What's up with Scottish Dwarves?!?

[D'karr]

Because if it's not dwarvish it's crap!!!!!

 

[Ripzerai]

The first reference I saw to a dwarf priest of Thor was in 2e Legends & Lore, which spoke briefly about gods that would be appropriate for various races. Thor was cited as a god for dwarves not because he liked them in real mythology, but because his interests - including drinking hard, wearing a big beard, and hitting giants with a hammer - fit with the interests of fantasy dwarves so very, very well.

The Scottish Dwarf stereotype is much older than Baldur's Gate II. I'm sure I saw it in Dragon Magazines in the early '90s, I'm pretty sure there were Warhammer miniatures dressed up like wild Scots or Picts, and R.A. Salvatore's Bruenor Battlehammer is somewhat Scottish in a broad way. The reason is similar to the connection with Thor: it's easy to see a dwarf as a short, bearded Scotsman wearing a kilt and wielding a claymore, with fiery red hair and blue painted skin. The image is as awesome as it is hilarious.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

The first reference I saw to a dwarf priest of Thor was in 2e Deities & Demigods, which spoke briefly about gods that would be appropriate for various races. Thor was cited as a god for dwarves not because he liked them in real mythology, but because his interests - including drinking hard, wearing a big beard, and hitting giants with a hammer - fit with the interests of fantasy dwarves so very, very well.

The Scottish Dwarf stereotype is much older than Baldur's Gate II. I'm sure I saw it in Dragon Magazines in the early '90s, I'm pretty sure there were Warhammer miniatures dressed up like wild Scots or Picts, and R.A. Salvatore's Bruenor Battlehammer is somewhat Scottish in a broad way. The reason is similar to the connection with Thor: it's easy to see a dwarf as a short, bearded Scotsman wearing a kilt and wielding a claymore, with fiery red hair and blue painted skin. The image is as awesome as it is hilarious.

I can see from a PC adventurer perspective that Thor is more in line with adventuring that Volund/Wayland, Govannon/Goibhniu, or Hephaistos/Vulcan.

From a GM perspective, I see Dwarves as being smiths, jewelers, merchants, and bankers. So I visualize them more as Hasidic Jews.

 

[Endur]

Thor was cited as a god for dwarves not because he liked them in real mythology, but because his interests - including drinking hard, wearing a big beard, and hitting giants with a hammer - fit with the interests of fantasy dwarves so very, very well.

The pewtar figurine for my favorite dwarven character even looks like the Marvel comics version of Thor.

I quite agree that the real Thor was not a figure that Norse dwarves would worship.

 

[ThorneMD]

I noticed the same thing, and in an effort to make my homebrew stand out, I made Dwarves into Russians.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

I noticed the same thing, and in an effort to make my homebrew stand out, I made Dwarves into Russians.

Do you have a sorcerer by the name of Rasputin? Man, that guy's eyes really creeps me out!

 

[Psion]

I've seen a number of references here and of course OoTS for Dwarves with Scottish accents. What is the origin of this stereotype?

 

[Thurbane]

I blame Warcraft!

IMC, Dwarves have Germanic accents...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Pretty sure it's popular due to the Warcraft series, who added voices (and accents) to a flavor derived from Warhammer.

IMC, they're Appalachian mountainmen. You know your dwarves need overalls, blood feuds with other clans and bluegrass music.

 

[Capellan]

I blame Irn Bru.