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TurnerMohan — Dwarf War Masks
Published: 2014-02-13 23:54:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 15049; Favourites: 219; Downloads: 118
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"Last of all the eastern force to stand firm were the Dwarves of Belegost, and thus they won renown. For the Naugrim withstood fire more hardily than either Elves or Men, and it was their custom moreover to wear great masks in battle hideous to look upon; and those stood them in good stead against the dragons."The Silmarillion
A couple of rough concepts for dwarven helmets from the first age. I imagine presenting a fireproof front would be the primary objective, coming up against glaurung's brood, and the dwarves would have considerable experience working around fire and hot metal anyway, so a design that could have concievably evolved out of masks used in their forges would do nicely, with narrow eyeslits and clever ventelation holes that allowed for breathing without exposing the wearer to dragon fire. below the face itself, the masks sort of turn into these heavy, elaborate, hanging mantles of scale and chainmail, protecting their long beards (buffered on the inside by some early, dwarven-invented version of asbestos cloth)
The armor is a fairly even three-way cross between anglo-saxon, japanese and persian influences, all in the prevaling dwarven style of straight lines and hard angles. As in our real world, the stylized face mask seems like something that almost every culture in middle-earth would have experimented with at one time or another, and like much metal work, it seems likely that the dwarves would have done it first. I liked the idea that the faces, despite their exaggerated and highly stylized appearence, might perhaps bear some resemblance to their wearers, especially a custom job for a mighty lord like Azaghal; perhaps they double function as death masks. "hideous to look upon" is, I think, a matter of taste, as the whole 'Silmarillion' seems to be written from a very children-of-Illuvatar perspective, and the "stunted people" as they are called throughout seem to get the short end of the stick consistently, being remarked for their "cumberous and unlovely" language and all, though I think the "unlovely" and even somewhat cartoonish looks of these masks would be almost a point of pride for the dwarves. I think they could have a sense of humor about their ugliness, or atleast I would not expect them to be a culture that placed enormous emphasis on classical-style physical beauty; being more proud of their strength in battle and skill in their arts than the sculpted perfection of their features.
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Comments: 32
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" I think they could have a sense of humor about their ugliness, or atleast I would not expect them to be a culture that placed enormous emphasis on classical-style physical beauty; being more proud of their strength in battle and skill in their arts than the sculpted perfection of their features."
Quickly, before I forget it, I just wanted to say how right I think that sentence is : just look at Gimli ! He is considered an exception among the dwarves, caring more about beauty than gold while most of them don't, and the most beautiful thing in the world for him is Galadriel, an Elf-lady. It's important to notice that in term of environment Gimli is truly a Dwarf : a cave is nicer to him than a forest. But for living beings it seems that he consider the Elves as prettier than his own people so I think you are absolutely right when you say that Dwarves are conscious of their own ugliness. And it's kinda logic : their body was made by Aulë and he did put some parts of his soul and tastes inside them but not all of it, Illuvatar gave them life, I'll not be surprised if the Dwarves have a really ambivalent relation toward themselves.
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lots of long comments talking about how awesome this is so ill keep it simple. "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!"
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I really like the look of the masked helms. You and Artigas must have been on the same page. 
In considering the appearance of the masked helms, I would interpret "hideous" along the lines of "grotesque" in terms of a modern description. The masked visors ought to be unreal and distorted, giving no real approximation of their wearers' true appearance, but instead projecting an image of impersonal strength and implacable will, maybe with an artistic grimace to further emphasize the effect. Both the Germanic helms of the Sutton Hoo type, the helms and bevors of the Renaissance, and the mask visors of steppe peoples like the Kipchaqs all have that quality. The Sassanian, Timurid, and Japanese masks tend to wander into decorative aethetics sooner, with less effect on turning the wearer into a grimly protected warrior.
I do like these better than the more plainly representational helms shown in the first Hobbit movie and certain LOTR minis from GW. Of course WETA would be hard-pressed to create such an item for multiple actors. Except maybe for a lead character, and even then the theatrical preference for an uncovered face would impair the decision making process. After all, the Dwarven champion wearing such headgear as depicted above will only be emoting with his axe or mattock! 
