Dwarves + axes... why?

Olgar Shiverstone said:

Huh? Show me Gimli using a sword or mattock. Gimli, Tolkien's quintessential dwarf, carried a battle axe.

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In the Hobbit, I think that every single one of the dwarves used swords. Thorin himself became quite enamored with the ancient elf sword they looted from the trolls.

The dwarves also used bows in the Hobbit, another weapon not commonly associated with post-D&D dwarves.

I've always been a fan of this pic. I like the idea of dwarves fighting with hammers and axes, but I also figure such a martial culture would field a variety of armaments.

Real Dwarves use Battlebread.

Dwarves love to get multiple uses out of things and are very task oriented. Your tools are also your weapons. It makes sense.

Imagine spending countless hours, every day, drawing out metal with a 3-4lb cross pein hammer (I have). Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable using it in battle?

I believe that most things Fantasy Dwarves do, for good or bad, have a lot to do with traditions. Modeled primarily after the Norse and Germanic Dwarves, I believe that this makes perfect sense and actually adds the color to their culture that I find the most attractive.

The dwarf lord hits.
The dwarf lord hits.
The dwarf lord thrusts his shortsword.
You die.
Would you like your possessions identified?

Tolkein/mythogolical influence, but the use of the axe isn't limited to swinging. Used as a double-weapon (club on one end, axe on the other), the axe can be used for shallow slashes to the other guy (was in Europe anyway...). Put a spear point on the top end, and you have a servicable weapon for any size spacing.

kenobi65 said:

1) It's an unbalanced weapon, so, once you swing it, it takes time / effort to get it ready for another swing (something 3E D&D doesn't try to capture, but other games, such as GURPS, do)

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Saw another show (maybe the same one?? It's been a while...) where this wasn't the case. The shows narrator had an axe, which he used on an armored volunteer (armed with the sword). Once said narrator got in a hit, he just kept up with the momentum (no wide-up for a second swing was involved). The hits kept the armored opponent off balance. He never had time to retaliate.

I believed the show also stated that the weapon wasn't the best for defense though.

Lots of great answers. The folklore/historical reasons are enlightening and make sense. However, I see a couple points that keep coming up, but doesn't really seem to hold much water:

1) Dwarves are basically vikings.

Am I the only one who associates vikings with swords more than axes? Or at least swords as much as axes. Does the phrase "Viking sword" ring a bell to anyone else? What about Hagar the Horrible?

2) Dwarves are craftsman/woodcutters, therefore they would use their tools in battle.

I assume most everybody has held and used a woodcutting axe, a maul, an adze, or some similar tool. But how many of you have actually held a war axe? A friend of mine has one (1-handed), and when I first held it, I was extremely surprised at how differently balanced it was, compared to a hatchet or axe of similar size.

A woodcutting axe is extremely top-heavy, since all you need to do is swing it straight in one direction. A war axe is balanced--perhaps more so than some short swords--letting you easily change directions in mid-swing. Trying to use a tool-axe in combat would be foolish, since missing on your first swing would likely spell your death.

So I would assume dwarven armies, like all other armies, would use weapons specifically made for combat, and combat alone. Which brings me back to my first point, which is that a small thrusting weapon would make more sense in a cramped cave than, say, a dwarved battle axe.

3) Dwarves need lots of wood to support their mines.

You know, I honestly never even thought of dwarven tunnels as having wooden supports. I mean, tunnel systems large enough to have cities in would be impossible to make using medieval mining techniques. I always assumed dwarves were such masters of the earth, that they would make tunnels without the use of supports, much like a natural cave. Such construction is a fantasy of course, but this is dnd, after all. For fuel, I always assumed they would use coal, oil, or some other fossil fuel found underground. The idea of carrying logs hundreds of miles underground to the farthest reaches of their tunnels does seem intriguing though...

kenobi65 said:

There was a series on the History Channel last year about various medieval weapons, hosted by a British expert on weaponry (can't remember his name at the moment). In the episode on the battleaxe, they illustrated that it was a great weapon for raw attack power, but had a couple of problems:

1) It's an unbalanced weapon, so, once you swing it, it takes time / effort to get it ready for another swing (something 3E D&D doesn't try to capture, but other games, such as GURPS, do)
2) It's a terrible weapon for parrying

In other words, it was perfect for the Viking berserkers, who (a) were going for killing their opponents with single blows, and (b) weren't terribly concerned about defense.

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I like Peter Woodward very much and he's excellent at what he does... but that's acting, not an expert on weaponry or a historian. If you like him look for him also in Crusade (short lived sequel series to Babylon 5) as a technomage, and in Charmed as, I believe, the Source.