Greetings, I am Gandalf.

With this article, we begin our acquaintance with representatives of the races of the Earth living in a parallel space, which we agreed to call the Fairy World. And the first race I want to introduce you to is the gnomes.

Why gnomes? Because they have a special, intimate connection with people. They really look something like people, only much smaller than you in size. More precisely, they can change their size depending on where they are. For example, in a fabulous time, being close to people, they increased to such a size that it was convenient to communicate with them. Moreover, they are very fond of a respectful attitude towards them, and therefore sometimes they specially “grew up” more so that people or other inhabitants of the fairy-tale world had to look up at them. But all this was more for a joke than for any serious purpose. After all, the second, and perhaps the main feature of the gnomes is their desire to laugh and joke. They cannot take anything too seriously, and when members of other races get upset over something or start arguing among themselves, the dwarves immediately come to their aid. They began to make fun of the stern appearance of the others, behave somehow ridiculously, and after a while everyone was already smiling, and everyone's mood was rising.

On the other hand, gnomes can be very, very small. Most often, when they are alone, that is exactly what they look like. After all, they live underground, where there is not so much free space, and underground caves are an infrequent occurrence. The caves for the dwarves were and remain their home, but they spend most of their time in underground travels. And for this they need to move through small voids and thin channels through which hot solutions used to flow, making their way from the bowels of the Earth. They know that these hot solutions carry valuable components from which all gems and crystals are formed, as well as gold deposits. Dwarves, on the other hand, have always had a great passion for these riches of the Earth, devoting their whole lives to the search and study of these objects.

They admire the beauty of stones and precious metals, decorating their homes with them, and if they invite you to their house, then you will simply be stunned by wealth and luxury. The walls, floor and everything around is made of the most beautiful rocks, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. On women and men, you will see jewelry and amulets made of gold, silver and platinum, inlaid with precious stones. And this beauty, which fills their life, is not created from the desire to live in luxury. For gnomes, there is nothing more important than a cozy home filled with love and fun of loved ones. They surround themselves with what they love most - the treasures of the Earth.

As I have already told you, in the fairy-tale world everything that exists appears as living. These qualities, of course, are possessed by any part of the Earth. Dwarves spend a lot of time interacting with stones and crystals, learning about their unusual and valuable properties. Each crystal for them is a whole world that keeps its history, an individual organism with its own special character. And can you imagine how many interesting things can tell a stone or rock, consisting of thousands of crystals? Communicating with the gnomes, the stones tell them about their valuable qualities, about the possibilities of their use in life and everyday life. Dwarves keep such knowledge in their hearts and write it down in books.

The knowledge of the gnomes is somewhat similar to modern science, because they try to understand the essence of the stone and all the processes taking place in the Earth as deeply as possible. On the other hand, this knowledge is not based on logic, but on feeling and understanding the energy of the stone. This understanding gives rise to many practical applications for each mineral.

Each stone or mineral is a generator of a certain energy, which, interacting with any consciousness or organism, is able to enhance some process in it. For example, one stone creates the energy of joy and raises vibrations, the other - the energy of love and care, and can be the guardian of harmonious relationships, the third strengthens the intention, and you can put spells into it, the other can protect from low vibrations, which means it can be an amulet. This is the science of the gnomes. Equipping their caves, they try to embody in their decoration those energies that can create a cozy atmosphere in them that supports their mutual love and understanding. Creating magnificent jewelry, they strive to embody and enhance the energies and valuable qualities that precious stones possess. Therefore, the external beauty of the houses and decorations of the dwarves is a natural embodiment of the natural power of stones.

At a time when all the inhabitants of the fairy-tale world closely communicated with each other, the gnomes were happy to share their knowledge with other races. Wizards learned to strengthen their spells through communication with stones, dragons began to understand more deeply the structure of the elements of earth and fire. For fairies, gnomes created beautiful amulets and magic wands that generate energy of joy and pleasure, accelerating the fulfillment of desires. The mermen gratefully received gifts from the gnomes in the form of stones that enhance the energy of love, which became the most valuable amulets in their relationship. Dwarves gave elves “musical” stones, which created divine music with their vibrations. Also, the dwarves helped the elves create amazing paints from minerals, shimmering with all possible colors and shades, with the help of which the elves painted their magical pictures.

The gnomes told people about how stones and minerals can be used in science and technology. And what you knew about stones then was very different from what you know today. After all, now your technologies are connected with material reality, and the applications of minerals and crystals are based on their physical properties. But in the fantasy world, your technology was based on the understanding of subtle energies, and the stones opened up amazing possibilities for this! For example, some stones with their energies created lighting in the room, supporting and protecting the entire space with their gentle vibrations. Others could store a large amount of information and became a kind of notebooks and memory disks that you create now. The stones could transmit information at a distance and manifest it in the form of holograms. With the help of them, fabulous inhabitants, being in different places, could communicate with each other. From crystals, people already in those days created a semblance of modern computers, but then they were used quite infrequently. After all, a lot of the desired could be realized immediately, through the power of thought, and this did not require virtual reality, which plays the role of an intermediary between the mental plane and the physical in your world.

You humans created many other unique technologies through the wisdom that the dwarves passed on to you. All this experience is now stored in your subconscious and gradually manifests itself in life. For example, you are interested in the energy of stones, trying to determine their influence on your biofield and state. And those interesting facts that you discover are the ancient knowledge that you begin to “remember” as your subconsciousness is activated by high vibrations. Over time, you will remember many more valuable details given to you by the dwarves, and you will be able to learn completely new facts with the help of subtle abilities that open up. In addition, the dwarves themselves will be happy to tell you a lot of new things as you begin to communicate with them again. By doing so, you will discover a whole new field of science and technology, which in many ways will transform your whole life! After all, stones are generators and amplifiers of high frequencies, to which you have direct access in your reality. So, having learned to manifest and strengthen the energy of crystals and stones, you will be able to raise the vibrations of your whole life! After all, then you will be able to harmonize your biofield, as well as raise the vibrations of your technological devices, on which the general energy background in which you live strongly depends.

And now I want to invite the gnomes themselves to the conversation to ask them a few questions. Thus, we will resume the interaction of gnomes and people, which is still possible only on the subtle plane. But with a gradual increase in vibrations, your communication can become more and more manifest, and someday you will be able to meet physically!

So, dear gnomes, welcome!

Hello people! We are happy to pass the news on to you. We remember you well. Many of us still communicate with you often.

What would you like to convey to people now?

On the other hand, through our communication, we ourselves will begin to better understand the physical plane and gain contact with it, thanks to which we will be able to embody many of our ideas and inventions. Indeed, at our level we can understand and feel a lot, but this can be realized only in physical reality, to which our access is still limited. Recently, we have resumed communication with some people, so there are new interesting discoveries in the natural sciences - chemistry, physics and geology. And these scientists do not even suspect that they are communicating with us. For example, at night they have a very informative dream, and the next day they predict a compound formula with unique properties. Or at some point they get in a great mood and, as a result, they finally get some kind of laborious experiment that they used to struggle with for years! Or perhaps a geologist, walking along the same path for the hundredth time, stumbles upon a barely noticeable outcrop of valuable rock, and thus discovers the largest deposit, impressing his colleagues with his talent. All this, of course, is primarily associated with high vibrations that activate you and manifest new abilities. But at the right moment, we support those people who have a particularly strong connection with us, we become such guardian gnomes for them.

Often these people are researchers, scientists, or just great humorists. After all, good humor, like stones, does not appear out of nowhere, it must be found in the depths of your subconscious. And some kind of joke is usually born in one state or another, which helps you "dig" it in yourself. A joke is a new point of view, which, like a crystal, appears, begins to sparkle with its bright edges and paints everything around in new colors. In the new times, we often help you to show your sparkling humor, which supports you in life and raises your vibrations. And if before the sparks of humor colored your life like separate golden grains that you were looking for, now you will increasingly find whole gold placers and deposits in yourself! Many of you can raise your vibrations so much through humor that you will become a source of high vibrations for all of humanity! This is how the most talented comedians of the new time will arise.

We want to say that your and our genes store a huge common experience gained in a fairy-tale world. After all, then we were united not only by love for science, but also by love at the level of feelings. Often gnomes and people formed joint families, common children were born. In addition, almost any inhabitant of the fairy-tale world went through several lives and managed to visit a representative of different races. Therefore, many of you were once gnomes and carry our genes in your DNA. In the same way, we, with our curiosity, did not refuse the opportunity to be human! Therefore, gnomes and humans have a lot of common genes, and now we have the opportunity, through our communication, to activate them in each other! This will help you to reveal the unique abilities associated with the study of the subtle plane, and we ourselves will begin to understand the physical world more. This will be our real rapprochement, both at the level of knowledge, and at the level of feelings, and even at the level of our bodies! After all, while we are in completely different worlds, but gradually their vibrations will begin to intersect, and the time will come when we can touch each other and even hug!

Dear people, with this message we are glad to resume communication with you.

With respect and love - Gnomes.

P.S. By the way, when you learn how to talk to the stones, you can use some of them as a "phone" in order to "call" us. Imagine that you are holding a stone in your hands and attuned to it at the level of subtle energies. And somewhere in the fairy-tale world there is a gnome who is spiritually close to you. After all, if you had incarnations in the race of gnomes, it means that you still have close relatives among us! And one of these dwarfs dear to you, being in our world, will hold a stone with similar properties in his hands. Your stones, having tuned in on each other, will create a resonance between you. Thus, by amplifying frequencies that are common to you, you will be able to feel and hear each other! And this is a very real opportunity, because this is how, through the stones, we are currently transmitting our messages to people!

Dwarves, they are also gmurs, they are also called homozuli, more ancient than their name; it is Greek, but the Greek classics did not know it, for it arose only in the 16th century. Etymologists attribute its invention to the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus, in whose writings it first appears.

"Gnosis" in Greek - "knowledge"; there is a hypothesis that Paracelsus invented the word "gnome", because the gnomes know and can reveal to a person the exact location of the metals hidden in the earth.

Gnomes are the spirits of the earth and mountains. In the mythology of the peoples of Europe, small, human-like creatures that live underground, in the mountains or in the forest. They are as tall as a child, but endowed with supernatural strength, have long beards and live much longer than humans. Gnomes are shorter than humans, but stronger and stockier. They are known for their fiery temper and incredible stamina. Gnomes have well developed strength and physique, but with dexterity they are worse off. They are not as resourceful as humans, but are usually wiser due to experience gained over a long life.

Folk fantasy represents the dwarfs living under the mountains as bearded dwarfs with rude and funny features. This is how they are described in Western European fairy tales. There they are usually dressed in tight brown kaftans and monastic hoods. Outwardly, the gnomes resemble the same fairy-tale Karls, but they are a little less squat and longer-nosed.

