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Does J.R.R. Tolkien portray the dwarfs in The Hobbit negatively?

The dwarfs are complex characters, with both virtues and flaws.  They have a clear motivation (to get the treasure), but they do grow throughout the course of the story.


Some character traits are true of them as a group, and other traits are particular to one dwarf or another.  First I will discuss a few of the dwarfs as individuals, then I will discuss their traits as a group.


Thorin is an aristocratic dwarf.  He is bold, defiant, a leader, and set on getting his treasure back from Smaug.  Like any aristocrat, he is also arrogant.  We see this in Chapter One, where he looks down on Bilbo and gives a long speech in a pompous, self-important style.  


Thorin retains these traits throughout the book.  When captured by the Wood Elves in Chapters Eight and Nine, his stubbornness and defiance become somewhat heroic as he refuses to tell the Elf-king the purpose of his mission.  But his stubbornness, arrogance, and focus on the treasure become a real problem in Chapter Fifteen, when he flatly refuses to consider sharing any of the treasure with the Lakemen who have been impoverished by Smaug's attack.  He is unwilling to bend even though it means that he and the other dwarfs are trapped in the mountain, besieged by Elves and Men.  (The other dwarfs do not share Thorin's stubborn attitude, but they defer to him as their leader.)  


When Bilbo secretly strikes a compromise with the Lakemen, Thorin turns hostile and even threatens to murder Bilbo.  It is not until Thorin has been mortally wounded and is on his deathbed that he repents of his stubborn pride and reconciles with Bilbo before he dies.  Now that Thorin is going "where [treasure] is of little worth," he regrets having sacrificed so many relationships in order to get and keep his treasure.  


Balin is an older dwarf with a white beard.  He is a bit wiser than the others and takes a special liking to Bilbo.  When Bilbo first goes down the tunnel into Smaug's lair, it is only Balin who is willing to go with him—part of the way. 


Bombur, the fattest dwarf, is a bit of a comic character.  He is well-meaning and helpful, but his bulk causes problems several times throughout the story.  He usually accepts these troubles philosophically, complaining, but with a sense of humor. 


As a group, the dwarfs are portrayed as bold, focused, and determined.  The thing they care about most is getting back their treasure.  For them this quest for treasure is a matter of honor and of loyalty to their relatives who were killed by Smaug.  The treasure they are trying to get back, and the city under the Lonely Mountain which Smaug now occupies, were the products of hundreds of years of careful craftsmanship by the themselves and by other dwarfs.  It is their life's work.  So, despite their focus on the treasure, the dwarfs are not thieves nor can they be called simply greedy.  They have a sense of beauty.  They love the treasure because it is beautiful and because it represents Home.  They are willing to suffer and make sacrifices to get it back and defend it.


That said, the dwarfs do not have much of a sense of duty to anyone else they may meet.  For a long time after they first meet Bilbo, they do not care about treating him well nor do they consider him a friend.  They have hired him to help them get the treasure, period, and to them, he is just a hired hand.  Thus, in Chapter Two they send him (the smallest and least well-armed of them) to "go burgle something" from the Trolls.  In Chapter Twelve, they send him alone into Smaug's lair, because that is the job they hired him for. Throughout the book, they don't hesitate to criticize Bilbo when he does not make himself useful, and they are often ungrateful when he does get them out of scrapes. 


In all their adventures, the dwarfs are very "human."  They complain about hardships, bicker among themselves, and panic when there is danger.  But they also persevere, show bravery and a sense of humor, and are willing to endanger themselves to save one of their own (even Bilbo). 


Tolkien sums up the dwarfs in Chapter Twelve as follows:



Dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much.


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