Did Tolkien Dwarves Ride War Pigs?

Q: Did Tolkien Dwarves Ride War Pigs?

ANSWER: Um, no. J.R.R. Tolkien never mentioned anything like war pigs to the best of my knowledge. I think this notion comes from a video game, although apparently there will be at least one war pig in the third “Hobbit” movie if TheOneRing.Net’s “Hobbit 3 Fact Sheet” is correct.

Tolkien’s Dwarves did not have a cavalry force. In the essay “Of Dwarves and Men”, published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, Volume XII of The History of Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien mentioned that the Longbeard Dwarves relied on their Mannish allies (specifically the Northmen of the Vales of Anduin) for cavalry (used as scouts and mounted archers).

Could Dwarves have developed cavalry for any reason? Dwarven cavalry sometimes occur in fantasy literature or games. In my experience they are mounted on ponies, although historically ponies were first bred for draft (hauling) rather than riding. Crossbreeding and training have led to use of ponies as riding animals in modern times.

Had J.R.R. Tolkien chosen to fictionalize any Dwarven cavalry he might have preferred to use a small horse breed modeled on Norwegian Fjord horses, which are quite ancient and not numbered among ponies. Some sources claim that Fjord Horses were used in warfare by Vikings. Another possible model could be the Nordlandshest/Lyngshest breed of horses (also from Norway). However, I don’t know of any published Tolkien texts that suggest Dwarves would have used riding animals in war. He seems to have only envisioned them as a useful infantry force, and as engineers and smiths (in terms of skills used for warfare).

If the third “Hobbit” movie depicts any Dwarves riding pigs (either armored for war or simply as riding beasts) just chalk that up to more of Peter Jackson’s creativity. In real life people can ride pigs but I would be skeptical of anyone seriously trying to develop them into war-mounts.

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