Characters / Middle-earth Film: Dwarves

Navigation: Main | The Fellowship | Men | Elves | The Company | Dwarves | Sauron's Evil Forces | Independent Villains | Other Characters

The Dwarven characters from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies that are not a member of The Fellowship or The Company.

---

In General

Dwarves

Great craftsmen who live in mines and palaces under the Earth. Small like Hobbits but physically much tougher than nearly any other Free Peoples, except maybe the Ents.

---

• Dying Race: Dwarves have an abysmally low birth rate due to men outnumbering women three to one, and the women's frequent unwillingness to take a husband. The constant warfare after the fall of Khazad-dûm didn't help. It's implied that they become extinct some time in the Fourth Age.
• Fighting for a Homeland: Erebor in The Hobbit, Khazad-dûm in the Backstory to The Lord of the Rings.
• Heroic Willpower: Race-wide (and justified in the story of their creation). To cite the most evident example, Sauron's One Ring utterly enslaved the wearers of the Nine (and supposedly would have done so for the Three as well): of the seven Dwarf-Kings, only two wearing the Rings of the Dwarves were pulled toward The Dark Side but retained their own wills; of the other five, two turned against Sauron, and the other three stayed neutral. A consequence of Aulë making his Dwarves hardy and difficult to corrupt or trick for the exact purpose of countering Melkor's wicked influences. Even their aging wasn't affected.
• National Weapon: Axes. Even mentioned in their Battle Cry. Averted in The Hobbit, where other weapons are just as prominent.
• One-Gender Race: Subverted in The Hobbit, where in the prologue, the Dwarven women of Erebor are depicted as noticeably more feminine. Gimli at one point plays with this where he tells Éowyn stories of his entire race being this trope, which he thinks is utterly ridiculous.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: ... Kind of. In the films, the dwarves are all short, hairy, and crusty, but they have great variety in their faces, beards, clothing, body types, personalities and weaponry. Particularly notable are Thorin, Fíli, and Kíli, who all benefit from varying degrees of Adaptational Attractiveness, with Kíli's Perma-Stubble practically making him a Bishōnen by Dwarf standards. They also have accents that range throughout Britain, from Scotland to Ireland and Wales. Glóin, the most stereotypical of the Dwarves, is the father of Gimli, who is arguably the modern day codifier of the trope.
• Plucky Comic Relief: All principal Dwarves (except Thorin and Balin) are prone to this in some ways through both of the trilogies. Whereas Gimli is the sole Dwarf who gradually fell into this trope in the original, the Dwarves in Thorin's Company all have strange quirks that make them unique. Even Dáin gets in on it with his surprisingly foul mouth. That's not to say they won't back out from a fight if pushed, though.
• Proud Warrior Race: By the time of The Lord of the Rings, the Dwarven people have been warring with the orcs for a long, long time.
• Really 700 Years Old: Although not as long-lived as the Elves, they still live for hundreds of years. According to the books, they usually live to be 250 years old.
• Space Jews: Tolkien, being interested in Jewish culture and history, admitted that at least some of the elements of the Dwarves and their history where inspired by the Jewish people. Most prominently are elements like them having lost their ancestral homeland, and are trying to integrate into human society, while still trying to hold on to their old language and culture.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: In their backstory, they were designed by the Vala of earth, metal, and crafts, because he wanted students who loved craft-work just as much as he did. Even the typical Dwarf is good with stonework and metal-shaping, and their real craftsmen exceed the skills of Men and all but the greatest, most experienced Elf-smiths.

Thráin

Thráin II

^{"Tell Thorin that I love him! Will you do that? Will you tell my son that I loved him?"}

Species: Dwarf

Portrayed by: Michael Mizrahi, Antony Sher

Appears in: An Unexpected Journey^note Flashback | The Desolation of Smaug | The Battle of the Five Armies

"Azog means to kill us all! One by one, he will destroy the line of Durin! But by my life, he shall not take my son! You will stay here!"