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This is great work. I always liked the idea of Dwarfs sporting emotive, "ancestral war face" masks. It's almost a visual trope by now in variety of post-Tolkien, pop-fantasy like Warhammer or Warcraft, but it's always effective and fitting for that particular folk.
Though I must say that Weta's Erebor helmet design still stands as my favourite helm look of that type (GW lotr minis that Zeonista mentioned are poor reflection of this, since they've done a lousy job of translating the designs into such small scale). Those kind of face masks can often get too elaborate or goofy looking for my tastes, and the Erebor armour helmet has much more streamlined and refined shapes and lines than their counterparts found in various roleplay/video/tabletop games art.
Streamlining and refining known fantasy visual tropes is something that Weta has always done wonderfully (even though their work on the "Hobbit" trilogy seems just a bit more "hit and miss" compared to their near perfect creations from Lotr)
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The LOTR helms I had referred to originally were for the guardsmen for the Moria (and presumably Erebor) armies for the LOTR game. Those faced & semi-faced helms were pretty basic, without much detail, although from someone who has actual lead minis from Heritage & Partha, they were pretty good.
The mask detail sometimes does seem exaggerated or goofy to us, but that is pretty much what the "grotesque" fashion was in the Renaissance. It wasn't just enough to make a helm & its visor, it had to make the wearer look different than all the standard armors out there. And when we are talking men clad head to foot in armor (and not bareheaded for the cameras in Hollywood fashion
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Though I myself am a lifelong fan of GW and their miniatures ranges, the new "Hobbit" minis are rather lackluster compared to the LOTR old range, and serve as piss-poor representations of Weta designs. The truth is Weta concepts translate poorly to that scale, couse the strenght of their costumes lie mainly in shapes and lines that are very hard to represent in such small scale (that's one of the reasons why so much of GW Warhammer aesthetic is based on overstated, garish proportions and looks - so that it will compensate for the minis size and make them stand out). The other reason is that most of "The Hobbit" mini range is sculpted by the Perry Twins - GW veteran sculptors, who unfortunately are thought by many to have fallen behind the times, when it comes to current standards in the hobby.
And the fixed, "special unit" look is I think exactly what Weta was aiming for with these Dwarves. It was supposed to represent mass-produced armour that would not only serve as icon and symbol of a certain Dwarven city, but was also representative of a Dwarf culture at it's highest, with the resources to equip even it's basic foot troopers with a suit of armour that in other armies/cultures would be more befitting of an honour guard. It's not a revolutionary design, but it's a refinement of a known fantasy visual trope, in a true Weta way, with a helmet that not only streamlined the "ancestral face maks" look, but also incorporated it with element's of Weta's Gimli helmet (which I consider to this day being among the absolute top of Dwarven designs out there). Generally speaking it's something to looks standard to other dwarven suits of armour found throughout popculture, but upon closer inspection is far more refined, sleeker and detailed than most of it's equivalents. Personally I think the distinct, individual, personalised war masks (similar to Turner's desings) would be something more fitting in the Iron Hill dwarves (Dains bodyguard for example?). Though I doubt that's the direction they are going to be taking.
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Just learned that I cannot edit posts here, so here's a cont.
They look far better here, than on GW minis:
i.imgur.com/ZWCvQw3.jpg
i.imgur.com/A54HYjv.jpg
i.imgur.com/rDwIBnm.jpg
i.imgur.com/wqtvgOt.jpg
i.imgur.com/VMvKP9X.jpg
i.imgur.com/txJCTja.jpg
i.imgur.com/l4Xdqkt.jpg
i.imgur.com/H9jauaL.jpg
Btw, regarding that whole "Dwarven city wealthy and powerful enough to equip it's soldiers with plate" thing - I just remembered that years ago I've read something similar regarding Gondorian soldiers in "Weapons and Warfare of Middle Earth". Supposedly Gondor's wealth (though strained heavily at the time of the War of the ring), their knowledge of metalwork passed from Numenoreans, as well as access to vast amounts of metal taken from the mountain upon which Minas Tirith was built - were all reasons why the city could equip most of it's soldiery with plate.
