Did Dwarf women have beards?

t seems they did. In the note on Dwarf women in Appendix A it was told:

It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need. They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart. [RK, 360 (App A)]

Since beards were part of the appearance, not the garb, of dwarf-men, we must conclude that dwarf-women did in fact have beards. The question has been raised as to whether all dwarf men necessarily had beards (the above conclusion depends upon this premise). Insofar as the matter was mentioned at all, it was shown through either direct statements or casual references that at least Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Gloin, Bombur, and Gimli all definitely had beards (Hobbit, 20-22, 159, 186, 198; FR, 240; RK, 148); it is natural to assume that the others did as well. While no definite statement about the beard status of dwarf-men in general was ever presented as a matter of lore, a thought which reflects the assumed view was given to Bilbo early in the Hobbit : [as Bilbo rode along wearing Dwalin's hood] "His only comfort was that he couldn't be mistaken for a dwarf, as he had no beard." (Hobbit, 42) In any event, the notion of bearded dwarves seems an assumption with fairly firm foundations.

References:: Hobbit, 20-22 (Ch I), 42 (Ch II), 159 (Ch VIII), 186 (Ch X), 198 (Ch XI);
FR, 240 (II, 1);
RK, 148 (V, 9), 153 (V, 9), 360 (Appendix A, III).

Contributors: WDBL, Peter Hunt

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Last modified: Sat Aug 19 19:46:40 1995