Dwarves are a type of supernatural being, rooted in the ancient beliefs of
our ancestors, which persist into the imagination of the current age.  

They are heavily attested in the Prose and Poetic Eddas of early medieval
Iceland, with poems such as the Völuspá devoting many lines simply to
naming many dwarves.  Snorri in the Gylfaginning tells us some dwarves hold
very important functions Germanic cosmology; for instance, 4 dwarves,
Austri, Vestri, Suðri, and Norðri stand at the 4 corners of the Earth and
hold up the sky.  

Other attestations paint a different picture.  For instance, a skull
fragment with a transitional runic inscription from Ribe, Demark, may
possibly be a plea to Oðinn and High Tyr for protection against pain caused
by a dwarf.  

In addition, dwarves were responsible for the murder of the wise figure
Kvasir, and this involved in the creation of the Mead of Poetry.  They are
often depicted as craftsmen, for instance, smithing the mighty Mjölnir
which ends up in the hands of Thor.  

So overall the dwarves appear to be neutral beings in the natural order of
our world, strong, powerful, and crafty, sometimes greedy and with ill
intent, though uninterested in the world.  Yet sometimes it seems, they
cannot help getting caught up in the world’s affairs.

-Hariwulfaz