children (if there are children) following in the footsteps of their parents owing to general dwarf traditions and items and such being handed down and having to carry on as the ancestors did given how dwarves venerate their ancestors.

Government: Erebor is ruled by a king and as a member of Durin's folk (also known as a Longbeard) then Erebor's king is a powerful king because Durin was the father of the dwarves and to dwarves, a king is the embodiment of his entire people and the embodiment of Durin too meaning that to be king is to be your people: their strength and resilience to the evils of the world, their skill built into them by Aule. Erebor prior to the events of The Hobbit is ruled by Thror who will be followed by his son Thrain who in turn has his son Thorin (as well as his other children Frerin and Dís) to follow on from him. Due to this being a royal court, there are probably the usual advisory positions in charge of whatever is needed to make a kingdom run smoothly.

Gender Roles: Dwarven gender ratio are less than one third women to two thirds men and the women are like the men in voice and appearance, down to the beards. There are so few women and they rarely venture outside of their settlements because they have duties as caretakers and crafters and though few tales are told of them, they were said to be as fierce fighters as the men.

Languages Spoken: Dwarves speak two languages: Khuzdul, a spoken language, and Iglishmek, a language of hand gestures designed to be able to communicate in a noisy forge. They also write in runes but there are different runes for different things (like the moon runes) so it's probably best just to actually talk to a dwarf.

The most likely other language spoken would be the Common Tongue aka the language Men use due to proximity with Dale and the trade between the two places and perhaps, given that the relations between elves and dwarves were not as hostile as they are circa Thorin's time, the elven tongue (Sindarin) of Mirkwood at least by those in positions of authority who'd likely have to deal with elven messengers etc.

Important note: Dwarves never speak their languages to outsiders – terms like mithril etc all come from the elven languages as the dwarves guard what is theirs, down to their very language, fiercely. Added to that, the name of any dwarf that is given to a non-dwarf is what is not their actual name (to the point that this surface name is recorded on their tomb) so a dwarf will never reveal any such things to a non-dwarf.

Recreation and Sports: Fighting, drinking - dwarves most likely do as most races do in Middle-Earth, more simple pursuits although given that they tend to be a bit hot-blooded, there's probably a fight club. Nothing known about sports but these are dwarves, it's probably gambling, music/song, drinking and maybe a bit of fighting.

Mode(s) of transportation: Feet. You only see people walking in Erebor so feet because trying to navigate animals up all those crazy stairs would be cruel.

Methods of Communication: Letters via bird or courier most likely. And bellowing. If you're a Durin.

Local Inhabitants
Dwarves, specifically Durin's Folk. Additional details here and here

Risks
Long drops? Angry dwarves? Basically very little unless you fall or piss off the wrong people.

Additional Information
Celebrations: Dwarves evidently enjoy a good party as witnessed by the scenes in Bag End and elsewhere in the Hobbit (in the book) with music and song but as far as celebrations go, only one event is noted: Durin's Day. Durin's Day is a rare event that occurs "the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter" according to Thorin in the books. When the sun and moon are seen in the sky together, it's called Durin's Day.

Additional Information: Notes - feel free to ask, there's not hugely much on dwarven culture so check in with the Hobbit cast if you want to get further details.

Residents

 * TBA

Notable Events

 * TBA