The Basics: Dvergar or Norse dwarves (Old Norse dvergar, sing. dvergr) are highly significant entities in Norse mythology, who associate with stones, the underground, deathliness, luck, magic, and technology, especially forging. They are identified with Svartálfar (‘black elves’), and Døkkálfar (‘dark elves’), due to their apparently interchangeable use in early texts such as the Eddas. While Dvergar relate etymologically to “dwarves”, the Norse concept of Dvergar is often unlike the concept of “dwarves” in other cultures.
In the Dvergatal section, the Völuspá divides the dwarves into three tribes, lead firstly by Mótsognir their first ruler, secondly by Durinn, and finally by Dvalinn. Hávamál mentions Dvalinn brought the rune writing to the Dvergar.

Skin and Hair Color:Norse texts describe the skin color of Dvergar as ‘pale’ (fölr), like a corpse. The hair color is ‘black’ (svartr).
In the Poetic Edda, the poem Alvíssmál tells how Þórr mocks the ‘pale’ white skin of a Dvergr. Þórr was furious to discover his daughter was promised in marriage to a Dvergr named Alvís (literally ‘all wise’, referring to the magical knowledge of the Dvergar) and insults him.

What [kind of] fellow is this?!
Why are you so pale about the nose?
Were you [spending time] with the dead in the night?
To me, [I] think you to be the likeness of a giant (Þurs)!
You were not born for [my daughter to be your] bride.
Hvat er þat fira?!
Hví ertu svá fölr um nasar?
Vartu í nótt með ná?
Þursa líki
þykki mér á þér vera!
ert-at-tu til brúðar borinn.

The insult summarizes a number of concepts relating to the appearance of the Dvergar. Notably, this Dvergr has a ‘pale nose’. In other words, he has black hair and a bushy black beard, and in the midst of this blackness, his white nose glares prominently. Note Norse culture values ‘milk white’ skin. However the complexion of the Dvergr is unhealthy, with a ghastly pallor, and Þórr accuses him of being a corpse who spends time ‘with the dead’. Moreover, Dvergar are pale because sunlight is lethal to them. In the same way corpses are buried in mounds and never contact sunlight, the Dvergar too live underground and avoid all contact with the sunlight, on pain of death. This Dvergr visits Þórr above ground, only during nighttime, and at the conclusion of the poem, the dawn breaks forth killing the Dvergr, .. thus preventing the daughter from marrying him. Þórr says the Dvergr has the body of a giant, a Þurs, because of his monstrous pigmentation. Of course, Þórr is famous for killing Þursar – and calling the Dvergr such is a threat! A Dvergr is simply not fit to marry the daughter of Þórr. While Þórr seems cruel, his concern may be the corpse-like lifestyle is unsuitable for his daughter. Dvergar live in utter darkness, and, like stones and corpses, spend much of their life without moving. Þórr saves his daughter from a nightmarish arranged marriage. That Þórr could be cunning enough to outwit a Dvergr, by tricking him into staying outdoors until the sun kills him, testifies to the saving strength of Þórr, even mental strength.
Although the Dvergar are often called “black”, in Old Norse the descriptive term ‘black’ (svartr) refers to hair color, not skin color. (It is analogous to the English term ‘brunette’, which always refers to brown hair and never brown skin.) To describe black skin, Old Norse uses the term ‘blue’ (blár). The concept of ‘blue’ skin to describe dark skin derives from the appearance of a corpse. As the blood flow stops, gravity drains away the blood from the upper area and collects it at the lower area. Thus a corpse can be described either as ‘pale’ referring to the upper portion or as ‘blue’ referring to the lower portion. The Prose Edda describes Hel, the deity of death, as having half her face pale ‘flesh’ color, and the other half ‘blue’, like the corpse of a woman who died while reclining on her side. By extension, when sagas refer to an African from Nigeria, he is called a ‘blue man’ (blámaðr), referring to his ‘blue’ skin.
The Dvergatal mentions the personal name, ‘The Blue One’ (Bláinn), which is a nickname for the primeordeal giant Ýmir, who Óðinn and his two brothers killed. The giant’s corpse is called ‘blue’. Some suggest the name ‘The Blue One’ may refer to a Dvergr. While unlikely, if so, this individual would seem to have black skin like a corpse, thus called ‘blue’. Compare some other Dvergar whose names refer to their (pale white) corpse-like appearance, like ‘The Dead One’ (Dáinn) and ‘The Corpse’ (Náinn).

