Dwarves and Axes

[David Johnston2]

Would dwarves in a low-magic fantasy setting really use axes? Wouldn't their height impede their effectiveness?

David Johnston
David Johnston · Add Credential
Answered Oct 8
Well it’s worth bearing in mind the reason why dwarves are depicted with axes. Part of it is that longer-hafted weapons may have a reach advantage but they’re awkward in tight quarters like underground tunnels. Dwarves really have no business out in the open battlefield. Another part of it is that while elves represent nobles and hunters, dwarves represent craftsmen and miners so their stereotypical weapons are actually weaponized tools, so…hammers, picks and axes. The axes come in because if they didn’t have coal deposits handy, their only option is go up and chop some wood to fuel their forges like the human blacksmiths who were their inspiration. Therefore most of the time on the surface most of their fighting will be done with axes, not because they’re what’s most effective but because they’re what’s most handy.

[Flyndaran]

I agree. Weapons for mythical creatures are generally thematic not logically optimized for warfare or biology.

Shadiverstiy on Youtube has some videos on what weapons fit certain mythical creatures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=cDt_tIcca-k

I'm not sure I agree with all his conclusions, but they are food for thought.

[khorboth]

I also have generally thought that their combination of increased strength and endurance counteracted the axe's main downside of weight.

[The Colonel]

I've always found swinging weapons a strange idea for fighting underground - logically I'd expect dwarves to go armed like Roman legionaries: shields to block the passage and some kind of stabbing weapon to thrust around them.

[Apollonian]

Did Tolkien ever go into why the Khazad prefer axes?

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

Did Tolkien ever go into why the Khazad prefer axes?

Did they?

Gimli had an axe, but Thorin Oakenshield carried a sword. And after Thorin's company barricaded themselves in Erebor, they had bows to shoot at the man and elf "invaders".

It's been too long since I read The Hobbit to remember what the other dozen dwarves used.

And in the description of the room of Balin's tomb in Khazad-Dûm, we have

Originally Posted by The Fellowship of the Ring

By both doors they could see now that many bones were lying, and among them were broken swords and axe-heads, and cloven shields and helms. Some of the swords were crooked: orc-scimitars with blackened blades.

So some of the swords would have been straight-bladed dwarf swords, by inference.

So - some of Tolkien's dwarves preferred axes, and other preferred other weapons?

Luke

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

I've always found swinging weapons a strange idea for fighting underground - logically I'd expect dwarves to go armed like Roman legionaries: shields to block the passage and some kind of stabbing weapon to thrust around them.

Yep. narrow passages call for long thrusting weapons, not short chopping ones. You can use a polearm with an appropriate head if you really want to keep the "axe" element.



I also thing that dwarf-tunnel fighters should carry around portable fortifications they can fight behind.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Yep. narrow passages call for long thrusting weapons,

Narrow passages with low ceilings and sharp bends call for _short_ thrusting weapons.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Yep. narrow passages call for long thrusting weapons, not short chopping ones. You can use a polearm with an appropriate head if you really want to keep the "axe" element.

I also thing that dwarf-tunnel fighters should carry around portable fortifications they can fight behind.

You can do a very nasty thrust with a typical dane axe. That's definitely best modeled as a dueling halberd or pollaxe, though.

[Mister Negative]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Yep. narrow passages call for long thrusting weapons, not short chopping ones. You can use a polearm with an appropriate head if you really want to keep the "axe" element.



I also thing that dwarf-tunnel fighters should carry around portable fortifications they can fight behind.

Maybe goblins and kobolds typically use spears in tunnels, so the axes were used in response, to chop through shafts? Then the typically higher dwarven resilience and armor would overmatch the goblins and kobolds in closer fighting?

Or maybe orcs and the like are pretty tough, and thrust-impaling damage wasn't cutting the mustard against them, so striking blows that severed or shattered limbs was more important than being able to stab at the vitals?

Or maybe they just know that cutting down trees will wind up the elves, so they use axes just to annoy them?

Or, maybe the utility of an axe with a hammer on the back of the head, and a spiked tip is just the dwarf equivalent of a Swiss Army knife?