Q: Can Dwarves Swim?
ANSWER: I don’t know of any passages in J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories where Dwarves swim. However, this question seems to come from the role-playing community, where many “traditions” about RPG dwarf races have no real relationship to Middle-earth (as portrayed by J.R.R. Tolkien). For example, a Tolkien dwarf would not match the ale-swilling, foul-mouthed, constantly angry stereotype that many gamers associate with their dwarf characters.
Did Tolkien’s Dwarves drink alcohol? Sure. Mostly wine, from what I can determine, although I suspect they would have been happy with beer or ale in moderation.
Tolkien Dwarves are very intelligent. They not only built a large civilization, they accomplished things that even the Eldar admired. I have watched gamers play “dumb” Dwarves that were only suited for standing in a melee and lopping off Orc heads. Okay, I understand that some of the restrictions on dwarf characters are imposed by the gaming systems (someone please explain to me why Dwarves/Dwarfs are so limited in magic — because both Tolkien and Norse mythology held otherwise).
As for Dwarves sinking like stone when dipped into water, I have no idea of where that came from. It’s not from Tolkien. Had he really envisioned his post-1936 Dwarves that way Bilbo never would have gotten Thorin and Company out of the Elvenking’s halls alive. They all would have sunk in those apple barrels.
Gimli seemed comfortable enough in the boat he and Legolas shared. The text does not say that Gimli helped paddle the boat, but when the Orcs attacked the company on the river everyone (including Sam) helped paddle. At the very least I think we can safely say that Gimli did not fear water the way many gamers seem to feel Dwarves should be.
But as for whether Dwarves can swim — there is really no way to know for sure. Tolkien gradually modified his original conception of Dwarves in The Book of Lost Tales over the years. By the time he published The Lord of the Rings the Dwarves of Middle-earth little resembled the Dwarves of the mythology for England.
I doubt a case can be made for showing Gimli as an expert swimmer but if he were thrown into the water (not wearing his mail shirt and weapons) I think it would be reasonable to expect him to have as much chance of floating and/or swimming to safety as anyone of similar size and shape.
It will be interesting to see how Peter Jackson handles the issue of Dwarves and rivers in the second “Hobbit” movie.
See Also …
Could Tolkien Dwarves Swim? (2021 article)
How Closely Do Tolkien’s Dwarves Resemble the Dvergar of Norse Mythology?
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This idea may have come from English folklore and belief which often blended or confused ‘witch’ with ‘fairy’. The witch/fairy would not step into creeks and rivers when in pursuit of a victim as while they were in this state of enchanment they had no true bodily substance and would be swept away. They even fear crossing a bridge which would end their powers and put them at the mercy of this world. It seems that in the Jackson films, the Dark Riders were subject to this rule about living water..
I don’t know about magic, but there might be technical reasons behind the belief that Dwarves can’t swim.
First, theydon’t live near rivers, so one doubts they learned how to swim. Also, they often are carrying heavy loads and wearing heavy armour or chain mail, which means they would sink.
Finally, some men are very muscular but have so little body fat that they can’t float: so if the bulkiness of dwarves is because they are muscular, they too might not be able to swim (except, of course, for Bombur)…
There is a lot of water under ground, it’s a big problem for mining.
Good point. Although I don’t know how much Tolkien would have known about such issues, he did include that large body of water at the bottom of the chasm in Khazad-dum. In fact, in the early myth of the Sun and Moon he had the servants of Ulmo (the Vala associated with water) taking the Sun and Moon under the world by secret pathways — I would guess watery pathways although that is not necessarily so.
> gaming systems (someone please explain to me why Dwarves/Dwarfs are so
> limited in magic
In OD&D, Dwarven PCs are fighters only, naturally modeled on the adventuring Dwarves from _The Hobbit_ or _The Lord of the Rings_. Thorin, Balin, Dori, Bombur, and Gimli never did anything remotely magical. That was apparently reserved for the off-screen smiths Telchar and Narvi (who doubtless better resembled Andvari).
The latter type was quickly added, however, in the form of a Dwarf Craftsman class appearing in a magazine (Liaisons Dangereuses #76). This neat approach was sadly forgotten. But in AD&D they split the Dwarf archetype into two races: Dwarf and Gnome, the former making excellent fighters and the latter making excellent illusionists.
Still, artifact creation, the true purview of Dwarves, was never really considered a suitable activity for adventurers, and therefore wasn’t incorporated into the game (until long after basic RPG expectations were set).
>Thorin, Balin, Dori, Bombur, and Gimli never did anything remotely magical.
Not really, when the Dwarves buried the treasures recovered from the Trolls they put “a great many spells over them”, presumably to be able to find them again. It’s easy to imagine that the ‘spells’ were, in fact’ runes, but of course nothing is said about their nature, including if they were truly ‘magical’.
Also Balin seems to be able to understand crows, he mentions that the birds insulted them, yet Bilbo only heard usual bird sounds. Ability to talk with animals is considered to be magical, many times we see that properties of certain dwarven artifacts are connected to the use of runes: runes of victory on dragon helm of Dor-lómin, the songs of the dwarves also mention ,,runes of power upon the door” or ,,dwarves of yore made mighty spells”, some kind of ,,spells of exclusion in khuzdul” at the eastern door of Moria, magical writing moon-letters. Something magical definitely can be associated with dwarves. As for their ability to swim, sure why not? Dwarves could learn to swim, they travel a lot many times they were forced to cross the rivers, so such skill would be useful (even if they only used fords to pass the rivers).
I appreciate the explanation. I did not get into gaming until the 1980s so I missed a lot of the history. I suppose I could have asked John Rateliff to expound on the topic. It might be interesting to tug on his sleeve about that sometime.
Chimps and Gorillas don’t float, mostly because, as Tioedong said, they have a lot of muscle and little fat. They can swim, but have to keep paddling to stay afloat. Thus, they avoid swimming as much as possible. I would imagine Dwarves would be much the same. And, underground, swimming would probably be a last resort, simply because one couldn’t easily see where the water was going or what was under it, using only torch or lantern light.