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Weta's helmet designs are some of the best in the business, as they look good while offering real protection, and they don't look like they'd be a burden to wear for a while, which is a definite plus. That being said, I would be thrilled if something like the helms depicted on this post showed up in the hoard, or were worn by Dain and his command group, to use a wargaming term.
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I owe more than a small debt to artigas for a couple of the ideas here (he was also the one that requested that I do a take on the dwarvish war masks)
the noldor are plenty bold on the battlefield, but i hear you; there's definitely something very down and dirty about the dwarvish approach to battle, it seems like their main strategy is just to charge forward, heavy-armored, axes first. they're also low to the ground and never on horseback, so it's easy to conceive of them as these little armored tanks, not particularly fast or maneuverable in mass on a battlefield, but hard to hurt.
in thinking about it the last day or so, I've come to agree that, while the masks should be highly individualized, it is not their purpose and is not nescesary for them to represent in any easily discernable way the actual appearance of their individual owners, functioning rather, as you say, as these images of impersonal strength. The sutton hoo helmet and the kipchak facemasks definitely have that quality, i think in part because they come from cultures with some pretty primitive aesthetics in terms of representing the human form (some metal face masks from ancient rome are really sculptural) and while I think that alot of the time, when treating the art of a fictional culture (especially tolkien's, which are alot more influenced by that more abstract, northern, germanic tradition than the classical figurative tradition) it helps to keep modern realism in check, alot of real life ancient face masks (like the two mentioned above) have this blank, expressionless, even sometimes mildly smiling look which, while anonymous and kind of terrifying, isnt really what I'd call "hideous to look upon" the way the japanese facemasks are. I actually did just such a dwarven mask, based on the sutton hoo helmet, for which I pretty much abandoned the movie-established geometric dwarven design entirely, sometimes it can be fun to just branch off and break with the aesthetic you've been going with, and while i love the geometric style, I wonder if that one isnt a little closer to what tolkien (who based so much of his world on anglo-saxon everything, and probably had the sutton hoo helmet atleast partially in mind while writing about the dwarven war masks) had in mind. I'll post it up.
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Hey! Nice to hear it again, to think somehow I managed to inspire you to do such a great design is just awesome. I was a fan of your take on dwarfs even before I know you from DA, I saw your concepts for the Hobbit a couple years ago and those pieces in specific got me into making my own concepts. It always looked sad to me that the best and original design lines established in LOTR movies (the dwarvish stuff, of course) has been given so small space in the movies and even less on fan created art. The little tough bastards always caught my attention so I dedicated some time to expand the idea but before your art, I never found any artist that was really able to capture and translate the idea correctly. And there are only a few trying.
So it was like this, I got inspired by your early stuff, I did some concepts that made you inspired, you made those designs here and later the two absurdly excellent dwarves in color and all of these inspired me to make the dragon helm and some other designs that I am not finished with yet. And I bet it will not stop here
I still prefer the angular cut designs over the more historical ones for a number of reasons:
They are original and help taking apart the races, I like the idea of this clear difference between the races aesthetics because in the books it seems that you can identify an elven work from a dwarven or human one from a mile away. It seems they are very different from form to concept and materials.
The second reason is that the cut straight lines that reminds of the lines of a carved rock or mountain. It also adds a sense of heaviness and ruggedness, and it is just go right with dwarven things.
Also, I love the way that this design line is so original and fresh, no one has ever taken this path before, there are plenty o medieval or barbaric (vikingnish) derived dwarves out there. I much prefer this take, more eastern influenced and all. As you said before, Tolkien dwarves are clearly based more on Semitic cultures than nordic ones. So for me at last, this design is a win.
So I am trying to expand the branch without being a copycat of the movies, I wish to find the core aspects of this design line and expand it using my own style and ideas and some new historical influences for flavor.
Needless to say I am always craving to see more dwarves from you, I love all of your stuff but your Dwarves were my first interest in your work and still are my favorites.
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I was reminded just today of the movie Alfred the Great, which uses period helmet designs to give the Danes a collective unsettling anonymity to varying degrees. Even the regular nasaled caps have an effect on the viewer, and Gudrun's spectacle helm removes all traces of his charming nature. Gudrun's two bodyguards have full faceguards similar to Vendel types, giving them a fiercely blank expression coupled with a direct gaze that is rather unsettling. Sort of like Jason stalking about with his hockey mask in place.
