The Lord of the Rings: This is why the dwarf women in the Amazon series don’t have beards

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER

August 22, 2024 at 12:30 p.m.

We asked the showrunner of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” why the female dwarves don’t have beards – and he provides an explanation!

In Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” female dwarves play a major role for the first time. In Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, they were only mentioned, and in “The Hobbit” there were at least supporting roles for female dwarves. What clearly resonates about the female dwarves from Tolkien’s world, however, is a quote from Gimli (John Rhys-Davies):

It is the dwarf’s peculiarity that he likes hairy women.

In a dialogue with Eowyn (Miranda Otto) he also admits: “It’s true that you don’t see many female dwarves. Moreover, they are so similar to us in voice and appearance that they are often mistaken for male dwarves.” Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) adds: “That’s because of their beards.”

Fans were accordingly irritated, and some were certainly disappointed, when in “The Rings of Power” only a hint of beard adorned Disa’s (Sophia Nomvete) chin. Other female dwarves also had teenage fluff at best.

As we have now learned in an exclusive conversation with showrunner JD Payne, he and the team have apparently taken this criticism from fans to heart. In “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2, there will be more beards on female dwarves!

“There is no comprehensive guide to hairstyles for any Middle Earth creature”

“I think that was a comment that we paid attention to. I mean, we looked at some of the comments that fans made. And if they were constructive, helpful and intelligent, we always paid attention to them,” JD Payne begins.

“We definitely played with different levels of facial hair, I think even in the first season, and then certainly in the second season.”

The series creator also provides a small (humorous) explanation for why the beards of the dwarves’ females are not quite as bushy as many fans might have hoped: “As far as I know, there is no comprehensive guide to hairstyles for any creature of Middle-earth written for all 9,000 years of the various ages of Middle-earth.”

Even if you look at human history and look at hairstyles from 30 years ago. They’re different than they are today, and facial hairstyles come and go. I think the dwarves might have facial hairstyles that are in fashion one year and out of fashion the next year.

“So I think all of that has its place in the legend. But surely there is more room for bearded dwarf women in Middle Earth,” promises Payne.

In “The Hobbit,” male dwarves also had less beard growth

While many fans would like female dwarves to have beards like male dwarves, we should also remember Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit.” In the trilogy, for example, Ori (Adam Brown) had less beard growth than some of the female dwarves we saw in “The Rings of Power.”

The hairstyles there are also different from those at the time of “The Lord of the Rings”. “The Hobbit” takes place 60 years earlier, so Payne’s explanation makes sense in the context of the films.

The fact that the different beard styles in “The Hobbit” are mainly due to the fact that the costume designers wanted to create characters that were as different as possible so that the audience could easily distinguish the 13 dwarves is another matter.

There are always explanations determined by the production, but if there are logical alternatives that can be traced back to a logic within the film, these should definitely be given priority.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2 will start on August 29, 2024 on Amazon Prime Video and will start with three episodes. It will then continue with one episode each week. Work is already underway on “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 3.