What are your headcanons regarding dwarves and their attitude towards treasure and gold?
Hello Anon! I do in fact have a lot of thoughts about this subject. I always go by the legendarium as something that is fallible (since Tolkien’s work is written from the POV of unreliable narrators), especially when it comes to the secretive dwarves who do not share their culture and secrets openly. This leaves a lot of room to recontextualize or even straight up change things (hence the “not canon compliant” disclaimer on my blog lol) and this is one of those cases.
Anyways, here are some of my headcanons about dwarves and their treasure.
Dwarves are stereotyped as being greedy by other races, this is rooted in many stories circulating about dwarves going to extreme lengths to protect their treasure. This is especially true about the Durin’s Folk dwarves, who are said to have killed men for simply laying claim to what these dwarves felt was rightfully theirs.
One of the more well known examples being Fram, the Lord of the Éothéod, who claimed the hoard of the dragon Scatha after slaying it. This hoard contained treasure which Durin’s Folk claimed as theirs. Fram refused to give it to them, and it is said by many that he was murdered by the dwarves of Durin’s Folk as retribution. Among the race of men it’s said that this story illustrates the greediness of dwarves. Fram is said to have had rightfully earned this treasure as it was he who killed this dragon, and the dwarves acted in dishonor and tried to steal it from him.
Much of this story does ring true for the dwarves, but their attitudes towards treasure is misinterpreted by the outsiders who tell these tales. Dwarves see treasure in two ways, there is treasure meant for trade and monetary gain, which they will guard as anyone would with their money. And then there is the most important type of treasure, artifacts made by their ancestors and loved ones.
The value of their artifacts is not determined by what materials have been used, but rather by WHO made them and who used them, as well as their age. Some of the most ancient and precious artifacts are made of crude stone and wood, not gold and silver. Their artifacts represent their history, heritage, and the story and souls of their ancestors.
To specific families their most important treasures or heirlooms may also be trinkets or craft made by loved ones who have since passed, it can also be tools or weapons that these dwarves used while still alive. Dwarves believe that these artifacts can be used to communicate with their dead, both their ancient ancestors and those who recently passed, which naturally means that their protected treasure is of massive cultural importance. It’s also said that artifacts falling into the wrong hands may disturb the peace of the dead, which may contribute to them becoming restless spirits which is something no dwarf wants for their loved ones.
The reason as to why Durin’s Folk may very well have killed Fram for what he did is because they are particularly protective of their artifacts. The treasure he took originally belonged to them which then had been stolen by the dragon Scatha. Many of these artifacts were in fact of cultural or sentimental importance, which means it was something they sought to get back. It’s also good to note that Fram didn’t just claim artifacts from any dwarf clan, these were dwarves who had been exiled from their lands in Khazad-dûm. Big part of their cultural heritage had been lost when it fell which meant that they were even more desperate to protect what little they had left. And they do not look kindly upon outsiders that steal from them, especially their most treasured objects.
TLDR: Dwarvish treasure is sometimes artifacts that are extremely important in dwarvish culture. And clans such as Durin’s Folk who have lost so much are desperate to protect the little they have left of their cultural heritage.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed it. I have more headcanons about this particular subject but that would be too long of a post haha.