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I've written descriptions of Dwarven warmasks in both gaming circles and fiction and think that these do the concept proper justice. I do hope you eventually polish them up because I think they would be magnificent.
One thing I took away from the Silmarillion after learning more about Nordic and Anglo-Saxon culture and history, especially concerning weapons and armor, was how much the brilliant professor was invested in that lore and I gained a new appreciation for both. The helm and armor of Dwarves in particular has always struck me as following those historical archetypes, seen perhaps full circle in the Warhammer Fantasy tradition which lovingly and respectfully builds on what Tolkien began.
The Persian influence is also visible, particularly in the right-most helm with the rounder top, and the usage of chain aventail much like middle-eastern smiths made. It also reminds me a bit of Varangian armor, which is a marriage of Byzantine and Nordic armors.
The obvious Japanese Samurai influence in the upper right (Especially the eyes/mouth) and lower left helm is a smart idea, as their warrior-masks are as elaborate as any found elsewhere.
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Wow, this one seems to have netted some long, thoughtful comments! I must be doing something right
I tend to think that the aesthetic of tolkien's world, especially in the silmarillion, is overwhelmingly dark age nordic/anglo-saxon in nature, with all his mail coats and tall helms and long swords, so it's hard for me not to picture something like the dwarvish war masks as having elements of, say, the famous sutton hoo helmet in them, though of the "free people" of middle-earth, dwarves seem the best candidates for the judicious inclusion of elements from other cultures and places (ancient jewish/arabic/persian/ect) into the design of their armor and weapons. they were the first people in middle-earth, to get into serious metal work, and (I always got the impression) were much more widespread (especially east) than the elves, so it makes sense that the dwarvish style should look like it influenced a broad range of peoples.
I like some of the design work i see for dwarves in things like warcraft or warhammer, but generally i think a lot of Tolkien-inspired fantasy games make everything too big and overblown, to the point where their dwarves just seem like these hulked out pseudo-vikingish lager louts, and while there is definitely that side to the dwarves in tolkien's world, he invests them with a somewhat semetic, secretive, partiarchal culture-apart feel that I think the games miss out on.
yes those samurai war masks are a hard thing not to be influenced by when treating something like this.
Thank you for your well thought out comment. It's always good to hear a tolkien fan's opinions.
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Another fantastic set of drawings. These obviously are more experimental and rough-hewn than your general more polished work so I hope you won't mind if I say I haven't 'fallen in love' with them in the same way as some of your other work, but there are plainly some tremendous ideas being explored here. The dwarves' war-masks are one of the stronger and more enduring images you take away from reading the Silmarillion, one that artists frequently wish to carry over for dwarves of later ages (as shown by the armour designs in the Hobbit films). Your work is certainly consistent with several works I've seen but with the addition of these ingenious practical details. Your idea for the hinged mouth actually reminds me a bit of the idea behind frogsmouth helmets where by tilting the head you can make yourself all but impervious to lance strikes. With that in mind, perhaps the next step for your masks is to give them heavy brows that would act as further shields to the vulnerable eyes.
Your idea behind the eyes and the sculpted pupils itself is quite brilliant. I remember a lot of talk in the tale of Turin Turambar where characters or perhaps the prose talks about him looking at somebody with 'his own eyes', which obviously was a heavy metaphor for the mask of the Dragon Helm, but actually featuring stylised eyes (perhaps even incorporating veneers of gems or horn for irises) would give that an extra layer rather than simply eye slits. You could play with the proportions too- you spoke a lot about how the dwarf helms are supposed to be hideous, and you seemed to equate that with the general view of dwarven 'unloveliness', but it seems to me to be more a reflection simply of the grotesquery of the masks themselves. A major component of the value of war masks was their scariness, their ability to 'freak out' the enemy, so I really do disagree with you on the idea of them being 'hideous to look upon' being a matter of taste- these things would have been designed to put the fear of god into their enemies with unchanging visages of anger or inhuman blankness just as masks are so frequently used in horror today. One of my favourite war masks is that of Henry VIII's horned helmet- a bespectacled vision of singular terror that taps into the deepest depths of uncanny valley and that's a quality I think would be extremely cool to see with the dwarves.