Dwarves are great master blacksmiths who know the secrets of the mountains. They were the first to learn how to mine ores and smelt metals.

In general, these are hardworking and kind people, but they have suffered greatly from human greed, therefore they do not like people. Dwarves hide in deep mountain caves, where they built underground cities and palaces. Sometimes they come to the surface, but if they meet people in the mountains, they scare them away with a loud cry.

There are countless legends about gnomes...

They are considered a race related to elves and fairies. Like the vultures of Hellenic and Eastern beliefs and Germanic dragons, their duty is to guard hidden treasures.

One legend says that dwarves are fairies' shoemakers. Fairies love to dance, and they wear out their shoes pretty quickly when they dance. Shoemakers make them new shoes... for a fee, of course.

According to another legend, gnomes (gmurs) fight in dungeons with mountain monsters (grimturs) and dragons.

Since the gnomes are similar to people, only smaller (this way it is more convenient for them to walk through the caves), some of the gnomes mixed with people: people received knowledge about blacksmithing and jewelry from them.

Gnomes are extremely touchy, quarrelsome and capricious. In the bowels of the earth, the gnomes keep treasures - precious stones and metals; they are skilled artisans, able to forge magical rings, swords, chain mail, and other magical items. Any person, having met a dwarf, tries to get his gold and silver, which is accumulated by a diligent dwarf in continuous, hard work. But gnomes can disappear, one has only to blink one's eyes.

According to the same legends, the dwarves are well resistant to diseases and poisons, but they really do not like water and do not know how to swim at all. They can see in total darkness. They have a highly developed facial expression (sometimes even a caricature), and a long and sharp nose serves as proof of belonging to an old and noble race.

Less is known about the life of the gnomes as a people, and therefore all statements will be more controversial. The most ancient race and, apparently, the smallest; live in childbirth, ignoring the problems of the world.

The magic of the gnomes is too different from the magic of people, and perhaps they have ancestral cults: progenitors, heroes and gods associated with mountains, craft and war. In all likelihood, all the legendary swords of this world came from dwarven forges. Dwarves tempered their swords in flames and made them openwork to reduce weight. The creators of the legendary swords themselves become formidable opponents during the battle.

Legends of the origin of the gnomes

Aule created them...

Tolkien tried to tell where the gnomes came from.

Dwarfs owe their origin to Aula, who created them in the darkness of Middle Earth.

“... Aule so strongly wished for the arrival of the Children, in order to pass on to the students his knowledge and his art in crafts, that he could not wait for the completion of Ilúvatar's plan. And Aule created the gnomes - such as they are now, because the images of the Children who were to appear were unclear to him. And since the Earth was still under the rule of Melkor, Aule tried to make his creations strong and enduring.

Fearing that the other Valar might denounce his design, he worked in secret. And first he created in a cave under one of the mountains of Middle-earth the seven fathers of the gnomes. However, Iluvatar knew what was happening. And at the very hour when Aule's work was completed, to his pleasure, and Aule began to teach the dwarves the speech that he invented for them - at that very hour Ilúvatar spoke to him, and Aule, hearing his voice, fell silent.

And Iluvatar said to him: Why did you do this? Why are you trying to create something that you know is beyond your power and beyond your control? From me, as a gift, you received only your own existence, and nothing more, and therefore the creatures created by your hand and your mind may not live, but exist, moving only when you mentally tell them to move, and if your thought busy with something else, they will remain motionless. Is that what you wanted?

Then Aule replied: “I did not want this. I wanted to create beings different from myself, to love and teach them, so that they, too, could comprehend the beauty of Ea created by you. Because Arda seems to me to be a huge place for many beings who could enjoy life in it. Moreover, for the most part it is still uninhabited and silent. I was reckless in my impatience, but still the desire for creativity, hidden in my heart, was laid down in my creation by you yourself. An unintelligent child who turns his father's plans into play can do so without malice, but only because he is his father's son. But what can I do now so that you do not become completely angry with me?

As the son of my father, I offer you these beings, the creations of your own hands. Do with them what you will. But shouldn't I destroy my imperfect work?'

And Aule raised his great hammer to smite the dwarves, and wept. But, touched by his humility, Ilyuvatar felt compassion for Aula and his desire, and the dwarves recoiled in horror from the hammer, bowed their heads and begged for mercy. And then Iluvatar said to Aula: “I accepted your creation as you created it. Don't you see that these beings now have a life of their own and speak with their own voices! But they did not evade the blow, they did not dispute the decision you made.

And Aule, rejoicing, threw away his hammer and gave thanks to Ilúvatar, saying: “May Eru bless my work and correct it!”

But Iluvatar spoke again: “As I gave birth to the plans of Ainur at the creation of the world, so now I will fulfill your desire and give them life, but in no other way will I correct the work of your hands. And as you created them, so they will remain. But I will not allow these beings to come before the First Born of my design. Not that your creation is rewarded. They will sleep in the darkness under the stone and will not appear until the Firstborn awaken on Earth. And until that hour comes, you and your creatures will wait, however long. But when the time comes, they will wake up and become for you as your children, and there will be frequent clashes between your creations and mine, the children whom I adopted and the children chosen by me.

And then Aule took the seven Dwarf fathers and laid them down to rest in a secluded place, and he himself returned to Valinor and waited until the long years dragged on.

Since the Dwarves were to appear in the days of the power of Melkor, Aule created them strong and enduring, and therefore they are hard as stone, stubborn, strong in friendship and enmity, and more steadfastly endure the hardships of exhausting labor, hunger and bodily wounds than all others who have the speech of the peoples. And gnomes live a long time, much longer than humans are allowed to live - but not forever.

In the old days, the Elves of Middle-earth believed that the dead dwarves turned into the earth and stone from which they were created, but the dwarves themselves do not believe in this. They say that Aule the creator, whom they call Mahal, takes care of them and gathers them in Mandos in separate halls, that when the end of the world comes, he will give them a blessing and place them among the children. And then their business will be to serve Aule and help him rebuild Ard after the Last Battle. And they also say that the seven Dwarf fathers will rise again and again in their tribe and will again bear their ancient names. Of these, in later ages, the most famous was Darin, the founder of the most friendly tribe to the Elves, whose residence was in Khazad-dum.

The Silmarillion, J. R. Tolkien

O Dean created them...

The Scandinavian peoples have their own legends about the origin of the gnomes.

“... From the day when the sun first lit up in the sky, life on earth has become more fun and joyful. All people worked peacefully in their fields, everyone was happy, no one wanted to become more noble and richer than the other. In those days, the gods often left Asgard and wandered around the world. They taught people to dig the earth and extract ore from it, and also made for them the first anvil, the first hammer and the first tongs, with the help of which all other tools and tools were later made. Then there were no wars, no robberies, no theft, no perjury. A lot of gold was mined in the mountains, but they didn’t save it, but made dishes and household utensils from it - that’s why this age is called “golden”.

Once, rummaging in the ground in search of iron ore, Odin, Vili Ve found worms in it, which wound up in the meat of Ymir. Looking at these clumsy creatures, the gods involuntarily thought.

What shall we do with them, brethren? Ve finally said. - We have already populated the whole world, and nobody needs these worms. Maybe they should just be destroyed?

You are mistaken, - Odin objected. - We inhabited only the surface of the earth, but forgot about its bowels. Let's better make them little dwarf men or black elves and give them the underworld kingdom, which will be called Svartalfaheim, that is, the Black Elf Country.

What if they get tired of living there and want to go upstairs to the sun? asked Willy.

Do not be afraid, brother, - answered Odin. - I will make the sun's rays turn them into stone. Then they will always have to live only underground ...

The rest of the gods agreed with him. This is how elves and gnomes and two new countries appeared in the world: Svartalfaheim and Ljesalfaheim.”

"Elder Edda"

Relationships between gnomes and humans

From the end of the 17th century until the beginning of the 19th century. the rocky regions and moorlands of Cornwall were covered with industrial buildings with smoking chimneys and deep mines where prospectors mined tin, lead and silver. The workers, holding on tightly to the rope, with candles attached to their hats, descended underground, knowing that they were not alone there. "Someone" constantly kept them company, and with this "someone" they had to be careful not to offend.

These were gnomes living and working in the mines, also known as “knockers” (knocker (English) - knocking. Here a natural association arises about the poltergeist phenomena that our contemporaries encountered back in the 20th century. In addition, underground creatures are not the exclusive property of Western European mythology.Suffice it to recall the excellent book "Ural Tales" by the Russian writer Bazhov, where such characters as the Emerald Snake, the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, etc. are mentioned - V. Sh.).

Often the miners could hear the impact of their tools crushing rock, very close, as if just around the corner, or in a nearby tunnel. It was believed that one should not interfere with the work of the gnomes. It was advised to listen to their blows, since the knockers had a wonderful ability to detect the richest deposits of ore. The one who tried to follow the dwarves or steal their prey was expected by a serious illness sent by the knockers - something like rheumatism, when a person remained lame for the rest of his life.

However, one old man decided to try his luck. His name was Trenwit. He mined ore in the Buckles area. One summer night, he and his son lay in the grass waiting for the appearance of the gnomes, patiently peering into the darkness hour after hour, until he noticed a group of little men trying to pull their load to the surface. Taking off his hat and apologizing for disturbing the dwarves, Trönwit offered them a deal. Why would the dwarves suffer all night pulling out the ore when they and their son could help? In return, the old man asked the Knokers to point out metal-rich places and promised to give them a tenth of the booty every day. The gnomes, having consulted among themselves, agreed.

For a long time, both parties were satisfied with the agreement: the dwarves enjoyed a lot of free time, and the old man gave them their due part every day. Trenwith soon became rich. But he was not eternal, and when he died, the mine passed to his son. The heir, considering himself too burdened by his father's obligation, began to cut the share of the dwarves. But the Knockers were not easily fooled. Angry at the treachery and greed of their son, they, in turn, also ceased to fulfill their obligations. In a short time, ore production at the mine dropped sharply, and the son, who quickly squandered his father's money, was forced to look for work. But everyone knew that he had already once deceived the dwarves, and they did not want to deal with him. Soon, rejected by all, this man died penniless.

Dwarfs of the world unite, defend themselves and announce their bisexuality

Declared homeland of garden gnomes german city Chemnitz, where from now on the annual congress "Gnomes of all countries - unite!" At the past congress, first of all, the rights of gardeners were discussed, over which, according to the chairman of the first congress and the chairman of the association for the protection of gnomes, Fritz Friedman, drunken lawnmowers are especially brutally mocked. The chairman put forward a demand - exams for "herbal hairdressers", and he asked nature for more sunny days to brighten up the life of little men.

