42 réponses à ce sujet

[DrBlingzle]

Humans have different skin colours due to the affects of the sun. white people have lighter skin because it allows them to absorb more sunlight and get more vitamin D and black people have darker skin to absorb less sunlight to reduce the risk of skin cancer and overheating.

Dwarfs, for the main part, live underground and will thus be unaffected by sun. Their main source of light will be torch light which does not cause skin cancer or create vitamin D so there would be no reason to evolve different skin colours as they suffer no risk from skin cancer and they must get more vitamin D from another source.

And yet we see dwarfs with completely varying skin colour from very pale to black. I could understand a small amount of variation among surface dwarfs but even dwarfs who have lived underground their entire lives have completely varying skin colour.
 
So my question is: why?

[KaiserShep]

As the stone varies in luster, so must the dwarves.

[leaguer of one]

It's all based off the color of rocks they are born from. If they hatch from a dark rock their skin is dark. From a light, they have light skin.

It's just like how blue rocks hatch into boys and pink rocks hatch into girls.

Modifié par leaguer of one, 24 février 2014 - 07:47 .

[Maria Caliban]

We have no idea how long dwarves have been underground. If they've only spent a couple thousand years in the underdark, it's possible they're still retaining pigmentation from other sources.

Likewise, their diet in Orzammar is very poor; darker skinned dwarves might be the descendants of people with better access to food supplies who moved to Orzammar during the first blight. Dark skin protects against radiation; lighter skinned dwarves might be the descendants of people who experienced lower radiation levels.

[Nightdragon8]

because they randomly mutate like everyone else, however darker skin may or may not be an advantage in fact it may not matter

Also think about it they live right next to a pool of lava, who is it say it isn't there form of tanning to pretect themselves from the heat.

[Orian Tabris]

leaguer of one wrote...

It's all based off the color of rocks they are born from. If they hatch from a dark rock their skin is dark. From a light, they have light skin.

It's just like how blue rocks hatch into boys and pink rocks hatch into girls.

"When we come out of our mothers, we're small, round rocks. Pink-streaked rocks are girls, and gray ones are boys. The rocks must be dipped in lava for a few moments each day to keep warm. Every year, a few unlucky parents drop the rock into the lava and can't get it out. Very sad. But do it right, and in a few weeks, the rock cracks open, revealing a bouncing dwarven baby."

Thank you, Oghren!

Modifié par Orian Tabris, 24 février 2014 - 08:09 .

[Shelondias]

I recall an elf child in the Dalish camp querying a dwarven warden thusly: "If you live underground, shouldn't you be all white?"

I guess even the devs lampshaded that one lol

[LOLandStuff]

One of their greatest paragons invented the tanning bed. It uses lava.

[9TailsFox]

I come to write comment about different colors rocks but it is already covered.
[So have funny Oghren picture.

[Neoleviathan]

It's dependent on how long a dwarf has gone without bathing, they're all ghost white naturally.

[metatheurgist]

LOLandStuff wrote...
One of their greatest paragons invented the tanning bed. It uses lava.

Y'know that actually works. Dwarves have castes they rarely stray from. Castes that end up working near lava may benefit from darker skin, dwarves that don't may be selected out of higher castes for cosmetic reasons.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

metatheurgist wrote...

LOLandStuff wrote...
One of their greatest paragons invented the tanning bed. It uses lava.

Y'know that actually works. Dwarves have castes they rarely stray from. Castes that end up working near lava may benefit from darker skin, dwarves that don't may be selected out of higher castes for cosmetic reasons.

So sort of how in medieval times having pale skin was a status symbol because it showed you were born high enough that you did not need to work in the sun.

[Fetunche]

The dwarves have varying skin colours because the players have varying skin colours and may want to play a dwarf with a colour like theirs whether it makes sense or not.

[Nuloen]

If dwarf mines coal,his skin will colour dark from the coal powder
And even if he will bath in fresh water with soap, some powder will still stay on his skin and over time he will look more like arabian

I got uncle that is working in black coal mine, if you would look at him you would think hes from south asia and always have black around his eyes
EDIT:and lyrium possibly emit light similiar to sun light(UV)

Modifié par Nuloen, 24 février 2014 - 12:52 .

[Nefla]

KaiserShep wrote...

As the stone varies in luster, so must the dwarves.

lol best answer!

[vania z]

Dwarves have different skin colours to appease audience, it is simple.

[Maria Caliban]

metatheurgist wrote...

Y'know that actually works. Dwarves have castes they rarely stray from. Castes that end up working near lava may benefit from darker skin, dwarves that don't may be selected out of higher castes for cosmetic reasons.

Magma. And that it's probably best not to draw attention to the fact that there are streams of magma running thought Orzimmar and it's hovering over a giant pool of it, as that would actually lead to everyone dying.

[Zerker]

It's possible they share common ancestry with Humans, along with the Elves. Since they can procreate together, also considering the obvious resemblance.

Though that's from a hardcore Magic Realism perspective. The right answer is associated with this dude,

Modifié par Maddok900, 24 février 2014 - 05:49 .

[Star fury]

Bfler wrote...

Because otherwise people would start again to complain, that the game is racist because there are only white dwarfs.

Pretty much.

[CybAnt1]

Wow, these new forums are whack. Still, I like the new edit window. Light text on a white background can be a bit hard to read. Guess this will take some getting used to.

 

Anyway, the answer has already been given: Dwarves are children of the Stone. Well, you've seen stones in lots of colors, right?

[KC_Prototype]

Because I want to create a black dwarf.

[snackrat]

But if they don't deal with sun, there's no need to have LIGHT skin either, to allow light through. Keep in mind that loss of pigmentation (such as blue eyes) is typically an abnormality, and with skin tones, in real life at least, without surprise alleles they 'normalise' (ie a black and white couple will have brown children). The earliest recorded history of people we have are jewish, greek, egyptian, so it isn't like 'white people' are default.

 

So yeah, they don't need dark skin to block sun. But they don't need light skin to let sun in, because most dwarves will never get any. Clearly they get vitamin D from somewhere else, evidentally.

 

Consider the skin colour among dwarves just the equivalent of hair/eye colour among humans. Not much functional purpose, it just kinda happened and is still happening. Visual variety at the least.

[LobselVith8]

Humans have different skin colours due to the affects of the sun. white people have lighter skin because it allows them to absorb more sunlight and get more vitamin D and black people have darker skin to absorb less sunlight to reduce the risk of skin cancer and overheating.

Dwarfs, for the main part, live underground and will thus be unaffected by sun. Their main source of light will be torch light which does not cause skin cancer or create vitamin D so there would be no reason to evolve different skin colours as they suffer no risk from skin cancer and they must get more vitamin D from another source.

And yet we see dwarfs with completely varying skin colour from very pale to black. I could understand a small amount of variation among surface dwarfs but even dwarfs who have lived underground their entire lives have completely varying skin colour.
 
So my question is: why?

 

I don't think science factors into it, since you could also ask why the dwarves who have lived underground their entire lives can go out to the surface without much of an issue with sunlight. This is a fantasy world where magic factors into certain issues, like how the unions between elves and humans produce human children for a reason that the developers have implied to be magical, rather than scientific.

[PsychoBlonde]

We have no idea how long dwarves have been underground. If they've only spent a couple thousand years in the underdark, it's possible they're still retaining pigmentation from other sources.

 

It's also distinctly possible that their skin pigmentation is not caused by melanin.  It could simply be a result of long-term chemical exposure.  They live around lava pools and lyrium radiation, after all.

[Malanek]

Some have evolved to blend into the shadows.