Dwarves in fantasy

>He doesn't know about the chimpscarade

They don't tend to be great in the "really good with a blade" sense, they tend to be strong, tough, fearless, and well equipped - if anything, the general view of dwarves is more as soldiers, not warriors

Do you think dwarves would be less good at throwing shit?
IIRC, chimps absolutely suck at throwing stuff, despite their much stronger arm strength

From Tolkien. He introduces his dwarves in The Hobbit as sturdy, hardy fighters who wield mattocks, branching out to the more classic axe with Gimli in LotR and talking more about what tough fighters dwarves are in the Silmarillion.

In myth and folklore, dwarves are not great fighters. In fact, they're frequently overpowered by human fighters, like King Svafrlami, Sigurd, and Dietrich von Berne. In medieval romances they're even frequently mentioned as being deformed, having hunched backs or clubbed feet or something similar. Instead they're very magical, usually deal with their problems by using magic to hide and escape, make a magic item that addressed the problem, or just cursing the shit out of the humans that abuse them.

The only legendary example I can think of a dwarf who's a good fighter is the Alpine dwarf king Laurin, who shows up in the stories of Dietrich von Berne. He's noted for regularly fighting and overcoming humans, but only because he is laden with a magical belt that doubles his strength and magic armor that cannot be pierced. Once Dietrich steals the belt, Laurin is helpless against the human-sized warrior, who disables and pins him as easily as he would a child.

>hardy fighters who wield mattocks
Pretty badass tbqh

Makes sense, considering arm length and height are very important for distance throwing and power. The fact that their armor is often portrayed as being clunky rather than mobile reflects this.

Yeah. And, as far as I'm aware, no fantasy author before Tolkien and CS Lewis depicted dwarves as physically tough, skilled warriors.

And I think the key detail is that these dorfs were doing well for the same reasons the Romans could do well against the Barbarian Hordes; discipline, equipment, training, and discipline. We see them at their best in mass formations during pitched battle.

It also helps that they were often part of a coalition with Humans and elves, who could excel in other areas (light infantry, cavalry, etc), so the Dwarves only had to be one part of a larger machine.

Gimli and Thorin are both depicted as being excellent individual fighters as well.

>w since dwarves are generally smarter than chimpanzees and can use tools, weapons and armor and martial arts
That's exactly why chimpanzees are so strong. They spend less energy on "precise controling" aspect of their muscles.
You can be dexterous enough to be able to carefully manipulate things.
You can wreck shit with little control
You can't really have both.

Of course, this is fantasy so whatever, but then, who cares about the reach and height disadvantage?

>have "dwarf" mountain goatmen as a race they are dwarf goats as well as goat dwarves
>they only care about mining because they crave the mineral
>hoard a shitload of supplies in the empty mineshafts because what else are you gonna use them for anyway
>build villages on slopes too steep to reach for anyone who isn't a dwarf
>everyone who has ever laid siege to a dwarf village has made up completely over the top lies about the Mighty Dwarven Warriors to hide the fact that they just couldn't reach them
>dwarven merchants help spread these tales so nobody ever gets the idea to fuck with dwarves

and that's how Baahlduin Saltaxe became famous for killing 40 knights with one swing of his axe.