Jawnomicon

Dwarf

Also called Dverg, Dweorg, Berg-Mänlein, Erd-Mänlein, Härdmandle.

Dwarfs are the short, powerful underground people of Norse and Germanic tradition — miners, craftsmen, and treasure-keepers, four of whom hold up the sky at the corners of the world.

At a glance

Tradition
Norse mythology
Region
Nordic Regions (place of origin)
Trait family
The Unseen-Walkers

Near this figure

Traits

Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.

Form

  • Hidden people dwelling within rocks and hills
    why

    Below that mythic ceiling runs the folklore: short but powerfully built beings who look old from birth — the males wear long grey beards, and the species is said to reach maturity at three years — living underground by preference, where they mine gold and precious stones and practice the crafts for which their name became a byword.

Behaviour

  • Changeling substitution
    why

    The Frisian dwarfs are the most domestic and the most troublesome: they fall in love with mortal women and steal them, take children and leave changelings, and at the same time lend and borrow pots, plates, and money — charging interest — help build churches, haul mired carts free, and carry pancakes out to people working the fields.

Utility powers

  • Invisibility
    why

    They can make themselves invisible and pass through rock and wall.

  • Metallurgical craftsmanship
    why

    Below that mythic ceiling runs the folklore: short but powerfully built beings who look old from birth — the males wear long grey beards, and the species is said to reach maturity at three years — living underground by preference, where they mine gold and precious stones and practice the crafts for which their name became a byword.

Roles

Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.