The White Council

Re: For Michael re: Half-Dwarves

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : You mention that Tolkien describes half-dwarves in THE RETURN : : OF THE KING. Can you reference that please? : : Thank you

: I don't recall saying he spoke of "half-dwarves" as, say, a role-playing gamer would speak of them. The reference is to the army that took Cair Andros and crossed Anduin there to block the road to Rohan:

:

 :   So now at least the City was besieged, enclosed in a ring of :   foes.  The Rammas was broken, and all the Pelennor abandoned :   to the Enemy.  The last word to come from outside the walls :   was brought by men flying down the northward road ere the Gate :   was shut.  They were the remnant of the guard that was kept at :   that point where the way from Anorien and Rohan ran into the :   townlands.  Ingold led them, the same who had admitted Gandalf :   and Pippin less than five days before, while the sun still rose :   and there was hope in the morning. :  :  :  :   'There is no news of the Rohirrim', he said.  'Rohan will not :   come now.  Or if they come, it will not avail us.  The new host :   that we had tidings of has come first, from over the River by :   way of Andros, it is said.  They are strong: battalions of Orcs :   of the Eye, and countless companies of Men of a new sort that :   we have not met before.  Not tall, but broad and grim, bearded :   like dwarves, wielding great axes.  Out of some savage land in :   the wide East they come, we deem.  They hold the northward :   road;  and many have passed on into Anorien.  The Rohirrim :   cannot come.' : 

: I don't recall Tolkien ever calling them Half-dwarves. I think the convention was developed by gamers and Tolkien fans have simply fallen into the happen of using that term.

I don't see how the term "not tall" can infer "short" like a dwarf. To me it could merely mean of average height or perhaps a bit shorter. The fact that they were broad and had beards like Dwarves tell us nothing about their height or lineage. They are described as "Men of a new sort", not Dwarves. My view is that some have put a slant on the passage that it does not warrant.