03-07-2019, 11:45 AM | #31 | ||
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
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The Anglo-Saxons were 'nordic' themselves, religiously and culturally and by ancestry, until they converted to Christianity, but they settled in England (Angle-land) and took on a certain amount of Latin influence from the Romanized Britons and then more when they converted to Christianity. Then the Norman Conquest changed things even more. (Not that the Normans were not 'nordic' by ancestry too, but they were even more Latinized than the Anglo-Saxons.) My point being that maybe the legendary creatures of the pagan past came to be associated with 'northerners' in general, defined against 'southerners' like the Christian/Latinized English. North of England is Scotland, so... Likewise, that might be part of why the English (and their cultural kin) associate Scotland and Scandinavia, along with the actual substantial presence of Scandinavian influence in Scotland, of course.
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03-07-2019, 06:20 PM | #32 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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03-08-2019, 09:48 AM | #33 |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
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03-08-2019, 01:18 PM | #34 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Denver, CO
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
I think there's not so much to it. In our medieval settings, we tend to want our English-speakers to have British accents. The nobles have posh British accents, so that lends toward lofty Elves. And then, the harsh-feeling Scottish accent lands on the Dwarves. And the Irish accent might get brought out for gnomes, but most likely gets forgotten along with the Welsh because in America we are ignorant of such things.
This is, of course, painting in broad strokes and thinking about things in a lowest-common-denominator sort of way. Like how Hollywood works. And how radio plays worked. And how I did things as a cringy 13-year-old playing MERP. I also think that this is why it's hard to pin down the exact origin. It's just a line of "reasoning" that many folk went down independently until it was just "the way of things." |
03-08-2019, 02:50 PM | #35 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
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The stereotype of the Scottish accent, on the other hand, is one of wild independence and belligerence, even when that's played for humor, which fits nicely with the dwarvish stereotypes. |
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03-08-2019, 05:47 PM | #36 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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03-09-2019, 08:38 PM | #37 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
Next time I play a D&D style setting - East Midlands elf.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
03-10-2019, 07:28 PM | #38 |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
Giving it some thought, in general, my elves tend to be PacNW (US/Can) if they have an accent at all. I blame Shadowrun.
I'm guilty of the scots dwarves... But also Irish Dwarves, and New York Dwarves. I don't do scandinavian accents well, so I don't use them, and my German accent is not very German - think Hogan's Heroes level bad, otherwise my dwarves would be German. I even used valley-girl for a group of dwarves... Gnomes have, for certain games reasons, generally been PacNW US received pronunciation, or zee really ba' frawnnch... I've used a variety for Orks... including UK RP English. Also, Cajun, Texan, Texicano, and Mexicano. |
03-16-2019, 11:54 AM | #39 |
Join Date: Mar 2019
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
Oddly, we've always played them as German. Stereotypically humorless, talented engineers, fond of beer...
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03-16-2019, 03:47 PM | #40 |
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Re: Why are dwarves Scottish?
For what it's worth, I recall the standard prerecorded voice clips from the old Warcraft video game of the mid 90s having very Scottish voices for the dwarven engineers. Which is definitely pre-Jackson.
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