At present, a real scandal has flared up in Germany and Switzerland in connection with a “gnome” problem that is very important for world civilization. The “bone of contention” between the board of the “International Association for the Protection of Garden Gnomes”, which is located in Basel, and one of the traditional manufacturers of these figurines in red caps for decorating summer cottages, especially in the countries of Northern Europe and Canada, was the release in Thuringia of a gnome women. Fritz Friedman, mentioned earlier, said that Reinhard Griebel, who, despite the harsh bans from Basel, Switzerland, has been producing a female version of the gnome called "Countess Rhoda" for two years now, "encroached on the honor and dignity of garden gnomes." Friedman fined the "recalcitrant" German 75 euros. The punished person paid them, without stopping, however, releasing his truly “unique” product. The world of wizards has arrived. From now on, along with the gnomes, little "gnomes" will protect the backyard and garden plots of Europe, joyfully praising the 21st century, which allowed such emancipation.

Oddly enough, there are several problems ... Are there underground inhabitants created by Odin (let's leave Tolkien fairy tales and numerous "mechemash" admirers with their fees, disputes, gossip), but with Odin, everything is not so simple.

One is a god, and the gods came from heaven.

If, according to the author of the book “We are aliens” by Valery Iosifovich Kratokhvil, the ancestors of the main four terrestrial races came: Caucasians - from the star "Upsilon" of the constellation Bootes, Mongoloids - from the star "Zeta" of the constellation Ursa Major, Negroids - from the star "alpha" constellations Big Dog(“Sirius”), and the Austroloids are from the Mayan star, the Pleiades star cluster, then why not assume that the diversity of both races and visits was much greater, and the aliens’ distribution areas were not limited to the earth’s surface, but among them were inhabitants of underwater and underground worlds.

Outwardly, the Gnomes are creatures of very small stature. Usually in growth they do not reach a meter in height. However, this does not affect the size of their head in any way. By default, it has a fairly large volume. The physique of the gnomes is not very large, but in general they are very similar to the Dwarves. Gnomes' hair can have completely different colors, their noses and ears are quite large. But the skin has a pinkish tint. To help identify the Dwarf will help their tools, which are always laid in their belts. By the way, Dwarves live for about 150 years.

The heroes of Old Norse and Germanic mythology were dvergs / zwerg (dvergar / Zwerg), in the English version - dwarves (dwarf), in the academic translation into Russian - dwarfs or dwarfs. The word "dwarf" appeared only in the 16th century. His invention is attributed to the alchemist Paracelsus. Gnosis is Greek for knowledge. Dwarves know and can reveal to man the exact location of the metals hidden in the earth. The gnomes of Paracelsus are the spirits of the earth and mountains, in contrast to them, the tsvergs and dwarves are completely material beings

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The word “dwarf” came to Russian at the end of the 18th century. It merged the meanings that are conveyed in English by two different words, “gnome” and “dwarf”. In Russian, both words are usually translated as “dwarf”. This is true for everyday speech and translations of children's fairy tales, but debatable for translations of Tolkien's works, which are based on ancient and medieval texts (Tolkien used both English words in his works, and in different meanings)

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This approach is also erroneous when translating the works of other authors writing in the fantasy genre, and in the case of translating various computer and board games in fantasy worlds. However, due to tradition, translators continue to use the word "dwarf".

The Dwarves invented their runic script long ago and have used it ever since to keep a detailed record of all their discoveries and trades. Each fortress had its own, created by scribes, historical library, mainly related to the affairs of this particular fortress. Over the years, some of these huge books have been lost or badly damaged, but even so, the history of the Dwarves is well-documented and exceedingly long compared to, say, the history of the Humans.

The first literary sources mentioning gnomes were Icelandic heroic songs of the 13th century from the Elder Edda collection, as well as the text of the Younger Edda, compiled by the skald poet Snorri Sturluson, who lived at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Both literary works contained mythological tales of the 8th-10th centuries, as well as elements of the Germanic heroic epic of the early 13th century. Let's make a reservation that the word “gnome” itself appeared much later, and we will talk about the legality of its use. The heroes of the ancient texts are the Dvergi (singular “dvergur”, plural “dvergar”), who are traditionally called “dwarfs” in Russian translations of the Edda. This word contains the same root as the names of the tribe in other Germanic languages: compare with the German "zwerg" (Zwerg) and the English "dwarf" (dwarf).

In the "Edda" the dwarves are sometimes also called black elves, in contrast to the light alves (prototypes of Tolkien's elves). The peaceful gnomes of Snow White are what the heroes of German folklore have become in Hollywood.
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In the "Younger Edda" it is explained that the dwarfs were born first in the body of the slain giant Ymir (or Brimir). They were worms, but by the will of the gods they acquired a human mind and took on the appearance of people, however, a little parodic. They were as tall as a child, but possessed great physical strength, wore long beards, and had dead gray faces. They were afraid of the sun: its light turned dwarfs to stone.
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The Dvergs steadfastly endured any hardships, were extremely hardy and fabulously hardworking. They lived much longer than humans, but still not forever. The dwarfs did not have women and continued their race, carving their offspring from the rocks. They had a bad character: they were stubborn and absurd, touchy and quick-tempered, greedy, besides, they owned witchcraft and were the keepers of the riches of the earth's bowels. The dwarves were mostly hostile to people and gods, however, not without reason: the gods constantly encroached on protected treasures.

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In the art of processing precious stones and metals, the dwarves had no equal - they managed to make truly magical things. And the gods themselves were forced to turn to them for help, using flattery and cunning. It was the black elves, according to legend, who forged for Odin (the main god of the Scandinavian pantheon) the spear Gungnir, which strikes, knowing no barriers, the warlike god Thor - the hammer Mjolnir for the battle with the giants (the thrown hammer returned to the owner’s hand, like a boomerang), the bonds of Gleipnir for the dire wolf Fenrir..

With the development of civilization on the surface of the earth, the underground inhabitants also change. In the German heroic songs and ballads of the Zwerg (the German analogues of the Scandinavian Dverg), the development of feudal relations can also be traced underground. Noble knights visit underground kingdoms filled with treasures, befriend or feud with dwarf kings, fight dwarf knights. As in ancient times, the tsvergs supply mortals with witchcraft items and weapons of extraordinary power.

In the Nibelungenlied, the beautiful and brave son of the king, Siegfried, uses the help of the dwarf Alberich, fights with a sword forged by underground masters. From other sources, we learn how the same Siegfried is staying with the infinitely rich dwarf king Egvald, and a thousand dwarfs, all dressed up and in armor, offer him their service.

Over time, gnome dwarfs practically disappear from the pages of literature, continuing to live in folklore. Folk fantasy presents them as suspicious creatures, old men with beards, sometimes on bird legs. They can help people, be grateful to them, but often they are suspicious and vicious. Some gnome-like characters get along peacefully with people, although they are capricious: these are the Scottish brownie and the Irish drinker claricon. The Irish leprechaun and the Neapolitan monacello are persecuted by people because they hide treasures from them. And the Scottish red cap, which lives in abandoned castles where villainy was once committed, attacks people by itself.

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The gnomes owe their return to literature to the Grimm brothers, prominent scholars-researchers of German antiquity and nationality, connoisseurs of ancient German literature. In 1812, they published their "Children's and Household Tales", in some of which the main characters were gnomes. The dwarfs of the Brothers Grimm bear little resemblance to the dwarfs of the Edda, but they are also not cartoon short men in red caps. They are moderately good-natured, mischievous, sometimes frankly vicious and hostile to people, although they are deprived of the insidious militancy of their ancestors.

The further evolution of the gnomes leads to the appearance of a good-natured shorty, friendly to people and disgracing the proud name of the zwerg..

J. R. R. Tolkien is not only the founder of the fantasy genre, but also a famous philologist. It is not surprising that Tolkien's universe is based on the images and beliefs of the ancient northern myths.
The underground people Tolkien in all books (including the “childish” “The Hobbit”) calls the word “dwarves” (plural of “dwarf”), and not “gnomes”. Interestingly, the word "gnomes" is found in the working manuscripts of the Professor: this is how he names one of the elven tribes. When domestic translators got to the working materials describing Middle-earth, they ran into a problem. How to translate the word "gnomes" if the variant "gnomes" was originally reserved for the translation of the word "dwarves"? .

Any inhabitant of Middle-earth knows about the mutual hostility between dwarves and elves. It can be assumed that the enmity between the two peoples is due to cultural differences between them: elves love trees, open skies and hunting by starlight, while for dwarves trees are just combustible material, and they prefer the stone vaults of their underground halls to the sky and stars. However, it is more likely that the enmity between the two peoples is due to the excessive greed of the Dwarves and the sickly arrogance of the Elves. Nothing will give a dwarf greater joy than the opportunity to appropriate a jewel that belonged to elves, and a proud elf will take great pleasure in calling the dwarf race "flattened people."

Hostility between elves and dwarves can either result in open enmity (the murder of the elven king by the dwarves), or be replaced by true friendship. The best example of sincere friendship was the relationship between the dwarf Gimli, the son of Gloin, and the elf Legolas, the son of Thranduil, the king of the Blackwood elves...

The real, primordial, enemies of the gnomes are dragons. These fire-breathing creatures have been hunting for the treasures of the gnomes for centuries and often go to conquer their settlements. Usually such battles end in failure: the dragon, as a rule, wins, and the surviving and impoverished gnomes leave wherever they look. The exile lasts until a hero is found who can defeat the dragon. Such a hero most often becomes one of the people (remember at least the “Hobbit”, in which the enemy of the gnomes, the dragon Smaug, was killed by a man named Bard). By the way, it is here that the roots of unfriendliness between dwarves and people are hidden. After all, people, as a rule, after killing a dragon, appropriate its treasures for themselves, and the gnomes, continuing to consider these treasures as their own, stop at nothing to return the former property.

But all these feuds between the dwarves and other peoples are forgotten in the face of a common enemy, and then a real alliance is formed. .

Dwarves are known for their martial prowess, and for their great and pure love of ale (dwarves drink before battle to lift their spirits, and afterward to wash their glorious victory). On the contrary, they dislike magic, but at the same time they are able to resist its effects. Dwarves are friendly only to those who manage to win their trust (and this is not at all easy to do), only they can give them something of their treasures, which they carefully guard. Dwarves love hard work and do not understand jokes at all, one can only wonder how they manage to get along well with funny gnomes. In addition to gnomes, dwarves are friendly to humans, halflings, and half-elves. Sometimes they even respect elves, although they usually consider them flighty and unpredictable. Dwarves tend to be good, so they hate orcs and goblins..

Anatomically, dwarves are described as stout, broad-shouldered humanoids, standing between 120 and 140 cm tall, with light brown or reddish skin, and dark eyes and hair. An indispensable attribute of a dwarf is a chic beard. They mature around the age of 50, and the total life expectancy is about 400 years.

