Dwarves

The Dwarves were a race of short humanoids native to Svartalfheim, the realm they themselves called Nidavellir. Renowned across the Nine Realms for their ingenuity, they were sought out by mortals and gods alike for an unrivaled talent for creation. Two of their number, the brothers Brok and Sindri, stood among the closest allies of Kratos and Atreus.

Masters of craft#

The Dwarves were known across all Nine Realms as masterful smiths and armorers, marvelous builders, and, among some of their number, peerless alchemists. Their work was prized by men and gods alike. At the request of Odin, King of the Aesir, the Huldra Brothers Brok and Sindri forged the weapon of destruction known as Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. The alchemist Ivaldi was famed for harnessing the frozen power of Niflheim into works that astonished the realms, while his son Andvari gained infamy for domesticating the souls of Ancients as beasts of burden, the creatures that became known as Soul Eaters. A company of Dwarves also took over a former Jotnar dwelling in Midgard, the Heart of the Mountain, regarded as the highest peak of the Middle Realm.

The nature of Dwarven magic#

Dwarven craft lay not in the form of an object but in its nature, working what others would call impossible materials. Ivaldi harvested a substance called Mist Echoes; the Leviathan Axe was imbued with the echoing screams of frost trolls; and Mimir spoke of Dwarves who could fashion an indestructible chain from a cat's footstep and bird spit. Brok held that their work concerned the intangible aspects of a thing rather than its shape.

Walking between realms#

A rare gift among the Dwarves was the power to walk between realms, phasing from one to another for swift passage. While doing so they remained invisible to all but their own kind, allowing them to slip past conflict so that they never needed the weapons they made. Only the Dragons could perceive Dwarves as they walked unseen, making the great beasts their single true menace. This power was uncommon among Dwarven kind, and the fact that both Brok and Sindri possessed it made the brothers especially noteworthy.

Bondage to Odin#

The Dwarves' service to the Aesir was the work of Mimir, who long regretted it. When Odin first wished to put the Dwarves to the sword, Mimir counseled him instead to buy their allegiance, presenting it as a trade. He then deceived the Dwarves into the bargain, telling them they could purchase food from the Aesir in exchange for their labor, for their own mining rigs had poisoned the soil of Svartalfheim and left them unable to feed themselves. To arm Asgard, the Dwarves were made to build mining rigs that stripped the realm of resources to forge ever more weapons. To craft such implements in bulk for common soldiers offended the Dwarves' deepest principle, that a weapon was a sacred thing to be entrusted only to a worthy wielder. Those who tried to shut down the rigs were caught by the Einherjar and killed as examples. The former rebel leader Durlin, who had once led a coup alongside Laufey, was among those who suffered, his head cruelly burned away by Heimdall.

Dwarves of the war#

In the later years more Dwarves came to light. When Kratos and Atreus first arrived at the Dwarven home, the inhabitants sounded the alarm and hid, so deep was the distrust Odin's influence had sown in them. Alvis Stonefoot, warden of Svartalfheim, was famed for imprisoning dangerous monsters through wisdom and strength alone. The smith Lunda, of the same guild as Brok and Sindri, took up their work to aid Kratos after Brok's death. Some Dwarves had been lost to the realms entirely, transformed into Dragons; Fafnir, Otr, and Reginn had all once been of Dwarven blood. The brothers Brok and Sindri themselves bore a quiet grief, for Brok had once died and been returned to life by means unnatural, his soul left a fraction incomplete, and for this the other Dwarves shunned them both, forcing the brothers to make a home of their own.