I do totally agree with you that they'd tend to be individualised. Again, I suppose this evokes the archaic times of the first age where mass production was an extremely rare occurrence and the norm would be one of a kind pieces that may share a regular form but whose proportions would be subtly different (and in the case of particularly high ranking individuals distinctively different) owing to the tastes and even whim of the maker. I certainly would love to see you develop these ideas and attempt to capture an iconic image for the Dragon Helm of Dor-lomin.
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I didnt start these with a particular idea where they were going, so yeah, I'd say these are really just concept sketches, though I may feature them in a finished scene, something like azaghal's funeral procession. I havent exactly fallen in love with them myself, as I dont think they're quite there yet (the bottom two come the closest for me i think, even though theyre not as finished as the one up top) so i'll probably do another page of concepts like this one.
Yes good eye, the frogmouth helms from jousting armor were indeed on my mind while designing that floating bevor, and I intended (though i dont know if it came through) for the eyebrows to overhang slightly, so that the wearer can duck his head forward if facing a blast of dragonfire, closing the mouth hole and protecting the eyes; the book remarks that the masks themselves stood them in good stead against the dragons, so it seemed nescesarry to build the masks not only for battlefield intimidation (which I'll get to) but first and foremost as basically a welder's visor.
The notched-out pupils were inspired by something I once heard about this suit of armor, built for Henry VIII images1.fanpop.com/images/phot… that the left and right "breaks" in the eyeslits were placed to evoke a pair of pupils staring out. once I tried it I found that subtle notch added so much to the piece, turning those outthust convex half-domes - originally intended, as you can see on the top and bottom left helmets, to evoke squinting lower eyelids - into this weird, leering pair of "eyes." I picture the dwarves would use both styles; that squinting look has the kind of stoicism that you'd expect from dwarves, and would evoke, in the midst of the firestorm, a real dwarven face squinting into the fire, but that pupiled look, with little cost to the protective function, has that freaky, out there look I've often mentioned you see in certain pieces of real historical armor, and that I would have liked to see more of in the films' designs. Now that you mention it, decorating the "eyes" with inlays or acid etching would be really cool
I should clear up my meaning on the whole "hideous to look upon" line; I think these definitely fit the bill (as certainly do the war masks of the japanese samurai, and the horned helmet given to henry VIII by the holy roman emperor, both of which were strongly in mind when drawing these) and not just from an anti-naugrim perspective, and I agree very much with your point about the purpose of war masks being to psyche out the opposing side. I suppose my point was more that the dwarves seem the type - much moreso than elves or men - that would reperesent their own features in grotesque, wild exaggerations meant to frighten and intimidate. from a drawing point of view it's one of the reasons I've always found dwarves easier and more fun to draw than elves, because whereas elves have to be these perfectly proportioned, sculpted specemines in face and body, dwarves are this (pleasing) mash of heavy features and huge noses and immense amounts of hair and beard, and because they're not "beautiful" in the classical sense, there's more of a range you can use when drawing them. I like to think that they'd be atleast partially aware of that themselves, and willing to use their own faces for scare-masks. My only objection (or just more of a case of "not the word I would use" really) to "hideous" is that I think that these (like the samurai masks or even that freaky horned helmet) are quite beautiful in their own way, just not something, say, the noldor would ever do when representing themselves.
there may have to be a take on the dragon helm after the enthusiastic buzz these seem to be getting
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You know I've had pictures of that Henry VIII armour in my collection for years and years and I hadn't even noticed those 'pupils'- perhaps because of the copious similar ventilation holes immediately beneath.
Glad for the clarification on the 'hideous to look upon' comment. I'm half and half on your idea that dwarves know their own hideousness, While i'm sure you don't mean it in this way I can't imagine the dwarves consider themselves ugly or find it humourous; in the newest Hobbit film Gloin reacts about as well as anyone would when Legolas mistakes his wife for his brother, and that seems entirely accurate to me. Even if the dwarves made their masks in their image to mock the elven snobbishness about their looks it seems a little too self-aware for my tastes (and it's not the elves they're intending to freak out- it's orcs who are uglier than even the most pug-like dwarf). I doubt any real world creator of war masks would be so self-aware as to think 'those other folks think we're ugly anyway, why not play up our native features to freak them out?'- that seems more like the thinking of a modern film conceptual designer than a primary creator of the actual artifacts. In reality I believe that in so far as they make the masks to freak their enemies out, the specific racial stylistic variations boil down to caricaturing their own race because 'that's what people look like'- we as the outsider place our own cultural prejudices on them.