The kingdoms of the dwarves are deep underground. It is there, in the underground forges, that wonderful dwarven products are born, and in the mines they extract precious stones and metals, among the latter, mithril (which is written like this: mithral in D&D) is especially valued. What dwarves cannot obtain on their own, they acquire through trade.

They worship Moradin, the Soul Forger, speak Dwarven, and use runes to write. .

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Dwarves are known as excellent technicians, alchemists and inventors. Probably, the dwarves managed to achieve such impressive results in all the listed crafts thanks to their own curiosity. Gnomes dream of trying everything on their own experience, they are constantly inventing useful things. The curiosity of the gnomes is not limited to scientific research, sometimes, following the lead of their own interest, the gnomes arrange various practical jokes just to observe the behavior of the victim. Often such jokes do not go unpunished for them - not everyone is able to appreciate the sophisticated humor of the gnomes. The most mischievous gnomes are called "tricksters". Many mistakenly consider them to be evil, but they are not, rather, they are simply too chaotic.

Unlike dwarves, gnomes are more tolerant of sorcery, preferring to work with illusion magic. Many famous bards and wizards come from the tribe of dwarves.

Despite outward friendliness, gnomes are truly close only to dwarves, with whom they are united by a love of jewelry and mechanics, as well as to halflings, who can appreciate their pranks. Most gnomes are suspicious of those who are taller than they are, namely humans, elves, half-elves, and even more so, half-orcs.

Gnomes are smaller in stature than dwarves, about 90-110 cm, have gray-brown to reddish-brown skin color, blond hair, and blue eyes. A disproportionately large nose is a distinctive feature for representatives of this people. Beards are not held in high esteem among gnomes as they are among dwarves, and many shave them off. Gnomes mature at the age of 40, and live up to 350 years. .

Gnomes live in a wooded area, underground, but they love to be on the surface, rejoicing in the living world around them. It is not at all easy to find the gnome's house, usually the dwelling is securely hidden with the help of illusions, so the entrance to the gnome's house is open only to invited guests - the enemies have nothing to do there.

The chief god of the gnomes is Garl Shining Gold, the Vigilant Protector. Dwarves speak a language slightly different from dwarven.

D&D developers were among the first to divide the undermountain people into two races: dwarves and gnomes. Moreover, each of the resulting races turned out to be original, with memorable unique properties, customs and character. .

Dwarves, being a very quick-tempered and touchy people, have been waging bloody wars for more than 4000 years. Some of these wars were started by the fault of the dwarves themselves (for example, the war with the elves), and some are unconditional aggression from other races. As a result of just such an ongoing struggle with goblins and skaven (ratmen), the empire of the dwarves gradually began to decline. Many dwarven strongholds fell and passed into the hands of the enemy. But despite this, the dwarves continue to fight, and their empire is still strong enough ..

Gnomes are as popular with fans of the fantasy genre as elves or orcs. And perhaps even more! And even if they are not as beautiful as the first, and not as colorful as the second. Maybe hard life taught them to keep a low profile? There were too many who wanted to profit from their treasures and use their skills for their own selfish purposes!

In this article, we tried to trace the evolution of dwarves: from primitive dwarves and dwarf kings, through Tolkien's khazads, to dwarves and dwarves from D&D and computer games.

To write this article, I had to familiarize myself with a lot of material, thoroughly understand the history of the dwarves and their current life. As a result, I began to treat this small but proud people with much more respect. And you?

From an article by Daria Bukreeva from the site "WORLD OF FANTASY AND FANTASY"

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Lee Berger and a team from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) recently announced that they found skeletons belonging to dwarf people who inhabited the islands of the Pacific about 900 years ago.

Meanwhile, something incredible has been happening in Argentina lately. A creepy gnome is terrorizing the town of Guemes in the province of Salta in the north of the country.

Teenager José Alvarez told local newspaper El Tribuno that he and his friends photographed the creature on a recent night out.

"Alvarez said: We were talking about our last fishing trip. It was already not even night, but early morning. I took out my mobile phone and started clicking the camera, while the others continued to talk and laugh. Suddenly, there was an incomprehensible noise, as if someone invisible were throwing stones on the ground. We turned towards the sound and saw the grass moving, as if a small animal, like a dog, was making its way through its thickets. But it was not a dog that came out to meet us, but something incomprehensible, similar to a gnome. It frightened us very much. This is no joke '.'

"Jose added that other locals also saw the gnome. We are still afraid to go out - like everyone in the area. One of our friends was so scared of what he saw that we had to take him to the hospital," the teenager admitted.

"Police officers, after increasing complaints from the residents of Guemes, even had to increase night patrols. Local newspapers have already nicknamed this ghost the Creepy Dwarf because of his appearance, somewhat reminiscent of a fairy tale hero. According to eyewitnesses, he wears a pointed hat and moves unusual gait - small steps to the side.

The town voluntarily imposed a curfew. After dark, few people dare to go outside for fear of meeting a creepy gnome...

Hobbit controversy continues

Scientists examined ten burial caves on one of the islands of Palau in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. In one of them, they managed to find the remains of bones belonging to at least 25 people. According to Berger, some characteristics of the found remains suggest that the buried inhabitants of the Palau Islands were dwarfs.

"Scientists explain the dwarfism of the people who inhabited Palau with the so-called island rule," which states that the size of small species inhabiting the islands increases, and the size of large species decreases. This process is associated with the need to save food for large animals and favorable living conditions for small ones.

By measuring the size of the pelvic bones and bones of the limbs, scientists estimated that the men who inhabited the island weighed no more than 43 kilograms, and women no more than 29. The islanders carried all the features characteristic of the Homo sapiens species, although some features allowed scientists to conclude that the ancients were somewhat primitive inhabitants of Palau.

It is not known how true the researchers' conclusions are, but their work is likely to contribute to the continuation of disputes about the origin of other dwarfs - Indonesian hobbits from the island of Flores. Since their discovery, there has been debate in the scientific community about whether hobbits are a side species of the genus Homo - Homo floresiensis - or whether they were ordinary people suffering from an unknown disease that caused their reduction in height.

In the spring of 2008, Australian experts suggested that the hobbits suffered from a thyroid disease. According to scientists, the inhabitants of the island of Flores were deficient in iodine and selenium.

"The growth retardation suggests that the females, along with other external factors, were severely deficient in iodine during pregnancy," said Dr Peter Obendorf of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. unknown race, but belong to people who suffered from a certain disease.

"But other scientists do not share the new theory. I regret that serious scientists are seriously considering this option. This theory has almost no evidence," says bioanthropology professor Colin Groves.

In his opinion, the nature of the remains irrefutably indicates that the hobbits were previously unknown individuals of the human race, which existed about 13 thousand years ago. Peter Brown of the University of New England believes that the scientists who put forward the theory of thyroid disease in hobbits did not study the remains directly, but only relied on data received from other researchers.

"White-eyed Chud" from the Ural Mountains

However, while scientists are arguing about whether the race of dwarfs existed in the distant past or not, let's ask ourselves another, more interesting question: do gnomes live on Earth today?
Many adult uncles answer this seemingly childish question unequivocally: they live or, at least, lived quite recently, and as evidence they cite numerous facts of people meeting with representatives of this small “fabulous” people.

One of these meetings took place as early as 1698 in the Urals. An old manuscript, now stored in the Bryansk Regional Library, testifies that the creature was no more than 20 centimeters tall. It stood at the entrance to the cave and held a beautiful crystal in its hands. When meeting with a man, the dwarf almost immediately went into the ground, but the stone remained. We have not been able to determine its type.

The Lapps living on the Kola Peninsula and their Saami neighbors have legends about dwarfs who once settled underground. The Lapps call them "saivok". Spreading out their light dwelling in a convenient place, they could sometimes hear obscure voices and the tinkle of iron reaching them from under the ground. This served as a signal to immediately move the yurt to a new place - it closed the entrance to the underground dwelling of saiwoks. With the underground inhabitants, who were afraid of daylight, the Lapps were afraid to quarrel.

legends about little ones underground inhabitants who know how to process iron and possess supernatural abilities have been preserved among all the peoples inhabiting the north of Russia. So, the Komi living on the Pechora lowland claim that it was the gnomes who taught people to forge iron. Their witchcraft has terrible power. By their order, the Sun and the Moon grow dim.

The Nenets, who live on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, say that “a long time ago, when our people were not here, “Siirtya” lived here - people of small stature. When there were a lot of people, they went right through the ground.”

The Russian explorers who settled in the Urals also have legends and tales about people living in the mountains of small stature, beautiful, with unusually pleasant voices. Just like the saivok on the Kola Peninsula, they do not like to be in the daylight, but some people hear a ringing coming from the ground. And this call is not accidental. “White-eyed Chud” - under this name dwarfs appear in the Ural tales - was engaged in underground mining of gold, silver, and copper. When the Russians came to the Urals, on the advice of prophetic shamans who knew the future, the white-eyed Chud, who lived on the western slopes of the Urals, dug long underground passages and hid in the depths of the mountains with all her treasures.

Back in the 16th century, geographers of Europe were convinced of the existence of the Arctida continent in the Arctic Ocean, inhabited by dwarfs who created a strange, not like ours, civilization. They possessed pronounced psychic, as it is now customary to say, abilities.

Then one of the many earthly cataclysms occurred, as a result of which the Arctic continent almost completely went under water. The surviving inhabitants of Arctida left the freezing and rapidly ice-covered islands and settled in the north of Europe and Asia. They could not restore their civilization, they did not want to fight with the locals and gradually left the surface of the Earth in underground catacombs and caves, in their usual habitat. After all, in their homeland they spent six months in them. To protect people from those greedy for precious metals, especially gold, they put psychological barriers at the entrances to their underground shelters. These barriers to this day inspire people with supernatural horror, driving them away from places sacred to dwarfs.

We all come from Lemuria

Not so long ago, a report by Marseille journalist Chris Durieu about his trip to the United States was shown on French television. On the Californian mountain slopes, he discovered a settlement of strange creatures, as far as he could see - remotely similar to people and at the same time reminiscent of well-known exotic animals - lemurs. They live in strange-looking buildings, which are quite difficult to find among the dense green bushes.

The sensational discovery of the journalist caused a lively discussion in the scientific world, and scientists immediately recalled that back in 1932, the American reporter Edward Lancer published an article in a Los Angeles newspaper about the settlement of the so-called Lemurians living in complete isolation on the slopes of Mount Shasta in California.

And even earlier, in the second half of the 19th century, a theory was spread among zoologists that once Africa, Madagascar and India were connected by a piece of land in the Indian Ocean, inhabited almost exclusively by lemurs, galagos, pottos and lorises, all together which constituted a class of semi-monkeys. Scientists believed that the land, in the end, having gone under water, spread the distribution areas of the semi-monkeys around the world.

