Start messing around with descriptions like that and you're in big trouble." The exceptions, such as the great playwright Hwel or the romantic Casanunda, tend to channel this focus into other habits. This is primarily a practical survival trait as quoted in Guards! Guards!, "Rocks are hard, the darkness is dark. Most dwarfs are intensely literal-minded, even by Discworld standards, and have absolutely no sense of metaphor or allusion. Despite the awkwardness that comes of this, it is traditionally considered rude to discuss female dwarfs in conversation.
Dwarfish courtship is an incredibly tactful affair, primarily concerned with finding out which gender the other dwarf is (this may have been retconned by the time of the novel, Thud!, where it is stated that Samuel Vimes, a human, has picked up a knack for judging the gender of dwarfs, making it likely that they are able to tell amongst themselves). Dwarfs prefer not to spend much time on the subject the dwarfish language has a gender neutral pronoun, usually rendered as "he" when speaking human languages. However, while Tolkien stated that female dwarves are rare, and disguise themselves as male when they must travel, female Discworld dwarfs are common, but are traditionally indistinguishable from males at all times. Hence, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson is accepted as a dwarf, despite being a 6 1⁄ 2-foot-tall human.Īs Tolkien implied of his dwarves, Discworld dwarfs of both sexes have beards. It may be moot, as Dwarfs see their dwarfishness as a matter of culture rather than genetics or height. Despite this, the dividing line between dwarfs and humans seems somewhat blurred, and Pratchett has hinted that humans and dwarfs can interbreed for example, Nanny Ogg's thick skull is put down to dwarfish ancestry. Dwarfs are shorter than normal humans, nearly always bearded (with the exception of Count Casanunda and Mad in XXXX), and live to about 300.