I redesigned Dwarves.

NARRATOR: I redesigned dwarves.

Now, this doesn't mean there's anything

wrong with the classic fantasy dwarf

but, for what I want with my world, I just

feel like I could push it a little further.

It falls under the "human but" category

of design, where it's just a human with a

few little tweaks to make it different.

Now, again, there's nothing wrong with

character designs like these,

but here are some examples.

Take a human—taller, buff, and green

with tusks; that's an orc.

Hotter, rude, and long ears; that's an

elf.

Short with big feet; that's a halfling.

Short with pointy ears—gnome.

Make it green and chaotic; you got a

goblin.

And short, beard, and alcoholic; that's a

dwarf.

Now, for my dwarves, I wanted to keep the

essence of dwarves, so it still reads as

one. So no matter what, we are keeping

the beard and the big nose.

This redesign didn't happen in one day;

I have tried to redesign them for a while

now. So, let's go through the earlier

versions.

First, we have the very grubby version.

I got the idea from one version of Norse

creation myth, where dwarves were created

from the maggots in Ymir's corpse.

So I took that very literally, and just

made them—well not maggots, more grubs,

but you get the idea.

This also meant that they had a beetle

version that would serve as guards and

soldiers.

Then, I moved away from the grub

shape a little bit, but still kept a lot

of the essence of grub. But—eh—it just

didn't feel right.

Then, it developed further in this

version.

I wanted to show more of the aspects that

they were created somehow—designed

with purpose. And I tried to get that

across by having everything slot nicely

into each other. Like the arms having

their own slots and stuff.

But that didn't really do a good

job of showing that idea.

Either way, this version had a beetle

form that I quite liked. It has some

samurai armor influence.

But still, I felt there was a lot

of untapped potential in the dwarfs

being created by some higher being.

So the next version, I pushed that a lot

further and made them look like

mechanical creatures—still with blood and

organs, but an exoskeleton that looks

manufactured. I liked the way this was

going, but I sort of left it at that

and moved on to other things instead.

Though now, I think I have fresher ideas

that could help revive this concept.

My idea was to take bits I like of all

the previous versions and combine them all

together. A little bit of insectiod with

metallic outer exoskeleton, and everything

slots nicely together.

I sketched some concepts in my book

and found this really nice humanoid design

that fit into a jar shape.

But, like I said, I kept the big nose and

beard—to make sure the dwarf-ness

isn't lost.

They also carve patterns into their

metallic skin and sometimes inlay gold

into the grooves.

I will write more lore videos about them

soon—because this video is more focused

on their design—but know that I am working

on more in-depth videos on them in the

future.

I decided to make a turn-around

of the final design, and also put it on a

nice page with text.

And the text does have some lore—a written

encounter with the dwarves at the market—

which I will read just because.

[Speaking as a character] All dwarves

smoke a substance called grot,

and often indulge in drinking as well.

They ask others to join their drink and

smoke. and enjoy watching them horribly

fail at handling them.

I, myself, couldn't resist their eager

requests for me to join.

Their drink was consumed through a cup

shaped like a smoking pipe.

[As dwarf] "You are to quickly suck up

the drink like a shot."

[In character] As I did, the

flavors hit me like a brick wall.

Spicy, peppery, floral, and funky nodes

all overwhelming.

I had a coughing fit immediately

as it burned its way down, and my fellow

drinking partners seemed incredibly

amused by this.

For the rest of my journey into their

caverns, my head felt hot and I had

trouble focusing.

[As narrator] This was just meant to just

show their character a little—how open and

welcome they are to people experiencing

their culture, even though it's also for

their own amusement.

Anyway, that's all for the dwarf redesign

for now. Maybe I'll redesign some other

classic fantasy races. What race do you

think I should redesign next?

You can put it in the comments below.

I hope you enjoyed the video, and see you

in the next one.