The English zoologist Philip Sclater called this abyssal continent Lemuria, and scientific interest in it was fueled by the suggestion made by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel that Lemuria was the cradle of mankind. Well-known occult philosophers immediately picked up and developed Haeckel's theory. So, Helena Blavatsky claimed that during the sessions with the spirits she learned from them the true history of mankind, from which it follows that it began with Lemuria. According to Blavatsky, the inhabitants of this country were the third of the seven root races of the earth, each of which goes through seven stages of development. Today's people represent the fifth race.

- So, so, the youngest son of Anselm. Are the king and the constable ordering us to come and support them? Well, open your eyes wider, cornet. There will be something to see.

They won't believe me, cornet Aubrey thought. “They won’t believe me when I tell about it. This square fights in complete encirclement... Encircled on all sides by cavalry, torn to pieces, it is cut down, crushed, stabbed... And this square goes. It goes smooth, dense, even with shields. He walks, stepping over the corpses and trampling them, pushing the cavalry in front of him, pushing the elite division "Ard Feainn" in front of him. And it goes."

The famous Mahakama battle song escaped from several thousand dwarfs' throats.

Keep building! Print a step!

We'll cover up your mess!

We can't get warm on the stove!

To battle! Forward, beards!

A. Sapkowski, "Lady of the Lake"

Today there are two whole tribes on the pages of our Red Book. Dwarfs and gnomes. The fact is that it would be a complete confusion to consider them separately.

They constantly confuse the dwarf and the gnome, even though the resemblance is purely superficial. Both are smaller than a man, both with an indispensable and rather long beard. That, in fact, is all - then the differences begin. According to this logic, an elephant should confuse a man with a hippopotamus: both are smaller than an elephant and both without hair ...

Names add confusion. In English there is dwarf and eat gnome. In Russian, meanwhile, dwarf is usually called a dwarf, and gnome gets the word "dwarf". This is determined by the fact that, firstly, gnome is smaller, and secondly, Tolkien's translators firmly imprinted the association "gnome = dwarf" into us. So most often they translate in fantasy, games, and in the official Russian Dungeons & Dragons the same picture.

Since this is a matter of taste, we will agree to call them that.

Who is who

Let's see how they differ.

So, dwarf, he is also a dwarf, zwerg, dark alf, dvergar, krepel and dwarf. A humanoid creature about 110-135 centimeters tall, with impressive shoulders and a stocky build, a disproportionately large head, weighs a hundred kilograms or more .... in general, you can’t call this a “baby”. Physically, he is at least no weaker than a person, which is strengthened from childhood by traditional crafts: mining and blacksmithing, construction, stone hewing. The skin is pink, like a European, and, as a rule, not tanned at all. An impressive beard can be of human colors (black, red, chestnut, white), but there are also exotic: blue, bright yellow, greenish beards.

It is interesting: the correct plural of dwarf is dwarfs, but Tolkien decided to reform it into dwarves. Many game and fantasy writers have followed him, but Warhammer keeps the correct grammar.

Dwarf, he is also a gnome, a gnome or a gnome mechanic - more like a halfling, that is, 90-100 centimeters, built in proportion to a person and weighs, therefore, 15 kilograms (since he is approximately 1.8 times smaller than a person in all measurements, it weighs less than 1.8 3 times). The skin is of a brown-dark hue, a large nose stands out on the face - protruding forward or potato-shaped. The beard can be relatively small and is most often white.

Now at least you won't confuse them. But these differences are purely external, while internal ones are much deeper.

On the other hand, dwarfs and gnomes may well be related (and in many worlds they are). Far, but still. They look and think very differently... but the Hottentot differs significantly from the Chinese in everything.

It is interesting: There is also confusion in English. And early fantasy often confuses a gnome with a dwarf. Dungeons and Dragons dotted the e: for this, it was necessary to seriously study the primary sources. Indeed, in the novels that served as the basis of D&D, in some places dwarf and gnome are swapped. But now almost all authors follow the D&D standard.

Gnomes

The first source describing gnomes is apparently " Elder Edda”, a collection of Scandinavian legends; the first, but not the last.

Gnomes met in the Middle Ages in Europe almost everywhere where there are mountains. This is understandable: there is usually ore in the mountains, which is their number one interest. But most of the gnomes were seen in Scandinavia, in the Alps and - strange as it sounds to us - in the Carpathians. Not far from the city of Skala Podolsk (Ukraine), a few centuries ago, there seemed to be gnome buildings. There were gnomes on the plains - for example, in Finland, where they were called hiishi.

It is interesting: the people of the Lombards (translated as “long-bearded”), according to some sources, descended from the Alpine gnomes. That's why they have long beards.

Chrétien de Troyes, describing King Arthur, mentions Bilis, the king of the antipodean Dwarfs. Jewish sources claim that gnomes, or someone very similar to them, were found in Egypt.

Vikings and other Germanic peoples called gnomes zwergami or Dvergami. It is from them that we first hear about this mysterious tribe. Tsvergi, according to the Scandinavians - a variety alves: light elves are elves, and dark elves are gnomes. The Vikings had a respectful attitude towards elves: how not to respect those who are able to make excellent weapons and at the same time are excellent at protecting their property?

Regarding the life expectancy of this people, people have different opinions: someone attributed to them a life cycle of about 5 years, and someone - almost eternal existence without old age. But most authorities agree on a lifespan of about 200 years.

Gnomes appeared, according to the Scandinavians, as ... worms in the flesh of the giant Ymir, but were subsequently elevated by the gods to their current status. First, this status was given to two fathers of the Dwarves - Durin and Motsognir, and then to a whole tribe.

Gnomes live either underground or in ordinary houses, but almost always in the mountains. They obviously do not suffer from claustrophobia and do not need to go out into the sunlight at least occasionally. Yes, they see quite well in the dark.

Among the strange customs is smoking, mastered long before Columbus and the advent of tobacco in Europe. In humans, their smoke potion causes an uncontrollable cough.

Typical names of gnomes can be found in the Elder Edda; and for those who are reluctant to look for it, The Hobbit will do, they are mostly the same there. Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili...

It's not easy to make friends with gnomes. People for them are too frivolous, pugnacious and bloodthirsty people. But still, it is quite possible to find a common language with them - you just need to understand their soul.

Riddles of the Dwarf Soul

The main feature of the gnome's psychology is not greed at all, as naive people think, but justice. Their justice is elevated to the absolute and is instilled in a young dwarf in childhood.

So, for example, according to the dwarf, every thing has a very definite price. That's how much the materials cost, but so much is due for the work. Therefore, the dwarf does not bargain: for this sword he should receive 20 coins, no more and no less, and if someone thinks otherwise, these are his problems. Neither a desperate need for money, nor a buyer's lack of funds, nor flattery, nor threats, nor a sincere desire to pay more than - is not an argument for changing the price. After all, understand: if one of the participants in the transaction receives more than he is due, it’s all the same that he would gave alms. And alms in the understanding of the dwarf is gravest of possible insults. Giving someone money that he did not earn, you thereby suspect that someone of inability earn, that is, you declare him a slacker. Compared to this, the suspicion of a blood relationship with an ogre or a bush pig looks like innocent friendly banter.

And what prevents you from agreeing to sell the goods cheaper? Not only concern for the honor of the buyer, but again dwarf pride. If he sold cheaper than he asked, it means that at first he tried to request a surplus. And get the unearned. What follows from this, we have already found out.

No, the concept of a gift among the dwarves exists, but it implies an extremely close degree of friendship. And if the giver and the recipient are of different sexes, then the relationship is at least on the verge of marriage. By offering a gift to a dwarf you don't know very well, you are committing an unforgivable familiarity. This is even if you manage to explain to him that you are offering a gift ...

Knowing this, you will not be surprised by the famous story retold by many authors. In it, the old dwarf writes a letter to his unlucky son, in which he reproaches him for poor-quality work, unworthy activities and the shame brought on his father's head. And it ends like this: since you, lazybones, are not capable of any business, I deprive your brothers of their inheritance and bequeath everything to you. They will earn for themselves, but you, a loafer, can only live on an inheritance ...

(Actually, leaving someone an inheritance is not an insult, but dividing it not according to the usual canons means humiliating the one who gets the share more prescribed.)

Rumors of dwarven greed mostly stem from this trait. The dwarf values ​​his work above the work of most people (and for good reason!), And refuses to discount the price - how can he not be greedy? When in any shop you can drop the price by half or more?

Where there is justice, there is honesty. Gnomes don't lie. Lies, in their opinion, are meaningless things: Words exist to describe reality, and false words are as stupid as a ruler with wrong divisions or false weights on a scale. Those who often lie or exaggerate, they suspect deep down in their inability to either think or speak.

Boasting in front of a dwarf is dangerous. Not because you will offend him, but because he will think that you are really capable of doing everything that you are talking about. Words about the ability to do something the dwarf perceives as a resume for applying for a job.

(Remember how, in The Hobbit, Bilbo was offended by the dwarves, who have no sympathy for the fact that he has to climb the dragon mountain alone? obligations without thinking about what it will cost him, and even more so - that someone wants to evade this promise.

The notorious vindictiveness of the dwarf also comes from a heightened sense of justice. An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. If someone has done something nasty, he must answer for it. And point. The dwarf is no different from sadism. It's just that the killer must be killed - it's as obvious as the fact that the product that has been started should be finished. Optionally, the dwarf avenges himself or his loved ones: he can easily stand up for the weak, if he believes that he will not restore justice on his own.

Between themselves, the gnomes fight extremely rarely (if you do not take training battles). The resolution of problems with the sword, in their opinion, comes from mutual misunderstanding. And the gnomes understand each other perfectly.

If from the above you concluded that the gnome is easy to offend - you are right. One thing saves: the dwarf is unlikely to avenge for this, he will simply despise you. Gnomes treat most people rather condescendingly. No offense be said, they consider us barbarians.

culture

Little is known about Dwarf culture; and what we know is very reminiscent of the culture of the same Vikings. Probably the Vikings learned from them.

It is clear why the underground people write in runes: most often they have to leave inscriptions on stone or metal, and for this, a font where there are only straight lines suits much better than, say, Latin.

The versification of the dwarves, as far as we know, is the same Skaldian visas, verses without rhyme, but with alliterations - with repeating letters and syllables.

As for religion, the Scandinavian gnomes, of course, either worshiped the Ases, or ... were on a more equal footing with them than people, and therefore their relationship with them does not quite fit into the traditional ideas about religion. However, many medieval theologians authoritatively asserted that the gnomes have a soul (after the story about the soul of the psoglavtsy from the last chapter of the Red Book, this will not surprise us), and that there were numerous (!) precedents for their conversion to Christianity, including entire settlements. However, this is in perfect agreement with the fact that they received true silver - after all, only the purest soul can do something similar.

