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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: LOTR Dwarves. Where do they come from? Why didn't the help out more during the events of the trilogy, what happens to them afterwards?
gpt
**Warning**: major "the Hobbit" spoilers down below.

> Where do they come from?

The first Dwarves were constructed by the smith god Aule. He wanted to make a new race of intelligent beings that would have the same technical inclinations as him, but he found he could only make automatons bound to his will, with no independent life. In the end Eru, the God (capital G) of Tolkien's universe, discovered Aule's work and, while initially enraged, decided to give true life and sentience to the Dwarves. These first few Dwarves were scattered around Middle Earth and each became the ancestor of one of the main Dwarf lineages. 

> Why didn't they help out more during the events of the trilogy?

There are two main reasons:

- Compared to their former glory, Dwarves as a race had considerably dwindled both in numbers and in power.

- Most Dwarves did not live close to the regions of Middle Earth that were involved in the War of the Ring. Dwarves have always been isolationist and only the Dwarves that were directly affected by Sauron's threat (the ones of the Lonely Mountain) intervened.

> What happened to them afterwards?

After Sauron's defeat there was a brief period of general prosperity and growth. Gimli, with King Eomer's permission, took a group of Dwarves to colonize the Glittering Caves under Helm's Deep; centuries later, Durin VII led an expedition to once again re-settle Moria, this time successfully.

However, the general trend of decline continued. Their population dwindled because women were only a third of their population and male dwarves had little desire to take wives or had difficulty finding one to their taste. 

We don't know the ultimate fate of the Dwarves, but we know that they have a place in Eru's (God's) plan for the world and that they will participate in the Dagor Dagorath, the final battle between good and evil at the end of time. According to Dwarven legends, when the apocalyptic battle is finished they will help their creator Aule rebuild the world in its final, perfect form.