Father of Thorin and previous King of Durin's Folk. Died in the dungeons of Dol Guldur, but not before encountering Gandalf and giving him the Map and Key needed to get into Erebor. Also lost Durin's Ring of Power to Azog.

---

• Barefoot Captives: He's all dirty, shaggy and lacking shoes when Gandalf finds and fights him, and this is probably how can Thráin be so stealthy around to ambush him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Defending Erebor against Smaug.
• Disappeared Dad: To Thorin.
• Doomed Home Town: The Lonely Mountain.
• The Exile: Since Smaug is squatting in Erebor.
• Facial Markings: Has an elaborate face tattoo.
• Fingore: When Azog defeated Thráin, he saw he was wearing one of the Seven Dwarf Rings and cut off his forefinger to get it.
• Frontline General: Leads the defense of Erebor from the front, alongside his son.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: After the years he has spent imprisoned in Dol Guldur, he attacks his old friend Gandalf in the film's Extended Edition. He has trouble remembering Thorin and what happened to him until Gandalf knocks some sense into him.
• Handicapped Badass: He is missing one eye, but he still seems up for a fight.
• Papa Wolf: Played straight and inverted. He charges towards the entrance of Moria at Azog to both avenge his father and protect his son.
• Riches to Rags: Smaug's attack came without warning, so they didn't have the chance to evacuate and salvage any of the gold.
• Scars Are Forever: Has what looks like an ugly burn scar over his left eye.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the books, Thráin died nearly a century before The Hobbit after giving Gandalf his last two possessions: the Map and the Key. Here, he is killed when the Necromancer absorbs him as Gandalf tries to escape Dol Guldur in The Desolation of Smaug.
• Unexplained Recovery: His scarred left eye is open and fine in his scenes in the Extended Edition of The Desolation of Smaug. It is implied that Gandalf healed his eye before the Battle of Azanulbizar because of his healing abilities; he healed Thráin from the witchcraft inflicted by Sauron in Dol Guldur and was able to heal people in other instances as well.
• Warrior Prince: He may be Thrór's son, but he's a Dwarf and Dwarves are always badass.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: As his scenes in the extended edition of Desolation show, he has been held captive in Dol Guldur for a very long time. When Gandalf finally finds him, he has been driven nearly completely mad, and is soon after killed by the Necromancer.
• You Killed My Father: Attacked Azog ahead of Thorin after his father Thrór was beheaded.

Thrór

Thrór, King Under the Mountain

Species: Dwarf

Portrayed by: Jeffrey Thomas

Appears in: An Unexpected Journey^note Flashback | The Desolation of Smaug^note Flashback

Father of Thráin and grandfather of Thorin. Previous King of Erebor, once the mightiest of the Dwarf Lords and the first owner of the Arkenstone. He unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim Moria, but he was unable to do so in the face of heavy casualties and the presence of Durin's Bane, not to mention his own death in combat against Azog the Defiler.