In that sense i'm kind of retracting or half retracting my point about making masks purposefully freaky and I suppose I should also be aware of the limitations of art at the time. It might be that cultures real or fictional might be incapable of conquering the uncanny valley effect however much they may like due to the crudeness of their styles- a mask intended as a genuine and respectful likeness (such as Azaghal's or perhaps the Dragon Helm) may instead fall into the valley accidentally, and likewise, if as you say these masks might simply be repurposed furnace masks they are unlikely to have the intentional hideousness of the bespoke samurai somen and menpo. I suppose in keeping with the notion of variety, there might be all kinds of masks among the dwarves of the first age- some deliberately hideous, some practical, some reverential.
Whatever the case, these masks do have a beauty I agree but it's the beauty of craftsmanship, I doubt even a dwarven woman would think a dwarven war-mask 'handsome' even if they're based on dwarven features.
On the wider matter of armour, I do agree with your point about dwarves suiting elements of eastern armour styles and when I first saw the dwarf soldiers for The Hobbit I did feel a little pang of regret that they had gone with simply 'dwarf-ised' plate rather than something more intricate. Late Samurai armour is particularly fascinating to me due to the potency of the forms they could create with mail, scale and lamellar- a mile away from the frankly boring mundanity of a western mail hauberk. I'd love to see something in the same vein tried with the dwarves.
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It's not that I think the dwarves would be representing themselves as ugly simply as a statement, "because those pansy elves wouldnt do it," that would indeed be too self aware and too film design like (although they say you could judge and ancient spartan by their uglienss, every spartan having had his nose broken atleast once in life, and the spartans regarded the beauty emphasis of athenian men with contempt) but I see the dwarves, not unlike many men over 50 (though less so now than in some other times) as regarding their own features with a certain comic appreciation and even pride in them (most older "working men" I know would rather regard themselves - jokingly - as ugly or misshapen in that norman-rockwell-model way that suggests age and character than regard themselves as beautiful or sexually appealing, it always seems among such men that they feel there would be something vain, effete, and a bit gay about regarding themselves as such) it's like how (disclaimer: two references coming up I don't know if you'll be familiar with
All that said, these are so vague and abstract that they look about as much like dwarves as the olmec heads or the easter island statues look like the people who made them; they are, in the intention of their makers, representations of human (or in this case "dwarvish") faces, tailored for scare value (and really serving as protection before art pieces) but still a representation, very broadly of "that's what a face looks like" and like the olmec heads (as compared to say, the face on the sutton hoo helmet) if they manage, despite their vagueness, to capture the racial characteristics of their makers to a degree where it would be difficult to mistake them for representatios of elves or men, that seems very legitimately (as per the above examples) like somethig you'd see in real life art history. So, in conclusion, I dont think the dwarves would make any kind of consistent, articulated point of themselves being uglier and therefore more macho than the elves (though it's hard not to imagine jokes to that effect kicked around in their society) but their culture (as i imagine it) probably lacks the somewhat classical, greco-roman appreciation of male beauty that the elves would have (and even the elves, as I discussed with you in the comments for fingolfin, i don't see as especially big into it by modern, bieber-fever standards) and that lack (rather than some stated attempt to make a point in the opposite direction) colors the way they represent themselves. I think they would esteem their own appearance by symbols, like their beards of which they are obviously quite proud
(as a side note, recently having done a lot of apartment hunting in brooklyn, much of which, it seems, is run by Hasidic landlords, it's a pretty amazing, and distinctly khazad-like experience, to be in the midst of a large body of people so enmeshed in their culture and religion, and in the clothes and trappings of that culture, that they are not easy to tell apart, even face to face. after a while you feel like you're seeing the same bearded face over and over again)
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What a wonderful critique. I respect your ability to draw on both historical armor figures as well as lore accumulated from Tolkien.