Hammer and anvil

The second most important virtue of a dwarf is creativity. A dwarf must work, not to earn a living or comfort, but for some result. As a rule, he works with his hands, and there is only one kind of work that is higher than this: teaching young people. A special case of this occupation is the management of a city or state.

By the way, about the management: it is extremely simple for the dwarves. Minimum number of officials. The king explains what needs to be done, and the rest obey. If the king suddenly does not know what to do, he gathers advice. Politics is a completely foreign concept to them.

After teaching, what is most valued is that which lasts for centuries. That is why gnomes work best with durable materials: metal and stone. Wood is used only when necessary, tailors are, as it were, a lower caste compared to blacksmiths, and cooks are the bottom of society, those who have not been able to learn how to forge and build. I think this explains why dwarven cuisine is not famous all over the world. But poetry or music in honor - they have a good chance of outliving the author.

A special case is work in a mine or a quarry. Here the dwarf does not seem to create the eternal himself, but helps another. Accordingly, this is a job for young people - students. When he grows up, he will process it himself, but for now let him get materials for those who are older and more experienced.

According to some reports, the color of a dwarf's beard is directly related to the metal they process. Apparently, the blue beard is copper (according to the color of the main compounds), the yellow one is iron ...

Many heroes used weapons forged in dwarven forges. The most interesting thing is that some of these blades have survived; however, for the most part, it turned out that they were still forged by people, just well, very far from the place where the owner of the sword lived.

Among the products of the dwarves are the spear of Odin - Gungnir, and the hammer of Thor - Mjollnir, and the chains that fettered the monstrous wolf Fenrir, and even the golden hair of one of the aces.

Dwarfs do not keep a professional army: who would want to devote his life to such nonsense? I also have to refute the ridiculous rumor about berserker gnomes: it was born in our days. A real dwarf fights judiciously and dispassionately, not at the call of his heart, but because it is necessary.

peerless metal

The Dwarves, according to many sources, have discovered the secret of some unparalleled metal or, perhaps, an alloy. At times it cuts through iron like wood or even like butter, at other times it produces incredibly strong armor, at other times it is suitable for hammers, which create incomparable weapons. But he is always needed for the war.

Alchemists called as this metal that " true silver", then " adamantite», « cold iron" (in this case it means "forged without fire") or unknown " electr" (in this case - not an alloy of gold and silver, but something like "true copper"). Tolkien calls this metal mithril and combines incredible strength with the lightness of aluminum; in Warhammer it's extremely hard gromril.

If in Middle-earth mithril can be obtained only in the especially deep mines of Moria, then alchemical true silver can really be obtained from ordinary silver; True, this requires unthinkable virtue and self-denial.

By the way, mithril is not the only gnome metal in Middle-earth. The dwarf Telhar of Nogrod forged a metal that easily cuts through iron: from it the dagger Angrist was forged, with which Beren cut the Silmarils from the crown of Morgoth.

Rune Carvers

Another popular craft, or art, or maybe magic: carving runes on stone or metal. These runes "do" about the same thing as other peoples - slander or charms. The more familiar ways to perform miracles (you know, waving your arms, saying strange words...) gnomes, as a rule, do not know.

Usually runes have a permanent effect; the exception is runes applied to a short-lived base (wood, leather) - then they work only once, in the manner of a potion or a scroll.

In games: this is fully implemented in the upcoming addition to Heroes of Might & Magic V (see "Games of the Future"). And one of the most wonderful implementations is in the desktop Warhammer Fantasy Battles: thanks to the runes, the dwarves there are the only race that can design magical items. This almost compensates for their lack of magicians in the army.

Women

Some obscene rumors constantly circulate about dwarf women. Either they don’t exist at all, or outwardly they are indistinguishable from men (read, they wear beards to the waist), or the gnomes hide them deep in the dungeons in fear that people will certainly steal them.

In fact, everything is not so scary at all. It's just that the women of this people have absolutely no reason to meet with foreigners: why? All purchases are made by the husband or father - after all, it is he who first of all earns money, they have no curiosity to see the world around them ... As for appearance, the gnomes do not have beards, but, according to a number of sources, they have sideburns. Still, it's prettier.

gray gnomes

At a time when the Dwarf civilization was clearly in decline - in the late Middle Ages and further until the 19th century - their feral relatives, called gray gnomes, were met in Sweden and Norway. They are much smaller than their cultural relatives and live ... by hunting. Preferably on people. According to some reports, they sense their fear from afar and gather to hunt in a large crowd.

In games: in D&D and later fantasy, gray gnomes have become the standard evil counterweight to regular gnomes, but they also live deep in caves. They used the word duergar- slightly distorted "dvergar", plural of "dverg". They are found in abundance, for example, in Hordes of Underdark. For some time now, the ability to psionics has become a generic trait of the duergar, but this has not yet been noted in computer games.

Dwarfs

The very word gnome —

relatively recent, known since the 16th century from Theophilus von Hohenheim, better known under the name Paracelsus.

Oddly enough, it comes from Greek roots and means only geo nomos- Knowing the earth. According to another version - from the word gnosis, i.e. "experts". The alchemist Paracelsus was most interested in their knowledge of ores and metals, so he called them that.

In truth, dwarves understand more about ores, but by the 16th century it was already difficult to find them, but miners often met strange small creatures in the mines - and they were, in their general opinion, either dwarfs or kobolds ...

Paracelsus believed that dwarfs are creatures of an elemental nature, made from the elements of the Earth.

It is not for nothing that they have a characteristic brown color, they dig holes (do they really walk freely through the soil?) And so on. The same opinion was held by the Rosicrucians. But it still doesn't look like that: dwarfs, for example, eat and drink, while elemental creatures probably have a slightly different metabolism? Probably, the truth is in the middle: they are related to the elements of the Earth, but nothing more.

In general, we must admit that we know much less about dwarfs than about gnomes. They were met much less often, they did not perform special feats, and to top it all, they hid very well and loved hoaxes very much.

Apparently, dwarfs are quite cheerful in disposition, they appreciate good food, drinking, and later smoking (they adopted it from the dwarves, not otherwise). In great friendship with some animals: badgers, moles. Apparently common interests...

Dwarfs do not necessarily live in mountains or hills - many, on the contrary, prefer forests. Their strange sense of humor sometimes makes them help the traveler get lost.

Some even say that swamp lights are dwarf lamps.

In general, dwarfs love jokes extremely. Including dirty ones (for example, arrange a small collapse or replace ore with a blende) and obscene ones. In the evenings, they say, such songs are sung that even miners and shoemakers blush.

In Europe, most dwarfs were found in the Alps, Switzerland, Tyrol. Many of them lived in Iceland - they were called there vettirami and greatly respected. It is possible that the Japanese tengu in some way similar to them

The names of dwarfs are similar to gnomes: they usually end in "i" or, less often, "in". They say, however, that these are their nicknames “for distant acquaintances”, that is, for you and me, and they call themselves much longer names - 10-15 syllables.

Yes, and one more thing: it is dwarfs who walk in caps. Not gnomes, as some people think.

Svirfneblin

It is not known exactly whether svirfneblin can be called a kind of dwarfs, or if they are some other tribe. But the external description corresponds quite exactly, except that the skin is not brownish, but gray.

Svirfneblin lived in the deep caverns of the Scandinavian mountains, and were either allies or slaves of the dwarves. Indications of their way of life are very contradictory.

In games:"Dungeons and Dragons" kept this name for dwarfs living deep underground (aka "deep dwarfs"). But, unlike the gray gnomes, the duergar, svirfneblin are not at all vicious. They can be found almost everywhere where there is a large-scale Underdark.

National crafts of dwarfs

The main character trait of dwarfs, with the exception of caustic humor, is curiosity. Therefore, dwarfs have always made good collectors of knowledge, songwriters, and so on. There are cases when dwarfs were addressed according to the principle: “If you don’t know where to look for information, ask a dwarf - you never know what nonsense they learn by chance.”

Miners and metallurgists often referred to the secrets learned from dwarfs. If you believe these statements, this is how the recipe for damask steel and some paints was preserved.

Not surprisingly, dwarfs are famous for their talent for winemaking and - especially - brewing. And in terms of magical talents, they are famous for their ability to deceive the eyes and ears - probably this is how they make travelers get lost in the forest.

In games: since the third edition, in D&D (and, accordingly, NWN), the bard has become the favorite class of dwarfs. This is fully consistent with what was said above. The dwarfs' penchant for illusions has been a part of D&D since the beginning.

Dwarfs and gnomes in literature

It's no exaggeration to say that gnomes are the most popular non-human race in fantasy. Dwarfs are less common; but there are some truly charming specimens. The interpretation of the image by different authors differs very much, but we will consider some of the most interesting or well-known options.

J. R. R. Tolkien

Before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the images of "fabulous" peoples - elves, dwarves, trolls - were crippled by fairy tales of the 17th-19th centuries.

Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and others have completely eradicated the normal representatives of these peoples from the literature, replacing them with petty lisping dirty tricks. Until now, many believe that elves are such crumbs with dragonfly wings that live in flowers, and gnomes are those freaks that respectable burghers keep in the garden in clay form.

Why this happened is a topic for a separate discussion, but we are now interested in something else. As soon as The Lord of the Rings came out, the gnomes and elves in the eyes of Europeans rapidly acquired ... well, if not quite the same, but close to that look. Since that time, in almost all new books (and, subsequently, games), the gnome is a powerful, thick-set, albeit relatively undersized bearded man, who is completely unwilling to call him a “gnome”.

The dwarves of Middle-earth were created not by Eru, a single creator, but by one of his assistants - Aule. Eru was somewhat angry at such arbitrariness, but granted them the right to life and free will.

The Dwarves had seven forefathers, who from time to time are reborn in their descendants. Each of them can do this seven times.

The story of the dwarven forefathers has led many to argue that dwarfs do not have women - see above for this absurd idea. By the way, one dwarf woman is mentioned in the original source - Dis, the mother of Bilbo's companions Fili and Kili.

The language of the gnomes, unlike the elvish, cannot be restored from books. Just a few words are known - for example, "khazad" - the self-name of the dwarves (the singular is "khuzd", and not "tangar" at all, as the ignorant say), or "uzbad", which translates as "leader" or "king". We know this word from the inscription on Balin's grave.

The word gnome in Tolkien is found only in early works - and means ... one of the elven peoples, specifically - the Noldor. The etymology "geo nomos", "experts of the earth", fits them completely, but otherwise they do not look like dwarfs or gnomes at all.

