Why didn't the dwarf women have beards in The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey?

Question

I may have missed it with the 3D, but I could have sworn I saw what I suspect was a lady Dwarf or two running from the Erebor in the beginning of the Hobbit, but they didn't seem bearded.

If dwarf women aren't bearded, then was Aragorn just kidding in the Two Towers (movie) when he intimated that they all had beards?

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It's also stated in Tolk in appendix A to the Lord of the Rings that female dwarves appear identical to males and we can assume they are also born with beards, just like their male counterparts.

Answer 1

If you google image dwarf women and hobbit, there are concept pictures purportedly from Weta Workshop that show women with light beards and extended sideburns—but definite facial hair. For all intents and purposes, these were probably the beards that Aragorn was referring to—they just weren't full mutton chop / lumberjack beards that we are familiar with...

Not exactly discreet, so yes, they did have beards...

Answer 2

The movie is not expected to be seen only by LOTR fans and former readers. Probably there are thousands (if not millions) of possible spectators that won't have even known that female dwarves had beards, even after Aragorn's joke in "The Two Towers".

This means that representing bearded female dwarves in the movie would probably make them pass undetected by many viewers, and would surely create uncomfortable questions for many others.

It is more than probable that the use of a "more traditional female aspect" on dwarven females was a production mandate to fulfill the political correctness that's expected from a family movie. And I'm quite convinced of it after seeing that not all dwarves in the movie had "dwarven facial traits". You can see several dwarves with heavy facial dwarven identity, while others (Thorin and Fili, for example) are far more human (of a bearded class).

The marketing of a movie forces directors often to concede on (not always) minor aspects to keep producers (aka money) happy. Handsome dwarves and human-like female dwarves are probably one of many minor aspects to which Peter Jackson had to adjust.

I presume that we'll see bearded female dwarves in the future extended versions of the movies (maybe interpreted by Peter's daughter? :D)

Answer 3

The female dwarf in the section where Smaug attacked the Dale had fluffy sideburns. I thought it was a compromise.

Answer 4

The scene was quick and unexpected...with the 3D glasses it was very hard to tell. I plan on seeing it again in 2D and taking a good look. While they jest about the beards, there is evidence that in was more than a joke and given the way dwarves (and yes, that term is correct in Tolkien’s creation) came to be, it is plausible for them to have beards as ornate and impressive as the males. Look at it this way, female hobbits have big hairy feet like the males. Why should facial hair on she-dwarves be different?

Answer 5

Short answer:

If they looked like women, human or otherwise, they weren't Dwarf women.

Long answer:

From the movie; Gimli to Eowyn on the way to Helms Deep:

Gimli: It's true you don't see many Dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for Dwarf men.

Aragorn: It's the beards.

Gimli: And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no dwarf women, and that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground! Which is, of course, ridiculous.

Eowyn: Laughing

http://www.hark.com/clips/kcygzxfdyg-its-true-you-dont-see-many-dwarf-women

Did Dwarf women have beards?

From: The Tolkien FAQ by William D.B. Loos

It seems they did. In the note on Dwarf women in Appendix A it was told: It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need. They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart. The Return of the King, 360 (App A)] Since beards were part of the appearance, not the garb, of dwarf-men, we must conclude that dwarf-women did in fact have beards.

The question has been raised as to whether all dwarf men necessarily had beards (the above conclusion depends upon this premise). Insofar as the matter was mentioned at all, it was shown through either direct statements or casual references that at least Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Gloin, Bombur, and Gimli all definitely had beards The Hobbit, 20-22, 159, 186, 198; The Fellowship of the Ring, 240; The Return of the King, 148); it is natural to assume that the others did as well. While no definite statement about the beard status of dwarf-men in general was ever presented as a matter of lore, a thought which reflects the assumed view was given to Bilbo early in the The Hobbit: [as Bilbo rode along wearing Dwalin's hood] "His only comfort was that he couldn't be mistaken for a dwarf, as he had no beard." (The Hobbit, 42) In any event, the notion of bearded dwarves seems an assumption with fairly firm foundations.

References: •The Hobbit, 20-22 (Ch I), 42 (Ch II), 159 (Ch VIII), 186 (Ch X), 198 (Ch XI);

•The Fellowship of the Ring, 240 (II, 1);

•The Return of the King, 148 (V, 9), 153 (V, 9), 360 (Appendix A, III). http://tolkien.cro.net/dwarves/women.html