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These make me think of the helmets for the dwarves of Erebor in the first Hobbit movie, where the helmets are built with masks on their faces and it sort makes the armored dwarves kind of look like robots with beards! LOL
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As much as I dislike the ridiculous and unnecessary changes to the plot of the Hobbit, much of the look, costumes, and atmosphere is perfect because they based most of it on the professor's writings. The helms are a case in point.
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Wow! That's what I call a really good surprise! I had a really really bad day and this one made me smile! Thank you for this one! Well, when I asked you for your version of the dwarves masks and helmets I had pretty high expectations, mind you, but you managed to surpass them by far! Much far! What you did here is pure awesomeness! A lesson in design! I'm delighted and happy to be able to know such good work!
I love them all but the first and the last in the page are the real deal! The concept of a moving beaver is simply amazing! Practical and ingenious. Good for breathing, good for moving and even allows for some armor configuration. I always thought about dwarves war gear as being "modular" to some extent. This makes sense since everything the do is so high in quality and so durable, they do not need or even have the funds to have tons of gear for each conceivable situation and I do not think of dwarves being inclined to use generic multi task items, they look like dudes who appreciate the right tool for the right job if this is an option. So modular and configurable armor is a really clever concept you put here. Tis is somewhat like samurai armor, like the memo, the masks, which were divided into two parts allowing the use of a helmet alone, a helmet plus a jaw guard or full mask. Practical and clever! Simply dwarfish!
The detachable crest is another great concept! Each situation requires the appropriate trophy!
The details are so great as always, it is is so difficult to say when it is not enough or when it is to much, but you seem to have a gift for it! It is a pleasure to run the eyes upon those scales, those engravings and chiseled lines of the contours of the helmet! Simply lovely. I like particularly the sides of the face and the different scales in the aventail!
But for all of this is really good, you did really top it all with those eyeslits! So well thought! Genius! THis is simply the best design possible for such things! The pupil style cut is the masterpiece! I love it so bad!
And now I see what you meant when you said dwarves probably used their own faces in the designs, grimacing terrifying faces, you did a really convincing job here!
This helmet is the thing I imagine Turin wearing when I read that the dragon helm was too heavy for being used by normal man. This is exactly the kind of heavy dwarves helmet that fits into the description!
Thank you for this great concept Turner, this is one of my favorites of all time! DO more dwarves now and then, no big deal, just sketches! No one do it like you do! Its just like you are making annotations about real dwarves!
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glad i could shed a little sunlight on a bad day!
The moving beaver was basically one of those "happy accidents" Bob Ross always talks about
thank you about the level of detail; it took many years and many drawings to feel like I've gotten comfortable with knowing how much is too much and how much is not enough. It sounds like you kno that struggle well, that's a real artist's compliment, and I'm very glad for it.
Chainmail is something I can look at all day. According to the silmarillion the dwarves invented chainmail and are the best at making it, so I think they probably would have played around with all styles, from the simple, classic four-in-one weave pattern, to denser six-in-one, to those crazy intricate patterns you see in indian and persian chainplate (they came up with the stuff, i think they can play around with it some 
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The AK47 comparison is just perfect! I do imagine the many kinds of maille that the dwarves invented, I actually sketched a whole bunch of them lately. I always wonder about the many clans and the many styles that they probably have in all theyr works and ways. I prefer to think that good angulated chiseled look we explore that come from LOTR movies is the Durin's folk way of doing things. We have many clans and many ages, we can think of a really varied range of design when talking about our stunted friends. Much like the real world. The amount of variety of cultural inheritance is just staggering, this just taking into account our 8k years of recorded history or so, and being us humans just the same race and being the surviving items so few and bad in condition. Even given all of this, the variation is just mind blowing. I am glad I managed to comunicate some of my appreciation, you know it is not so easy in english. Thanks for your entertaining and inspiring artwork. keep it up buddy!
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The moving bevor was an excellent bit, and definitely withing the capacity of the Dwarves. The advanced plate armors we know of in history had this sort of protective flexibility, and that's the approximate effect for any Dwarf working in steel instead of mithril or eog.
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