---

• Adaptational Jerkass: Big time. In the book; his Gold Fever is absent or not as severe, he never has his Kick the Dog with Thranduil, and he dies before the Battle of Azanulbizar which occurs due to his death.
• Big "NO!": When he drops the Arkenstone into a huge pile of gold, which is then swept away by Smaug.
• Cool Crown: He wears a thick, helmet-like crown as King Under the Mountain.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He and his people are the ones getting curb-stomped during Smaug's attack on Erebor. Then again during the Battle of Azanulbizar, until after his death when Thorin manages to turn the tide.
• Death by Materialism: Zig-Zagged. While Smaug's attacking, Thrór races to grab the Arkenstone, but he conveniently loses it in the chaos and is dragged away by Thorin. It's implied that desire to retake what he lost in Smaug's attack is what motivates him to attempt to retake Moria, and, this time, he does not survive.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: He dies during the Battle of Azanulbizar, whereas in the books, he died earlier in the conflict.
• Doomed Hometown: The Lonely Mountain.
• The Exile: Since Smaug is squatting in Erebor.
• Frontline General: Leads the combined forces of the seven dwarven clans at Azanulbizar, which leads to his death.
• Gold Fever: Described by Bilbo as a literal psychological sickness. Considering that Thrór was in possession of the greatest of the Seven Rings of Power given to Dwarves, which did indeed make their holders both extremely rich and extremely greedy, Bilbo's uninformed diagnosis isn't too far off.
• Kick the Dog: Baiting Thranduil, then denying him the jewels that he clearly wants. Made much, much worse by the fact that those jewels belonged to Thranduil's dead wife, and they may be his last memento of her.
• Off with His Head!: Azog beheads him and holds it up for all to see, before throwing it at Thorin's feet.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Even more than most other Dwarves, given his Gold Fever.
• Perilous Old Fool: Implied to be justified by his Sanity Slippage. His attempt to retake Moria from the Orcs was almost bound to fail. Though his army still won the battle of Azanulbizar under Thorin's leadership, it ended up failing anyway because of the Pyrrhic Victory.
• Posthumous Character: He dies in the prologue, which is set decades before the events of the story.
• Riches to Rags: Smaug's attack came without warning, so he didn't have the chance to evacuate and salvage any of the gold.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He fights alongside his men at Moria.
• Sanity Slippage: Implied to be similar to Thorin's own in the third film. Bilbo comments his Gold Fever was a "sickness of the mind", whilst Balin gravely comments twice that the Fever "drove Thrór mad" and implies it got at least as bad as Thorin's in the third film.
• Shadow Archetype: To Thorin, who almost becomes just as greedy and insane as his grandfather. Luckily he snaps out of it before it is too late.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After succumbing to dragon sickness.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If he hadn't been so greedy and gathered so much gold, Smaug might not have been drawn to the mountain in the first place. Then again, as stated above, he was quite likely under the influence of one of the Rings of Power, so how much control he had over himself is debatable.
• Warrior Prince: Fought on the front lines against Azog's army.

Dáin Ironfoot

Dáin Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills

"I will not stand down before any elf! Let alone this faithless woodland sprite!"

Species: Dwarf

Portrayed by: Billy Connolly

Voiced by: Roman Hájek (Czech dub), José Luis Orozco (Latin American Spanish dub), Richard Leblond (French dub)

Appears in: The Battle of the Five Armies

"Good mornin'! How are we all? I've a wee proposition if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of yer time. Would ye consider... just SODDING OFF!"

Lord of the Iron Hills, to the east of Erebor, and kinsman of Thorin. Future King of Durin's Folk and King Under the Mountain.

