First, let me make this clear: the dwarves in The VIKINGS! Trilogy are not related to, or a reflection upon, any human being.

The dwarves in The VIKINGS! Trilogy are a separate race taken from Norse mythology, like the giants and dark elves. Their greediness, crudity, and blatancy come from their descriptions in the Norse eddas, where they invented wondrous gifts, which they trade with the gods for gold and pleasure. The characters of the dwarves in Tolkien's The Hobbit and LOTR is a mild, elevated version of what dwarves are like in the eddas. My dwarves are more-aligned with those from mythology.

Dwarves live in the Norse underworld, or underground, which was never fully explained. Different interpretations of the Norse geography abound; in The VIKINGS! Trilogy, the Norse underworld is inside Yggdrasil, which is unique, and will be explained fully in a different blog (on Norse cosmology).

The dwarves are the master-craftsmen of Norse mythology. Odin's magic spear and his great ship, the magical hair of pure gold spun to replace the shorn locks of Sif, Thor's wife, and an armband of gold which drops nine identical golden rings every nine nights, show the amazing ability of the dwarves. They also forged Mjollner, Thor's magic hammer, which was judged to be the greatest gift of all, as only Mjollner could kill any giant with one blow.

The strangest of the many creations of the dwarves is the magical silken cord that was used to bind Fenris, the Master-wolf, made entirely of magical essences. Yet, the biggest credit for which the dwarves are most known is the fabled Brising necklace of the dwarves, so fantastic and beautiful that Freyja, the greatest goddess in the Norselands, prostituted herself just to own it. Numerous dwarves shared in her godly pleasures in exchange for the necklace, which reflects upon the bawdy morals of both the Norse gods and the dwarves.

In The VIKINGS! Trilogy, the dwarves are represented by Radsvid, who is not the greatest craftsman of the dwarves. His inventions seldom work, or work poorly, and this was done on purpose, to ease the tension after Niflheim and the tunnels of the trolls. But it is Radsvid's lust for their non-dwarven women that connect him to the dwarves in Norse mythology. Radsvid is a charmingly disgusting letch, which is a natural state of conflict, managed only by the humor that I added to him.

Radsvid was incredibly fun to write, my 'comic relief' at a point where the quest was wallowing in seriousness. His deceitfulness and sexual blatancy infuriates Roselyn, whom he openly lusts after, and who is appalled by his disgusting vileness.

The greatest effect of Radsvid is not anything about him, but about how the others react to Seren's solution to the threat that he represents. While Radsvid is a minor threat, his lustful demands spawn their greatest dilemma, one that threatens to tear the company apart.

If I ever write a sequel to The VIKINGS! Trilogy, I hope to include Radsvid. I really enjoy him as a character.