Much of the subsequent fantasy took on the image of the dwarf from Tolkien. But - and this happened not only with the dwarfs - she strengthened all the characteristic and even random features many times over, making a caricature out of the portrait. A sense of proportion is characteristic of Anderson or Sapkowski, but, alas, there were few of them. The rest tried to emphasize all the features as sharply as possible.

How this happened - let's look at a few examples.

Baruk Khazad, or A little about weapons

Since the time of The Lord of the Rings, many have believed that the main weapon of the dwarves is an ax. The unfortunate gnomes are forced to fight even at a distance with the same axes - throwing them in the Indian manner.

Dwarves really love and value axes; even their national battle cry, baruk khazad, translates to “dwarf axes.” But they never came to such stupidity as throwing axes. For long-range combat, they use the same bows as all progressive mankind. Although they can not be compared with the elves in this.

So, the entire detachment of Thorin Oakenshield is armed with bows; and although they could not shoot a deer in the Enchanted Forest, they tried very hard.

And up close, they are not at all so committed to axes. The same Thorin wears the sword Orcrist, obtained from the trolls - the same as the sword of Gandalf, they found them together. Nain, Dain's father, preferred the klevets (war pick). Hammers, maces and more were also used.

In games: where a dwarf is, there is an ax - this rule is practically immutable. You won’t meet gnomes with a bow or spear at all; occasionally you can see a gnome with a hammer or sword. A special dwarven ax appeared in NWN - heavier than usual, but one-handed, as well as a two-pointed version of it. But the klevets became the "signature" weapon of the dwarfs.

But what is interesting is why the gnomes, the inhabitants of caves and tunnels, did not relearn the style of “dense formation, shield plus short piercing sword”, like the Romans? It would be logical. Maybe because they don't like "weapons that are only weapons, not tools" at all, like the Jordanian Aiel? Mystery!

Dwarves versus elves?

The popular idea of ​​the enmity between dwarves and elves comes, in a sense, also from Tolkien. But, as in the case of axes, the followers greatly simplified it and, I’m not afraid of this word, vulgarized it.

In fact, Tolkien... there is no particular enmity between these peoples. There were times of warm friendship; so, the ruler of one of the elven tribes, Finrod Felagund, agreed on the construction of his underground city by the dwarves, and later even received the most valuable gift from the dwarves (you already know how much this means). The Noldor (this is an elven people, closest in interest to the dwarves) in general often made friends and exchanged knowledge with the "sons of the earth". Finally, the famous Gates of Moria were made jointly by dwarves and elves - and to pass through them it was enough to say “friend” in Elvish, that is, both peoples completely trusted each other.

There were also disagreements: for example, the Dwarves attacked Menegroth, the city of another king of the elves - Thingol, and killed him. But they had a very good reason for this: Thingol refused to give up what was theirs. As already mentioned, the worst insult is hard to come up with.

The forest king Thranduil offended the Dwarves of Thorin by keeping them locked up for some time; but again he had certain reasons for this.

In general, this somehow doesn’t pull at all on the “history of centuries-old enmity”. Although there was some mutual misunderstanding: the dwarves valued the work of their own (or others') hands more than miraculous beauties, the elves, as a rule, did the opposite (excluding the Noldor).

Where did the ridiculous legend come from?

The authors of subsequent works, for the most part, read only The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and then barely; and far-reaching conclusions were drawn from the scene with Thranduil and the Lorien elves' suspicion of the dwarf (and they are generally suspicious of everyone!) In addition, according to narrow-minded people, the ability of Tolkien's gnomes and elves to forgive insults and strive for mutual understanding is "unnatural." So hundreds of stories began to multiply about how once the dwarves cut down the edge of the elven forest, and since then they have been fighting for the fourth millennium in a row.

Their right. But when someone tells you that Tolkien invented all this, you know that your interlocutor read Tolkien at best through a line.

It is interesting: you will be amazed when you see How many followers and even successors of Tolkien never managed to read it carefully. In one description of Middle-earth, for example, one can find a dwarf named... Naugrim. This is indescribably funny: the fact is that “naugrim” is plural number from the Elvish word for "dwarf". Imagine giving a gnome the name "gnomes" (not even "gnome"!) in a foreign language. So I imagine a Russian named Moskali Petrovich Ivanov. And this is far from the limit...

Dwarf on a horse

As you might guess, a horse is not suitable for a gnome - the proportions are not the same. However, in The Hobbit, dwarfs make extensive use of ponies - both ride and lead.

Gimli rode a horse exclusively with Legolas, who took charge of this complex transport, and preferred to fight on foot - like many of his fellow tribesmen. Dwarf cavalry was somehow not found in Tolkien.

As in the cases previously described, followers have tried to reinforce this fact many times over; gnomes are attributed either hatred of horses as a natural phenomenon, or, in general, a complete inability to move on anything faster than on their own two feet.

C. S. Lewis

In the Narnia book series, gnomes are the original (unlike humans) inhabitants of the world, along with talking beasts, fauns, and centaurs. They are called "children of the earth"; in their manners and habits, they are similar to the classic gnomes, but are more greedy and do not always keep their word.

It seems that there is a division into red and black gnomes (according to the color of their hair and beards), and blacks are less inclined towards goodness and justice. During the reign of the White Witch, many dwarves were on her side. In Prince Caspian, the red-haired dwarf Tram is opposed to the black dwarf Nikabrik, who proposes to call upon evil spirits and even the evil White Witch herself to fight for the freedom of Narnia.

In The Last Stand, where the end of the world takes place, many dwarves make the choice "dwarfs for dwarves", that is, "we are for ourselves", and thereby deprive themselves of the chance to enter paradise. In general, this motto, reflecting a sort of gnome nationalism, is popular with them - and because of this, many troubles have happened to them.

But, despite this, there are also enough pretty gnomes in Narnia.

P. Anderson

The trilogy "The Broken Sword", "Three Hearts and Three Lions", "A Midsummer Night's Storm" we have already mentioned in the "Red Book", and we will mention it more than once. Paul Anderson always described mythological Europe very carefully, but here confusion was added by his efforts: his most famous dwarf, Googie, friend and companion of Holger the Dane ("Three Hearts and Three Lions") - in fact, a real dwarf with all the characteristic habits and appearance .

Holger looked down and saw a stout man with a face as brown as earth, with ears like jug handles, a huge nose, a white beard, barefoot, in a brown jacket and matching trousers. This person was less than three feet tall.

But, despite such slander, dwarfs should be in some sense grateful to Anderson: it is thanks to him that this tribe has taken a secure place in Dungeons & Dragons, and therefore in hundreds of books and games. And no wonder: he turned out to be very charming.

M. Weiss and T. Hickman

"Saga of the Spear" (Dragonlance) - books on the D&D-world called Krynn, respectively, there are gnomes and dwarfs. But Wace and Hickman were not satisfied with the classic game descriptions of races - and developed them greatly.

Their first find is the transformation of dwarfs. They prioritized the inquisitiveness of this race - and made of it a people of crazy inventors, maniacs of mechanics and complex devices. Mechanics prefer stairs and even an elevator to climb to the upper floors - a catapult:

“The magician will fly straight to Skimbosh – no, no, there is no danger, our research confirms that flying is much safer than walking, so, at the top of the trajectory, when he just starts to descend, Skimbosh will throw out the net and catch him – like this...” Gnosh made a movement with his hand, as if caught a fly - and then pull it up and ...

— Here, probably, amazing accuracy is needed! Tas admired.

“The accuracy is impeccable: we invented a special hook that provides it, although…” Gnosh pursed his lips, his eyebrows moved to the bridge of his nose. - Although sometimes something introduces an error. However, the commission is engaged in this ... The operator pulled the lever, and Fisbane flew up with a piercing scream. “Oh you,” Gnosh said, looking up. - Not again...

- What? What's there? Tas yelled, trying to see what had happened.

“The grid opened up too soon,” Gnosh shook his head. “For the second time today, and again on Skimbosh!” Oh, and we'll be talking about the Guild of Networks at the next meeting...

Some lack of spaces in this quote is due to the fact that dwarf mechanics think much faster than they speak, and involuntarily speed up their speech to a continuous patter.

This charming, albeit completely crazy race is in a strong friendship with people - the Solamnic knights: the fact is that their chaotic research from time to time leads to the creation of new weapons, for example, firearms. Sometimes it even shoots, and sometimes it shoots at the intended target, and not at the eye of its owner.

As for the gnomes, Wace and Hickman divided them into three sub-races - mountain, hill and ravine. And if the first two differ mainly in their habitat and key crafts, then gully gnomes- a semi-wild tribe of such eternal children who have not gone in their development beyond the age of six.

...one of the gnome women took matters into her own hands. Rushing into the thick of the battle, she grabbed both fighters at once, deftly hit them with their foreheads and threw them to the floor. The others immediately cooled off, and the brave little girl turned to Raistlin. Her nose was short and thick, her hair sticking out in all directions. She was dressed in a patched, tattered dress, thick boots and stockings that had come down to her ankles. However, judging by the respect with which the other dwarves looked at her, she was their elder. She carried a large, heavy bag slung over her shoulder. The bag dragged across the floor, causing her to stumble from time to time. If one of the dwarfs dared to touch the bag, she turned around and, without talking, hit anything.

“The corridor is led by the big masters,” she declared, nodding towards the eastern end.

The little woman listened in fascination, looking at him adoringly.

- Tell me, please, how many hosts are there? Raistlin continued. She wrinkled her brow in concentration, then raised her short-fingered hand.

“One,” she said, and held up her finger. - And one. And one. And one. She spread her four fingers and announced triumphantly: “Two!”

It is impossible not to mention the old hill gnome Flint - one of the main characters of the book, a kind of "good grandfather", constantly grumbling at everyone, especially at the thieving and reckless kender Tasselhoff. The rest of the company does not have a soul in him, but constantly makes fun of his hatred of boats (to which he classifies ships of any size - it's all about seasickness) and allergies to horses.

Dwarfs and dwarfs of Krynn are related: both (and kender) were spawned Gray stone Gargata. In some worlds, they would be called mutants, and would not be far from the truth. But we are not from the Brotherhood of Steel, to condemn them for this?

A. Sapkovsky

Sapkowski in the Witcher saga Geralt has both races; gnomes are called dwarves, and the dwarfs gnomes.

The word "dwarf" Sapkowski was either invented or "restored". The fact is that the standard “dwarf in a cap” in Polish is called “red-man”, but the non-diminutive form has somehow not been preserved in modern Polish. But some name was needed, and Sapkowski went on a bold experiment. He succeeded.

The dwarves are fully consistent with what was said above about the mores and customs of the dwarves. Justice is above all, the oath is interpreted extremely literally. And they are not afraid of the consequences.

