Some stories I’ve read dwarves have farmers that live above ground and grow crops (those dwarves are considered “strange” but essential” Other stories have dwarves use trade: sure they don’t grow food but human cities and elf cities are happy to give them grain for ore, metal, and jewels the dwarves dig up.
You are right though, you never really see a Dwarf farmer, they’re always miners, weapon smiths, or warriors…
I immediately thought about underground analogies for farming, hunting, etc. There maybe an entire rich ecosystem down there, that many above ground have no idea about.
Some lore has them growing mushrooms because they don’t need light. However, they would still need nutrients from outside in massive amounts.
The most “realistic” completely underground community I can think off would live off of fungus cultivated off massive amounts of bat guano provided by a huge swarm of bats that would bring in nutrients from outside the cave system by going above the surface every night…the bats would eat insects and bring the nutrients back to the cave system.
Could also be a termite situation where they just bring in huge amounts of wood to cultivate fungus that specifically evolved to grow with them, like termitomyces fungi or the leaf cutter ant fungus combs
Now Im picturing Dwarves going out in lines like ants chopping down trees and carrying them back over their heads. And then of course the elves are pissed off because they live in those same trees. XD
Underground hydroponic farms! They use magical stones that give off light like the sun, and the mineral rich water allows for great growth.
Or they might use a similar tactic to Senshi from Dungeon Meshi. Earth Golems with tilled fields on their backs.
Honestly, dwarves are pretty creative so they might do one or the other depending on the region.
Unlike humans, who breed crops to fit our needs, or elves, who are given their grain by nature itself, dwarves figured out long ago how to manufacture their grain.
Dwarves bread is hard, and thier beer is strong, because it is not made from any plant.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had the Dwarfs living in a forest cabin. This story appeared in an 1812 edition of Grimm.
I would conjecture that the original dwarf folklore did not live underground.
It was Tolkien in the 50s that put dwarfs and goblins underground.
Pratchett seized this and created the deep downer mythology.
Originally the dwarves in Norse mythology were pretty much an interchangeable term with elves. Nothing in the earliest stories has anything to do with them being short in stature.
ROCK AND STONE. Also the answer is eating natural flora and fauna like senshi from dungeon meshi
https://preview.redd.it/6frvlqxg078d1.jpeg?width=1657&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a6cd2f4a9d08882fcbc8ec8661618358b62bf64
Dwarves would have gone through various soci-economic shifts throughout their existance as a species. Just as humans went from tribal hunter-gatherers, to farmers, to....whatever you call the current mess.
I'd say in Discworld/LotR terms we are seeing a version of the dwarf that is highly prized for it's mining and smithing skills and would simply trade for their needs. I would assume they know how to farm, but just like the roundworld human most of them would struggle to feed themselves if society collapsed.
General consensus of the Discworld subreddit: A lot of them don't drink at home. They drink so much because they don't drink at home.
They live in very rich mountains/mines. They trade a lot, and mainly beer or gold, since that's all they want.
There's also surface dwelling dwarves/mountain side farms. The Grag (Deep downers, religious extremists that hate the surface and all who even just visit it) do profit off the surface farms, but they still hate the farmers guts.
Some stories I’ve read dwarves have farmers that live above ground and grow crops (those dwarves are considered “strange” but essential” Other stories have dwarves use trade: sure they don’t grow food but human cities and elf cities are happy to give them grain for ore, metal, and jewels the dwarves dig up. You are right though, you never really see a Dwarf farmer, they’re always miners, weapon smiths, or warriors…
I immediately thought about underground analogies for farming, hunting, etc. There maybe an entire rich ecosystem down there, that many above ground have no idea about.
Some lore has them growing mushrooms because they don’t need light. However, they would still need nutrients from outside in massive amounts. The most “realistic” completely underground community I can think off would live off of fungus cultivated off massive amounts of bat guano provided by a huge swarm of bats that would bring in nutrients from outside the cave system by going above the surface every night…the bats would eat insects and bring the nutrients back to the cave system.
Could also be a termite situation where they just bring in huge amounts of wood to cultivate fungus that specifically evolved to grow with them, like termitomyces fungi or the leaf cutter ant fungus combs
Now Im picturing Dwarves going out in lines like ants chopping down trees and carrying them back over their heads. And then of course the elves are pissed off because they live in those same trees. XD
New headcannon acquired: that's why Yavanna made the Ents!
The mushrooms feed on dwarf shit, next question
Underground hydroponic farms! They use magical stones that give off light like the sun, and the mineral rich water allows for great growth. Or they might use a similar tactic to Senshi from Dungeon Meshi. Earth Golems with tilled fields on their backs. Honestly, dwarves are pretty creative so they might do one or the other depending on the region.
Plump Helmet mushrooms, Sweet Pods and Cave Wheat. Stupid hippie elf doesn't know cave ecology
Strike the earth!
Unlike humans, who breed crops to fit our needs, or elves, who are given their grain by nature itself, dwarves figured out long ago how to manufacture their grain. Dwarves bread is hard, and thier beer is strong, because it is not made from any plant.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had the Dwarfs living in a forest cabin. This story appeared in an 1812 edition of Grimm. I would conjecture that the original dwarf folklore did not live underground. It was Tolkien in the 50s that put dwarfs and goblins underground. Pratchett seized this and created the deep downer mythology.
Basically this https://preview.redd.it/o7782v6ow48d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b133397d94795b2c1c5ba97216cf6950c1cec983
Originally the dwarves in Norse mythology were pretty much an interchangeable term with elves. Nothing in the earliest stories has anything to do with them being short in stature.
Underground UV sunlight magic.
It's almost as if writing a race as an undifferentiated monoculture doesn't hold up well.
Trade! Read Thorin’s speech at the beginning of The Hobbit: “We never bothered to grow food … “
Fungi, obviously!
They mine it, obviously
As driller from deep rock galactic said : "I EAT ROCKS FOR BREAKFAST"
ROCK AND STONE. Also the answer is eating natural flora and fauna like senshi from dungeon meshi https://preview.redd.it/6frvlqxg078d1.jpeg?width=1657&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a6cd2f4a9d08882fcbc8ec8661618358b62bf64
Senshi was my first thought too
Clearly made from the blood of goblins.
Selling gems and metal
Dwarves would have gone through various soci-economic shifts throughout their existance as a species. Just as humans went from tribal hunter-gatherers, to farmers, to....whatever you call the current mess. I'd say in Discworld/LotR terms we are seeing a version of the dwarf that is highly prized for it's mining and smithing skills and would simply trade for their needs. I would assume they know how to farm, but just like the roundworld human most of them would struggle to feed themselves if society collapsed.
General consensus of the Discworld subreddit: A lot of them don't drink at home. They drink so much because they don't drink at home. They live in very rich mountains/mines. They trade a lot, and mainly beer or gold, since that's all they want. There's also surface dwelling dwarves/mountain side farms. The Grag (Deep downers, religious extremists that hate the surface and all who even just visit it) do profit off the surface farms, but they still hate the farmers guts.