Why do the Dwarves Worship Thor

[Grytorm]

Given the characterization of Thor in the comic seems quite a Chaotic deity. Impregnating a fertility goddess. The WWTD comic, destroy the dungeon with godlike power and return to partying with beautiful feminine deities. But the Dwarves have a fairly tightly strung society. With the great focus on honor. Although straight forward premarital affairs are acceptable Durkons reaction to learning Hilgya was married was fairly negative. So what do the dwarves see in Thor, and what do you see of Thor in the Dwarves? (Obviously they both love booze.)

[hroþila]

Maybe they figure that Thor works in mysterious ways and that what's great for a god wouldn't necessarily be good for the dwarves.

[Kantaki]

Thor is a stormgod. Storms are very good at destroying trees. The dwarves are at war with the trees. Therefor Thor makes a great deity for the dwarves.
Not to mention that both dwarves and Thor like booze. And I'm pretty sure the lawn ornaments can act pretty much like Thor when drunk. Unlike him they are just sober sometimes.

[Deliverance]

It was my impression that the dwarves worshipped the northern pantheon as a whole with different dwarves preferring different gods, not that they, as a race, specifically worshipped Thor over the rest of the pantheon.... but perhaps not what you meant?

Anyhow, OOTS Thor is presented as being a warlike protector and thundergod, smiter of the enemies of the dwarves up to and including trees. What's not to like?

[goodpeople25]

Thor is a stormgod. Storms are very good at destroying trees. The dwarves are at war with the trees. Therefor Thor makes a great deity for the dwarves.
Not to mention that both dwarves and Thor like booze. And I'm pretty sure the lawn ornaments can act pretty much like Thor when drunk. Unlike him they are just sober sometimes.
No! You have so much to live for!
It's never the answer man! What's your next attempt, calling yourself Kantaki the Invincible.... In the shades?

Now on to the topic at hand frankly I'm a bit surprised at the timing or this thread what with the Godsmoot showing a different side of him. Out of the main northern Gods there He's 1 of around 3 who's portrayal is undoubtedly on the mortals side. And well if the Dwarves know of this side of him, i see plenty of reasons for the Dwarves to worship Thor, he has flaws sure but when he's needed he will be there, it's just that he's probably not needed all that much in OotS. Which seems consistent enough with most potrayals of Thor.

[ORione]

Another reason why it's odd for the dwarves to worship Thor: he's a weather god, and they live underground.
Another reason why it makes sense for the dwarves to worship Thor: they also both like hammers.

I think OotS Thor is Neutral Good, as Lawful clerics can't get spells from Chaotic deities.

[Grytorm]

It was my impression that the dwarves worshipped the northern pantheon as a whole with different dwarves preferring different gods, not that they, as a race, specifically worshipped Thor over the rest of the pantheon.... but perhaps not what you meant?

Anyhow, OOTS Thor is presented as being a warlike protector and thundergod, smiter of the enemies of the dwarves up to and including trees. What's not to like?

That actually makes a lot of sense. My impressions of dwarf society is probably skewed a bit because Durkon is the main viewpoint Dwarf and he worships Thor. He still has a pretty different worldview from Durkon a lot of the time, but it makes sense.

[Kantaki]

Another reason why it's odd for the dwarves to worship Thor: he's a weather god, and they live underground.
Another reason why it makes sense for the dwarves to worship Thor: they also both like hammers.

I think OotS Thor is Neutral Good, as Lawful clerics can't get spells from Chaotic deities.

The fact that they live in the mountains is a pretty good reason to worship a weather deity. A sufficiently strong storm can bring down mountains. At least partially. Enough to collapse entrances and ventilation. Furthermore at least some parts of dwarven life happen on the surface. Durkon’s mommy mentioned farms, when she showed him the sky there where other dwarves around and they have to travel to fight the trees and lesser enemies. Not to mention that there is weather under the earth as well. True, not the same as overground, but I can't blame the beardmumblers for avoiding unnecessary risks considering the honour-thing.

@goodpeople25: :smallbiggrin: What is the worst thing that could happen? :smallbiggrin:

[Bobbybobby99]

Because he's Good. Very, very Good. He's pretty much the Good aspect of their primarily Lawful Good race; the good culture, the variety in the law chaos axis, the booze. Thus, he's a pretty darn Good god to worship.

[jere7my]

Polytheistic worship is less about picking a god you like and worshiping them than about acknowledging that you've got the gods you've got and they all need to be propitiated. An angry thunder god isn't something anybody wants living above them. (If they treated Hel more like the ancient Romans treated their own scary gods, this plotline probably wouldn't be happening.)

[Gift Jeraff]

Dwarves have a bunch of repressed chaotic desires that they hope to let out in Valhalla's eternal partying when they die. (Source: Durkon's preface in BRitF)

[Bulldog Psion]

Alcohol.

My one-word summary of why the dwarves worship Thor, despite his rather freewheeling, swashbuckling attitude contrasting with their hidebound stick-up-the-butt rigidity. :smallwink:

[Wardog]

Given the characterization of Thor in the comic seems quite a Chaotic deity. Impregnating a fertility goddess.
Unless dwarves are morally opposed to reproduction, I'm not sure why that would be a problem.

[KorvinStarmast]

I was going to go with beer and hammers, but I see I've been beaten1 to it.

Going back to Norse mythology, Norse Thor had an association with oak trees and fertility as well as hammers and storms. That might conflict with the dwarves-versus-trees thing OoTSworld has, so maybe the OoTS Thor is less aligned with oak trees than Earth Thor was.




1 Yes, that was deliberate.

[Crusher]

I was going to go with "Because he's awesome", but "Beer and Hammers" is even better.