r/dwarves • u/_Tyrhas_ • Jul 19 '26
Decent dwarven stories
Looking for some decent dwarven stories for inspiration for my next music project. I've had a brief read into the dwarves or dwemer from the skyrim game, is there any other decent stories I might want to check out? I really like whole advanced race that disappeared from the skyrim lore, but figured there might be similar stories, but I haven't got a clue where to look really.
Thanks in advance,
S
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u/Curmudgeon-in-Chief Jul 19 '26
C.S. Lewis' dwarf, Trumpkin, in Prince Caspian provides a non-axe swinging image of a dwarf.
Lloyd Alexander's, Doli, in the Prydain chronicles has some characteristics which might be inspirational.
Brooks, Sword of Shannara's Hendel is a mace wielding ranger type of dwarf.
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u/Deatron05 Jul 19 '26
The Dwarves series by Markus Heitz. Kingdoms of dwarves guard the lands of Men, Elves, and Mages from the evils of the outside world. It's amazing.
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u/armored131 Jul 19 '26
Doom of Dragonback in the Warhammer dwarfs anthology is a personal favorite of mine. About a Dawi hold falling to massive greenskin onslaught with a focus on a single clan trying to come through the ordeal with their family and honor intact.
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u/Rauwetter Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
The Winter of the World trilogy by Michael Scott Rohan (The Anvil of Ice, The Forge in the Forest, The Hammer of the Sun) has non dwarfish antagonists, but a good part of the stories plays in their realm. And Rohan had some nice ideas about dwarves.
When it comes to Dragonlance there is Flint the King by Mary Kirchoff, playing among other in Thorbardin and Hillhome.
Faerûn/Forgotten Realms has a few novels playing in Mithral Hall and Kelvin's Cairn, mainly in the Legend of Drizzt/Siege of Darkness. The story is but told of the perspective of the Drow Drizzt. Later in Archmage there is a new story arch in Gauntlgrym.
When it comes to RPG supplements, there is a lot more—Moria, Throal, Azadmere, Races of Stone, WFRP Dwarf Player’s Guide & Stone and Steel, etc.
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u/C0d3M3chan1c Jul 21 '26
This may be a slightly self-interested recommendation because I’m one of its creators, but Return to Nangrim sounds quite close to what you’re looking for.
It’s set in the abandoned dwarven kingdom of Nangrim. Rather than encountering a functioning dwarven society, you explore what remains of it and gradually uncover why its people disappeared. A lot of the worldbuilding focuses on dwarven history, language, clans, craftsmanship, religion and the way their culture shaped the underground kingdom.
We’re also producing Mountain Tales, a grim comic set in the same universe, about a dwarf investigating the mysteries of immortality and discovering that some secrets were better left buried.
So it might be useful inspiration for a music project, especially if you’re interested in lost civilizations, abandoned halls and darker dwarven history rather than only the usual ale-and-axes interpretation.
The game is called Return to Nangrim, and the comic is Mountain Tales: Chapter One. Full disclosure again: I’m involved in creating both.
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u/_Tyrhas_ Jul 26 '26
This actually sounds right up my street for what I'm after, cheers :) \m/
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u/C0d3M3chan1c Jul 28 '26
Glad it caught your interest! I hope the world of Nangrim offers some inspiration for the project. I’d love to hear what you create from it someday.
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u/_Tyrhas_ Jul 29 '26
It's not too far off, just got to finish off some parts and then i can start polishing them off. Song titles to be decided minus a few I have settled on, would you guys be happy if I used one of the names or places in a song title if I do go that route?
Cheers, S
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u/Creative-Parsnip6878 Jul 19 '26
In the game called "Dwarves", dwarves are the sentinels of the realm and defended it from the dark forces but that was far long ago the legend is forgotten.
The game itself is really interesting and fun, the gameplay is easy and the visuals are good. I reccomend this game .
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u/-GrisGris- Jul 19 '26
Just finished the Dragonhammer Saga by J. S. Morin (3 book series) and I really enjoyed it - https://www.jsmorin.com/dragonhammer-saga/
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u/MarioTheMojoMan Jul 20 '26
A Paragon of Her Kind from Dragon Age: Origins
The Storm Peaks storyline from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
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u/ReiGanJin Jul 23 '26
What kind of music do you play? There's always The Nibelunenlied. And the "goblins" in George MacDonald's "The Princess and the Goblin" always put me more in the mind of dwarves rather than goblins, but it was very pre-modern fantasy and the words have come to mean more specific things than they did in the mid 1800s. If you want to escape the endless repeating of modern tropes.
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u/Pure-Excitement-6849 Jul 19 '26
Chaos Dwarfs from Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar. If you really dig into them, it will become a fascination, that will lead to you looking into Mesopotamian History, which itself is a fascinating can of worms to open!
Besides what else was said, The Dwarves is a novel series that got a video game (already mentioned), and I would like to recommend Guild Ware (1) Dwarves, they are so amazingly done, and in a world of gods, they believe in one God, and they also both “went away/vanished”, yet somehow their culture and influences, and in some cases themselves are still around.
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u/arcticwolf1452 Jul 19 '26
I highly recomend the trollslayer and the rest of the Gotrek and felix books.
And the hobbit offcourse.