---

• 11th-Hour Ranger: He refuses to lend support to Thorin's quest in the first movie; then in the third movie, he arrives to back Thorin's claim on The Lonely Mountain after Smaug's death, just when Thorin was seemingly seconds away from acquiescing to the Lakemen's and Thranduil's demands — a somewhat antagonistic instance in this case since Thorin is deep in the throes of Gold Fever at this point, and Thranduil and the Lakemen (the latter especially) are more than within their rights to demand Thorin honor his word to the Lakemen in their time of need. However, Dáin and his army being on the scene ends up being very fortunate for the Free Peoples once Azog's army attacks and the Battle of the Five Armies begins.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the books, Dáin is relatively level-headed, distributing treasure to the Lake-town survivors (which Thorin refused despite giving promises), even surrendering the jewels that Thranduil claimed, and sincerely thanking Gwahir and the Eagles for their aid. Here, he's a lot less reasonable and is a very far cry from diplomatic; making antagonizing the Elves and Lakemen besieging The Lonely Mountain just about the first thing he says to them, and being ready to start a bloodbath against them as soon as Thranduil makes a slight against him.
• All There in the Manual: The commercial cut of the movie leaves this unaddressed, but in the books and the extended edition he becomes King Under the Mountain after Thorin's death and his sons become kings after him until the end of Durin's line.
• Ancestral Weapon: It's not outright stated, but he seems to be wielding Thráin's (Thorin's father) war-hammer.
• Animal Motifs: He wears spikes on his beard that resemble boar's tusks, had a tendency to headbutt his foes like a charging boar, and also rides a boar to battle.
• Badass Family: Thorin's second cousin and very badass.
• Battle Cry: "To battle, sons of Durin, to battle!"
• Big Damn Heroes: His arrival not only saves Thorin but probably the Elves from the Orcish armies as well.
• Blood Knight: To Ax-Crazy levels. Dáin's very excited at the prospect of splitting some Elven (and later Orcish) skulls.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He goes into battle practically roaring with glee. When the action focuses on him, he can always be heard bellowing.
• Braids of Action: He has braided hair and is a beast on the battlefield.
• The Cavalry: Arrives to help his cousin and the other Dwarves against the Elves and men.
• Cavalry Refusal: Off-screen. In the first film, Thorin states he asked for Dáin's help, but he refused to go up against Smaug. He makes up for it by arriving in the final battle, however.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Dáin Ironfoot casually asks Thorin if he has a plan or if they should just keep murdering Orcs mid-battle.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Mentioned only in passing in the first movie, when Thorin says Dáin will not send him aid. He does make an appearance in the third film, however.
• Combination Attack: His Dwarves achieve a whole lot of these with the Elves. After the Dwarves form their double-shield height phalanx against Azog's initial force, Thranduil's blademasters vault over the phalanx and into the Orc army, occasionally jumping off shields the Dwarves held up as platforms at the last second.
• Dawson Casting: It's possible that Dáin's Thorin's older cousin, but Billy Connolly was in his early seventies when he played him, old enough to be Richard Armitage's father. Of course, since he's computer-generated, you can't really tell.
• Demoted to Extra: In the "Appendices," Dáin played a major role in the Battle of Azanulbizar; the Iron Hills Dwarves turned the tide of the battle, and Dáin himself killed Azog to avenge his father. Presumably, Dáin's role was scaled back after the decision was made to keep Azog alive. Perhaps in an attempt to make up for it, Dáin has a lot more screentime during the Battle of the Five Armies than he ever had in the book.
• Determinator: Gandalf notes that Dáin is even more stubborn than Thorin when he's set on something.
• The Dreaded: A minor case, but when he arrives Gandalf's (and the Elves') reaction is something akin to "Oh God help us all."
• Establishing Character Moment: has a... subtle way to announce his motives. After arriving with an army of dwarves from the Iron Hills, he bids the Elves and Lakemen besieging his cousin in the Lonely Mountain good morning, and begins to very politely propose that they consider...

  "JUST SODDING OFF! All of you, right now"

And then he's pretty happy and confident about knocking the Elves and Men into the ground.

