Dwarves and their beards?

Question

First question: Is it dwarfs or dwarves as Yahoo Spell Checker insists it is "dwarfs" and I insist that it is "dwarves."?

Second: Can there be a beardless dwarf? Yes or no?
Can a dwarf be beardless at any point in his life?
What about female dwarves? Do they have beards? Gimli says "yes." Men say no..
What about baby dwarves? Do they have beards?

Defend your position please!

Answer 1

The correct spelling is dwarves.

There can be a beardless dwarf, but it is so uncommon that it is widely considered that all dwarves have beards.

Female dwarves do have beards, because the beard is a characteristic of dwarves, like the lack of height.

Baby dwarves are raised underground until their beards begin to grow, and at that point they are accepted into mainstream dwarven society.

Answer 2

Correct English spelling is "dwarfs". Tolkien intentionally used the misspelling "dwarves" to add a note of eccentricity / authenticity to his books.



There can be (and are) beardless dwarfs, though in Tolkienesque literature no adult male dwarf would ever be beardless unless punished (humiliated) by enforced shaving. Apparently, among some Tolkienesque "dwarves" some families have bearded females as well as males.



Tolkienesque "dwarves" are not born bearded (at least, that is not claimed anywhere in the books, and at least one adult dwarf is judged to be a young male by the thinness of his beard, leading me to believe that very young dwarf males have no beard at all).



Jim

Answer 3

Dwarves usually always have beards. If a dwarve doesn't have a beard it is usually because he went against his clan and was punished by the elders shaving it off, Or he has some sort of medical problem. baby dwarves are not born with beards but they grow very fast and by the dwarves fifth year it is already hanging a little lower than the chin. Femal dwarves do not have beards (unless they're in a circus ((lol)))

Answer 4

Yes

Yes, all he needs is a razor

Yes, Gimli is never wrong

No, but they grow up so quickly it may seem that they do.

I say it is Dwarves sounds better don't you think? I have read many articles on DWARVES and have come to the conclusion that...They aren't real! In norse mythology they sprang from the earth fully grown with a beard already.

Answer 5

it is spelled dwarfs and females do not have beards baby's do not have beards either