# How on earth the Seven Father's of Dwarves first breed?!



## Goku da Silva (Oct 17, 2021)

We all know that this race is one of the great misteries of Tolkien's work, we all know that their female are too few and so alike the males that one cannot tell the diference. But how on earth they first breed if _Aulë only created 7 males?!🤔_


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## Ihsan997 (Oct 18, 2021)

There was apparently a thread on this before, and it answers all relevant questions…_save one_.

The origin of dwarves

Apparently Aule created mates for six of the seven fathers, but Durin was left alone. That seems to be the tricky question.


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## ZehnWaters (Oct 18, 2021)

Ihsan997 said:


> There was apparently a thread on this before, and it answers all relevant questions…_save one_.
> 
> The origin of dwarves
> 
> Apparently Aule created mates for six of the seven fathers, but Durin was left alone. That seems to be the tricky question.



How'd they breed so fast? Did they wake up immediately after the Teleri left across the sea?


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## Alcuin (Oct 18, 2021)

The Dwarves slept in their separate places until after the Elves awoke first. We can therefore surmise that they awakened shortly after the Elves awoke in Cuiviénen. In that case, they had three ages of the world under the stars to multiply, just as did the Elves, but the generations of the Dwarves was much shorter and thus much more rapid, despite their peculiarities (i.e., some not wanting to marry, some refusing to marry anyone else but their first choice, and only one in three Dwarves being female). 

The one interesting rub in this is the awakening of Durin I the Deathless. If memory serves, Durin awoke not in what later became Khazad-dûm, but at Gundabad in the north, where the Misty Mountains intersect the Iron Mountains. That the Orcs later controlled Gundabad was a point of contention between the Dwarves and the Orcs. And as Ihsan997 – Welcome, Ihsan997! – points out, Durin had no mate: he had to take a wife from one of the other Dwarven communities, likely from Nogrod of Belegost because of their proximity.


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## ZehnWaters (Oct 18, 2021)

Alcuin said:


> The Dwarves slept in their separate places until after the Elves awoke first. We can therefore surmise that they awakened shortly after the Elves awoke in Cuiviénen. In that case, they had three ages of the world under the stars to multiply, just as did the Elves, but the generations of the Dwarves was much shorter and thus much more rapid, despite their peculiarities (i.e., some not wanting to marry, some refusing to marry anyone else but their first choice, and only one in three Dwarves being female).


Still, more than 13 elves awoke a Cuivienen.


Alcuin said:


> The one interesting rub in this is the awakening of Durin I the Deathless. If memory serves, Durin awoke not in what later became Khazad-dûm, but at Gundabad in the north, where the Misty Mountains intersect the Iron Mountains. That the Orcs later controlled Gundabad was a point of contention between the Dwarves and the Orcs. And as Ihsan997 – Welcome, Ihsan997! – points out, Durin had no mate: he had to take a wife from one of the other Dwarven communities, likely from Nogrod of Belegost because of their proximity.



Maybe he married the daughter of his friends? He'd be very lonely for most of his life (I imagine he'd be wandering for a long time).


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## Elthir (Oct 18, 2021)

_"And Aule took the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves and laid them to rest in far-sundered places; and laid he also Dwarf-eggs in great numbers, and placed them to rest in baskets of twelve."_

Source: MOME

*Misconceptions of Middle-earth*


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Oct 18, 2021)

Ah. Much is now explained.

"_Hi-ho, hi-ho, in search of wives we go. . ."
_


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## Elthir (Oct 18, 2021)

😂 

Ah, Ted Nasmith has really captured this scene from MOME. 

And such photorealism!


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## ZehnWaters (Oct 18, 2021)

Elthir said:


> 😂
> 
> Ah, Ted Nasmith has really captured this scene from MOME.
> 
> And such photorealism!


I hated his Aulë.


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## Elthir (Oct 19, 2021)

_"Then Aule took up a great hammer to smite the eggs; and he wept. But Ilúvatar had compassion and said: "Fear not, some of thy children I shall hard boil, to better endure the cruel forks of the orks!"_

MOME, chapter 7 
_"The Breakfast Of Eru"_


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Oct 19, 2021)

But what of Tevildo?


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## Ihsan997 (Oct 20, 2021)

Elthir said:


> "Fear not, some of thy children I shall hard boil, to better endure the cruel forks of the orks!"



Ork forks are a serious household risk factor.


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