• Fantastic Racism: Towards Elves. Not uncommon at all amongst the Dwarves, but Dáin gets special mention for directing some rather colorful and offensive slurs about the Elves' appearance at Thranduil.
• Fiery Redhead: Goes along with his Violent Glaswegian status. That said, his beard is greying, so he's possibly an Old Soldier.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: At the beginning of the battle, he charges through Orc ranks mounted on his boar wielding the war-hammer without slowing down.
• Full-Boar Action: Rides into battle on a boar.
• Hard Head: He headbutts helmet-wearing Orcs several times with his bare forehead and comes out none worse for the wear.
• Heroic Second Wind: He and his Dwarves have this when Thorin emerges from the mountain to lead them, and manage to mount one last counterattack.
  Ironfoot: To the King! To the King!
• Horrifying the Horror: Somewhat. He's probably the craziest dwarf in all the films, and yet he goes dreadfully soft-spoken when he realizes Thorin intends to try and kill Azog.
• Huge Rider, Tiny Mount: Downplayed. Dáin's a Dwarf, so he's not that "huge", but his steed is based on a New Zealand Kunekune pig (which are very small), as opposed to a European wild boar, so it appears unsuitable for carrying someone like him, especially in all that heavy armour.
• Incoming Ham: The very first thing Dáin does is look at the Elves and do a long-winded request for them to SOD OFF!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Compared to his cousin, he's far more aggressive and unreasonable, but he still takes the time to hug Thorin in the middle of a battle.
• Leitmotif: He has a track called, fittingly enough, "Ironfoot" that plays in his finest moments, namely in his Big Damn Heroes arrival.
• Large Ham: The scenery is in shambles when he's through chewing on it.
• Leeroy Jenkins: A positive example. A massive Orc army appears, Elves and Men just stare in awe and horror, frozen in place. Ironfoot and his men, meanwhile, just fall in between them and start killing without a second thought.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Stands out from the rest of the Dwarves by taking on traits that Dwarves have developed since Tolkien's works, a heavy Glaswegian accent, and the foulest mouth in Middle Earth.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Continuing the trend of royalty being badass, he showcases supreme badassitude during the Battle of the Five Armies, headbutting several helmeted Orcs to unconsciousness with his bare forehead, smacking dozens of orcs with his enormous hammer, and riding a giant pig to war.
• Red Baron: "Ironfoot" is his epithet, not his surname. One infers that he acquired the nickname for being extremely stubborn, as Gandalf has said, or because of his tendency to wear iron boots to battle.
  Gandalf: It is Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills. Thorin's cousin. I've always found Thorin the more reasonable of the two.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He rides in front of his army before joining a battle, showing how he isn't one to shy away from a fight.
• Screw You, Elves!: Ironfoot spends most of his speech calling the Elves pathetic and worthless.
• Signature Move: Dáin has his hammer, but when the fight gets too close-up for him to use it, he tends to resort to a headbutt, a.k.a. the "Glasgow Kiss" — possibly a nod to his actor's background (see Violent Glaswegian, below).
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: His swearing is all PG-13, but that still makes him the foulest mouth in Middle-earth by a huge margin.
• Serkis Folk: Connolly was going to be playing Dáin in full make-up and costume, but ultimately Peter Jackson decided that you just couldn't see Connolly anymore underneath all the make-up, so they used motion capture and CGI to portray him instead.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Implied (hopefully) in the extended edition when he becomes King Under the Mountain.
• Undying Loyalty: In a way, to Thorin and Bilbo. Although it's kept way in the background of Lord of the Rings, it's Dáin who sent Glóin and Gimli to Rivendell as his representatives at the Council of Elrond, which was meant to determine what to do with the One Ring and the Baggins carrying it.
  • If this parallels the books, then Dáin had also been confronted by a Ringwraith several months prior, promising riches and Rings of Power if he told them where to locate a certain Hobbit. In typical fashion, Dáin told him to sod off and started preparing Erebor for war. This action effectively diverted half of Sauron's army to the north and gave both the southern kingdoms and Frodo a much needed reprieve.
• Use Your Head: His preferred melée attack. Even without a helmet, he can still knock armored Orcs out.
• Violent Glaswegian: Connolly keeps his accent for the role, and Dáin is amazingly violent and aggressive.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He's never seen after the end of the Battle of the Five Armies. In the books as well as in the extended edition, he became King Under the Mountain after Thorin.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Is implied to have been on the receiving end of this from Thorin when he refused to commit any forces to help retake Erebor. Though Smaug is basically a Godzilla Threshold that no sane person would ever think to cross, and challenging him is universally considered a fool's errand. As soon as word reaches Dáin that Smaug is dead, however, he quickly comes riding with his army to Thorin's aid. Everything up to but not including a Dragon, he's up for - be it a large Elf army (supplemented by a couple hundred angry Men of Laketown), or charging head-first into a larger army of Orcs.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: "Aw, COME ON!" is his only reaction when he notices that the biggest Orc army of recent times has just arrived in Erebor without any warning.

---