On the Nature of the Sindar’s Hunting the Petty-dwarves by Artano  

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Fanwork Notes

This work is intended purely as an analysis of the existing texts, not as a discussion of whether the acts discussed are right, wrong, or more nuanced than either of those categories.

In addition, I chose not to label this as analysis as 'In-Universe Racism/Ethnocentrism' since the Sindar hunted the Petty-dwarves, unwitting that they were another people.  In other words, there was no intent of racism or ethnocentrism, so I do not believe this work should be tagged as such.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

This is an analysis on whether the Sindar ate the Petty-dwarves during the years they hunted them, completed for the 'Literary Analysis' prompt on the "Tolkien Meta" bingo card.

Major Characters: Sindar, Petty-dwarves

Major Relationships:

Genre: General

Challenges: Potluck Bingo

Rating: General

Warnings: Mature Themes
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1, 458
Posted on Updated on

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On the Nature of the Sindar’s Hunting the Petty-dwarves

Comments on On the Nature of the Sindar’s Hunting the Petty-dwarves

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Artano has requested the following types of constructive criticism on this fanwork: Fulfilled Intent, Mood/Tone, Organization/Structure, Pacing, Point of View, Research, Spelling, Grammar, and Mechanics, Style. All constructive criticism must follow our diplomacy guidelines.

The idea that the Elves initially thought the Petty Dwarves were creatures of Morgoth is very plausible, and certainly more palatable. (no pun intended!)

I've always wondered: if the Elves assumed they were animals, did the Petty Dwarves go naked, or did the Elves assume clothing was part of their cunning animal nature? But if they were assumed to be Morgoth's creatures, that would explain a lot more.

I've also wondered whether the idea came from South African history (since he had a connection with the country) where the boers used to hunt the the Khoi and San bushmen for sport.

This is an iinterestiing account,well thought out and presented. You've also handled the sensitive subject matter well. 

Thank you for reading and commenting; I'm delighted you enjoyed the analysis!  I have also wondered how the Elves could dismiss clothing, if the Petty-dwarves wore any, and assume that they were animals, though you are right that if they saw them as creatures of Morgoth, they would be able to explain it.  With the text not really providing many clues, other than they appear to be clothed by the time Mîm is living a while later, I suppose one could headcanon either way.  That said, I presume the first Petty-dwarves were clothed, since they were the Dwarves exiled from Nogrod and Belegost.  But when those clothes wore out, it seems they would likely have to rely upon animal pelts or potentially woven plants, if they had the skill and knowledge to do the latter, at least until they had a well-established home.

Oh, that is a fascinating connection!  Hmm, though I suppose there's little way to know unless he stated so somewhere in his notes.

I enjoyed reading this meta about the Petty Dwarves, as their treatment by elves was rather awful. Interesting subject, and I guess we'll never really know for sure. 

I came over from AO3 to see whether the weird paragraphs show up on SWG as well, but the text is fine on here. 

I'm here through the challenge...I have to admit I hadn't thought about any of this before but the Silmarillion never fails to keep surprising me with new horrifying things I didn't notice. Because what you are saying makes sense, if they were hunting them they were either hunting for food (like deer) or hunting because they thought they were servants of Morgoth (like orcs). But either way...don't hunters get to know the thing they are hunting? I like that you raise the question of the Silmarillion as an unreliable text written from an Elf-centric perspective, it makes sense that it would try to present the Elves in a more favorable light and tells the story differently from how Dwarves would. 

 

It's interesting, thinking about Elven immortality, that some of the Elves who hunted Dwarves could still be around in the third age. It gives a new level to Gimli being somewhat anti-Elf, if he had to come face to face with people who literally killed and ate his relatives. It makes me even more impressed with his friendship with Legolas.

(can I have a prompt?)

Thank you so much for your thoughts; this was so much fun to write, and I'm happy to see that is is giving others thoughts! There are definitely some fascinating ways one can take the story of the Sindar hunting the Petty-dwarves, and few of them make things better XD  And that's a great thought that some might still exist at alter times - as you noticed, it shows how special Gimli and Legolas's friendship was.

And congratulations on deciphering the clue! Here is your prompt: "I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil."
I'm excited to see what you do with this one, and good luck with the challenge!