“No, Count,” the dwarf said slowly. “I always follow orders… scrupulously. The witcher did not touch the knight Tailles. The boy hit his own steel. He was not lucky.

One of them is simply stunned by the idea that they could be put at risk for the sake of a test of loyalty: well, who in their right mind would doubt the word of honor of a dwarf? Their fidelity to the word helps to make capital: the most successful bankers are from this people, but it also brings them a lot of trouble.

Despite their cynical humor, the dwarves are perhaps the kindest race of this, frankly, not very humane world. This annoys a lot of people...

Sapkowski's gnomes are typical dwarfs, gnomes, however, live exclusively underground, and not in the forest; their passion for science and engineering brings them a little closer to Krynn mechanics. By the way, in the territory where the main action of the novels takes place, they are the original population, the natives. All the rest came there much later.

They have some kind of distant relationship with the dwarves, and they also have a long-standing alliance, but the details of this are unknown.

R. Salvatore

The well-known story about the dark elf Drizzt Do "Urden is interesting to us today because it gives a good panorama of the Underdark. In this Underdark, in addition to the evil drow, illithids and various monsters, the race lives svirfneblin- and against the general bloodthirsty background, she seems to be the personification of benevolence and mercy. Naturally, it is very difficult for her to survive in such an aggressive environment, but solidarity helps her. These deep dwarfs create golems and various magical things to help themselves, use illusions and gradually made themselves respected as dangerous opponents (there is no other form of respect seen in the Underdark). If fate brings you to the Underdark, it is recommended that you stop to rest with the svirfneblin.

Naturally, Salvatore also has gnomes - for example, Bruenor Battle Axe, one of Drizzt's closest friends. In the Underdark, gray gnomes - duergar - are occasionally encountered.

In general, in the Forgotten Realms, there are many varieties of both dwarfs and gnomes. In particular, there is such an exotic as deep gnomes, they are urdunnirs. These creatures easily walk through walls, turn stone into mud - in general, mock the stone as they want. They live, naturally, so deep in the bowels that even svirfneblin and duergar rarely get there. It is difficult to deal with Urdunnirs: no, they are not vicious, but they are so far from a person in their interests and psychology that mutual understanding is extremely complicated.

W. King

One of the few novels

in the Warhammer universe, translated into Russian - "Trollslayer" (Trollslayer) by William King. The title character of this book is just a gnome. His name is Gotrek.

The winner of the trolls is not a nickname or a title, but, so to speak, an occupation. In a more familiar language, it translates as "berserk". Such are the gnomes who have committed a crime or otherwise dishonored themselves: after that they must seek glorious death in battle. If possible - in a battle with some terrible monster. A dragon, a demon ... at worst, a troll will do.

The second main character, the minstrel Felix, somehow foolishly promised to be a faithful companion to Gotrek and describe his glorious death; later it dawned on him that there is every chance of not surviving this death, but not keeping the word given to the dwarf, to put it mildly, is risky. And gradually he was imbued with his unbending spirit, except that he never acquired a passion for death.

You can recognize a berserker gnome by a huge orange crested mohawk on a half-shaven head. See this - be careful. A careless word can easily be the last.

In general, the gnomes in Warhammer are pretty classic.

True, they have advanced far in their love for crafts and technology: they made cannons, guns, a flamethrower, a multi-barreled rapid-fire gun and even ... a steam helicopter (gyrocopter). They are also famous for their iron stamina in battle: Warhammer constantly takes into account the morale and courage of the troops.

Among the dwarven soldiers are famous "long-bearded" - veterans with gray beards to the ground. By commanding them, you can be sure that they will not succumb to panic: as they themselves explain it, "with such a young commander, they did not expect anything good." Miners are also famous, who dig passages right under the battlefield - and appear from where they did not expect, shaking their two-handed picks.

Among their heroes, Bugman became famous - a great brewer, avenging the ruin of his brewery by enemies. And in the armies of mercenary "dogs of war" there are pirates of a certain Long Drong: these are the same berserkers with red crests, like the aforementioned Gotrek, but who have gone down a bad path. They carry so many pistols with them that they don't even have to be reloaded in combat.

Bearded peoples in games

There are not many games with gnomes, but a lot. By my count, more than 2/3 of fantasy games have dwarves of some kind, and fantasy is the most popular theme for the RPG and strategy genres.

The main canon for their depiction is, as usual, set by the Dungeons & Dragons system. Dwarves are hardy and durable, usually resistant to magic, and often have the best armor in the game. The payoff for all this is low movement speed, a complete lack of cavalry, and sometimes problems with long-range combat.

In an absurd tradition, dwarves are almost never given a bow in their hands. As if some kind of taboo is preventing you from arming yourself with it. In extreme cases, possible: a crossbow, a gun (if a firearm appeared, everyone understands by whom it is most likely invented. Not by people!), A pistol and ... throwing axes. Sorry, unable to understand why such a civilized race needs such a ridiculous way to fight...

Dwarves do not like to ride; and if you really have to, then, of course, not on a horse or even on a pony, but on a bison, a mammoth, or some completely unsuitable animal like a boar or a bear. They are not averse to flying in the skies: the griffin is the national gnome animal in many games, starting from the classic Warlords.

In strategy games, economics is often a strong point for gnomes. These can be pluses to money or to ore mining, or to both at once.

If there is at least some technique in the world, then, as a rule, it is the gnomes who own it. Sometimes they are dwarfs.

Dwarfs in games are less common. Strategies do not favor them: it is understandable, dwarfs rarely form armies. But in role-playing games, you can play for them, but ... it rarely pays off. Most often, they are made into a strange race of mage-thieves, and as thieves they are inferior to halflings, and as magicians - to elves and people.

But there are some notable exceptions...

Dungeons & Dragons Games

It makes little sense to list them all - we did it in a separate article. Suffice it to say that since both gnomes and dwarfs are included in the standard set of races for this game, they are almost everywhere. In early games, dwarfs were sometimes overlooked, simply because their strengths were not in the direct destruction of opponents.

In modern D&D (version 3.5), gnomes walk slower than humans (one and a half times!), but are not slowed down by armor and cargo. That is, in a shell, a dwarf and a person move at the same speed. Still, as before, the dwarf sees in the dark, is resistant to charms and poisons, is hardy, but suffers from a lack of charm (oh, people do not understand the beauty of the dwarf soul!). He is good at dodging giants and wields unusual types of axes.

Dwarfs are small, and therefore do less damage in combat, but they hit better and are easier to dodge. They see decently in the dark, and also, regardless of their occupation, they know some illusions. Hardy, but weak physically. Previously, by the way, they had more beautiful modifiers: plus to intelligence, minus to wisdom. That reflected their curiosity and frivolity.

The gnome is endowed with a special class of prestige - the defender of the gnomes develops a natural ability for impenetrable defense. This class has been available to play in Neverwinter Nights since the release of the Hordes of Underdark expansion.

Earlier, in the second edition of AD&D, when multiclassing was not available to everyone, the dwarf was famous for the ability to mix a warrior with a priest (and with a thief, but this is not so interesting), and a dwarf - a magician with a thief and a warrior with a thief.

Brave Dwarves: Creeping Shadows

Well, how can you not mention the game, where the gnomes got the role of the title characters? Brave gnomes are first of all Lost Vikings, somewhere lost their third comrade (and in some ways they are akin gobliiiiinam, but they never admit it). The interaction of two dwarfs - specialists of various kinds - should give a variety of tactics to fight monsters and solve problems. We expect to see this fun game at the end of the year.

King's Bounty

This is the oldest strategy known to me, where there are both gnomes and dwarfs. Both are displayed quite canonically, and the gnomes live in the mountains, and the dwarfs in the forest.

The dwarves, as usual, adopted some details of the Vikings' appearance - up to the winged helmets. Dwarfs wear red robes and hoops on their sleeves - apparently they dabble in magic, but they are not combative - they don’t even know how to shoot in battle.

Dwarves were present in the League from the very beginning. And they were there, neither more nor less, the most powerful race. Well, they don’t know how to run and give passes - how do you order in this case to score goals? Yes, it's very simple: trample the enemy team and roll the ball into the goal.

But the team of dwarfs appeared only in Bloodsport. The midgets are a very strange team: they deftly take the ball away, but they run so-so, and pass not far. Golem fighting machines fight for them; as a result, the strengths of dwarfs are very difficult to exploit.

World of Warcraft

The game is unusual in that dwarfs can take advantage of their small stature: Stealth and aiming problems play a malevolent role. Many dwarfs simply hate for this ...

In general, they are very nice and nice.

And specialize in engineering. Unfortunately, their passion for bold experiments has led them to lose their capital Gnomeregan and now live as a guest of the dwarves; In the meantime, expeditions of heroes from both the Alliance and the Horde go to Gnomeregan in order to face off against the mad machines.

The Dwarves, on the contrary, did not squander anything of their own; they managed to lose so little in the last great war that their capital, Ironforge, became the capital of the entire Alliance. True, they are greatly annoyed by evil relatives - the Dark Iron clan, as well as distant relatives - troggs, wild inhabitants of the dungeons.

Warcraft III

In this game, you can admire the gnome technique in all its glory. There are guns, and a mortar, and even a steam helicopter (as usual, drawn from Warhammer). Of course, they were also in the previous game, but they were not allowed to control them. And in strategy - please.

Judging by the replicas that the helicopter pilots and gunners release, slightly crazy dwarfs take control of the machines. Maybe those who were hit in the head with a flat two-handed sword in the head are sent to this work?

Arcanum

The world of Arcanum is torn apart by the rivalry between technology and magic, and the elves represent magic in this dispute, and the dwarves - you know.

The dwarfs were undecided, but still closer to technology, they always liked invention.

In addition to traditional heavy-duty and ultra-light alloys, gnomes (and partly dwarfs) mastered the creation of self-propelled devices, explosives, mastered electricity, optics, and much more. Alas, technology is still largely inferior to magic; apparently, at the world level, its competitiveness is ensured by the fact that more people can use man-made weapons.

All this takes place against the background of the environment and the fashions of the 19th century. As for me, this game is worth playing only then to admire a dwarf in a frock coat or a dwarf in a top hat.

Many more games about gnomes can be mentioned. Master of Magic, where one of the strongest in close combat is the army of dwarves with elite infantry "hammerhand" and golems. Heroes of Might&Magic, which is described in more detail in the Games of the Future. Battle for Middle Earth 2, where the dwarves connect their mines with an underground network. Age of Wonders, in which the dwarves befriend giant moles and build a steam tank. Lords of Magic, where the gnomes represent the elements of the earth and subjugated creeping snakes and stone giants.

But dwarfs are much less common. Our games do not appreciate their peaceful and cheerful disposition. But their hour will surely come.