Every Dwarf In The Lord Of The Rings, Ranked By Strength

Published Nov 1, 2026, 5:30 PM EST Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage, Tom's career began as a fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and his love of major franchises has ultimately led to a decade-long career. He'd had the privilege of interviewing writers, authors, directors, actors, stunt coordinators, and VFX artists on a staggering number of his favorite franchises, including Star Wars, the MCU, Stranger Things, Halo, Foundation, and more. He's conducted set visits in the UK, attending major comic cons in New York and London, and reported at Star Wars Celebration 2023 as press. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon. Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too. Sign in to your ScreenRant account By the time of The Lord of the Rings, Dwarves were quite an uncommon sight on Middle-earth. It wasn't that they were on the verge of extinction; but a combination of tragedies and basic demographics meant their population had dwindled. Only about a third of Dwarves were female, meaning they didn't tend to reproduce at a quick rate. Making matters worse, the great Dwarven kingdoms had long since been destroyed. Khazad-dûm's destruction had a particularly significant impact, given it was the greatest of the Dwarven kingdoms. All this explains why Dwarves are common in The Rings of Power, but rare by the time of The Lord of the Rings. For all that's the case, though, some basic principles stand: where Elves are noted for their serenity, Dwarves are known for their strength. According to The Silmarillion, Aulë created Dwarves to be "strong and unyielding" so they could survive the hardships of Middle-earth. Interestingly, he distinguished Dwarves not for their physical strength, but rather for their endurance. Endurance may be their core trait (they are said to be "stone-hard... in labor or journey" according to The Two Towers). But they also tend to be stronger than human average, simply because strength and endurance are often related. In The Hobbit, we see a group of Dwarves engage in a quest, and their leader Thorin explicitly notes he has chosen some members for their strength—meaning some are physically stronger than others. Here, then, are the major Dwarves of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, ranked according to their strength. 6 Balin, Fili, & Other Dwarves In The Hobbit Let's start with the Dwarves we can't really classify; Tolkien never really gave us enough information about some of these to do a proper comparison. They include: Balin, a skilled veteran who accompanied Thorin Oakenshield on his quest. Fili, one of the youngest members of Thorin's party. Kili, who seems noted more for unusual agility among Dwarves than physical strength. Nori, brother of Dori and Ori, another of Thorin's fighters. Ori, who demonstrated heroism but seems more noted for literary ability than strength. Óin and Glóin, battle-tested brothers who proved formidable but never demonstrated any particularly unusual strength. Bifur, a resilient warrior. Bofur, another survivor of the Battle of the Five Armies. You could make a case for Bombur appearing as a separate entry on this list due to his endurance, but again, Tolkien presents no evidence of physical strength. All in all, these Dwarves should probably be seen as establishing the baseline against which other exceptional Dwarf warriors should be judged. They're all formidable; they're just not the best. 5 Dwalin We don't know much about Dwalin, Balin's younger brother, but he certainly gives the impression of being a little more battle-hardened than his older brother. Peter Jackson's The Hobbit deliberately gave him a powerful, intimidating appearance, and showed him carrying heavier weapons than his comrades. Given that's the case, we're choosing to rank Dwalin as a little above the rest of his group; but it must be noted this is based on appearance and bearing alone, not on feats. 4 Thorin Oakenshield You could easily make a case for putting Thorin Oakenshield higher up on this list; he's a remarkable figure among the Dwarves, after all. A veteran of the Battle of Azanulbizar, Thorin became a legend among the Dwarves after his shield was broken during the brutal battle; he took an oak branch and used it to defend himself, earning his nickname. Thorin was a powerful warrior, but is also notable as one of the great tacticians among the Dwarves. You could easily argue that Thorin is the most important Dwarf in Tolkien's story, regardless of physical strength; he is the initiator, and without him, The Hobbit's quest would never have happened, and the One Ring would never have found its way to a Hobbit. Still, he isn't the strongest of the Dwarves in physical terms, as significant as he may be. 3 Dori Tolkien explicitly describes Dori as the strongest of Thorin Oakenshield's party, although I'm choosing to place another member of that group higher due to demonstrated feats. Described as a decent fellow who often grumbled, he helped Bilbo escape Orc attacks, and even carried the Hobbit on occasion when required. It's interesting to note that, for all Dori is identified as the strongest of Thorin's band, he isn't really one of the main characters. Tolkien was singularly impressed by physical strength; it's why his heroes were Hobbits, not Dwarves. He'd probably raise an eyebrow at the idea of ranking Dwarves according to strength like this. 2 Gimli Gimli is clearly one of the strongest of the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien's works, not least because of his competition with one of the most powerful Elves, Legolas. A ferocious warrior, he fought against a staggering number of Uruk-hai, surviving battles where almost everyone else around him died. Tolkien suggests that Gimli's strength and skill may have had some sort of genetic component; he was the son of Glóin, one of Thorin Oakenshield's original companions. For me, one of Gimli's most impressive feats was his pursuit of the Orcs who'd kidnapped Merry and Pippin, two of the physically weakest characters in The Lord of the Rings. He kept pace with his allies even when traveling over a massive distance at speed, despite his heavy armor and weapons. That alone marks Gimli out as an absolute powerhouse. In first place, though, we have Dáin II Ironfoot. Tolkien never gave an exact measure of Dáin's strength—the great author was never particularly interested in the kind of rankings we're discussing here—but the feats suggest he was truly incredible. Dwarves can live for centuries, but Dáin successfully defeated one of the greatest Orc heroes when he was only 32 years old. Interestingly, he also had wisdom other Dwarves did not, sensing the presence of the Balrog. This example is particularly important given Thorin's comments in The Hobbit. There, he identifies Dori as the strongest before going on to mention Fili as the youngest; this may well imply that younger Dwarves tend to be physically weaker, perhaps because they've had years of labor. If that's the case, then Dáin's triumph at age 32 is particularly remarkable. We can assume Dwarves grow stronger with age until they reach a certain point; certainly Dáin was a lot weaker by the time of the War of the Ring. We don't really see much of Dáin, either in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. The latter shows him as a visually imposing warrior, a titan among the Dwarves, treating him with greater honor and respect than even Gimli. Little wonder he became King Under The Mountain after the Battle of Five Armies. He died during the War of the Ring, and Gandalf himself honored Dáin: "I should call that a heavy loss, if it was not a wonder rather that in his great age he could still wield his axe as mightily as they say he did, standing over the body of King Brand before the gate of Erebor, until the darkness fell." Movie(s) The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim TV Show(s) The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Video Game(s) The Lord of the Rings Online (dupe), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria First Film The Lord of the Rings (1978) Cast Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt Created by J.R.R. Tolkien