Dvalinn as the Ancestor of all Dvergar:Norse texts imply Dvalinn is the ancestor of all Dvergar. In poetry, his name may stand for any or every Dvergr. For example, the Poetic Edda calls female Dvergar the ‘daughters of Dvalinn’ (dœtr Dvalins) (Fáfnismál 13), and calls the sun the ‘game of Dvalinn’ (Dvalins leika) in the sense it is deadly to any Dvergr who must dodge it every dawn (Alvíssmál 16). The Dvergatal lists a lineage of (firstborn?) sons from Dvalinn to Lofarr (Völuspá 11–16). The Prose Edda reiterates the ‘daughters of Dvalinn’ (dættr Dvalins) (Gylfaginning 23), and calls the Mead of Poetry the ‘drink of Dvalinn’ (drekku Dvalins) because two Dvergar brewed it, Fjalarr and Galarr (Skáldskaparmál 10). As the primordeal progenitor of all Dvergar, the qualities attributed to Dvalinn may represent all Dvergar as well.

Dvalinn as discoverer of the Runes for the Dvergar:In the Poetic Edda, the Rúnatal section of the poem Hávamál identifies Dvalinn as a discoverer of runic writing. The mastery of runes suggests both knowledge and magical power. Like Óðinn discovered runes and transmitted the art of written language to the Æsir, Dvalinn discovered runes and transmitted them to the Dvergar.
Hávamál

142–143. You will find runes – and abundantly counseled letters, abundantly great letters, abundantly firm letters – which the immense-orator stained, and awe-rulers made, and Hroftr [Óðinn] of the rulers engraved: Óðinn with the Æsir (gods), Dáinn for the Álfar (elves), also Dvalinn for the Dvergar (dwarves), Ásviðr for the Jötnar (giants). I [Óðinn] myself engraved some.
142–143. Rúnar munt þú finna, ok ráðna stafi, mjök stóra stafi, mjök stinna stafi, er fáði fimbulþulr, ok gerðu ginnregin, ok reist Hroftr rögna. Óðinn með ásum, en fyr alfum Dáinn, Dvalinn ok dvergum fyrir, Ásviðr jötnum fyrir, ek reist sjalfr sumar.


Apparently, the discovery of runes by Dvalinn was independent of that from Óðinn. Elsewhere in Hávamál, Óðinn describes how he was paradoxically both the victim and the beneficiary of a human sacrifice, ‘myself to myself’ – in a kind of shamanic trance transcending death and life – to achieve the power of language over reality itself.
Hávamál

138–139 (139–140). I [Óðinn] grant that I hung [by the neck] on [the World Tree] Vindgameiði of all nine nights, wounded by the spear and given [as a sacrifice to] Óðinn. Myself to myself. I took up the runes. Shrieking I took them. From there, I fell back.
138–139 (139–140). Veit ek, at ek hekk vindgameiði á nætr allar níu, geiri undaðr ok gefinn Óðni, sjalfur sjalfum mér, á þeim meiði .. Nam ek upp rúnar, æpandi nam, fell ek aftr þaðan.


Óðinn achieves the power of runes through a deathlike trance. Probably Dvalinn also achieved the power of runes through a deathlike trance. Similar to the way the name Óðinn (from óðr) means ‘the possessed one’ and refers to an ecstatic trance, the name Dvalinn means ‘the unconscious one’ (compare Old Swedish dvale ‘unconsciousness’) also refers to a deathlike trance.
The Old Norse term runar literally means ’secrets’, and by extension means runic ‘alphabet’ in the sense its letters transmit knowledge silently in a way that requires decoding. But runar can also mean the ’secrets’ of magic in the sense of safeguarded knowledge. The poem Hávamál plays on both of these senses. While runes are the normal Norse alphabet and nonmagical in themselves, nevertheless they can mediate linguistic power over reality. The poem views the written runes as an aspect deriving from ultimate reality that transcends the temporal mundane reality of death and life. As such, Norse magic often uses mundane runes as part of its trance-inducing meditative technique. In Norse magic, verbalization or ‘enchantment’ (galdr) spontaneously describes the current reality that a mage intends to change. By extension, runes may record this verbalization, thus become a physical vehicle of the enchantment.
In sum, the mastery of runes by Dvalinn suggests mastery of written knowledge and magical enchantment, thus similar mastery by all of the Dvergar, being his descendants.

Dvergatal, the list of the Dvergar: Into the story of the creation of humans in Völuspá, scribes interpolated a list of Norse dwarves, usually called the Dvergatal or “catalogue of the dwarves”. The list below translates a reconstructed text, based on two early manuscripts which differ slightly, 13th-century Konungsbók and 14th-century Hauksbók. The Völuspá mentions the names Mótsognir and Durinn, and to these two names the Dvergatal adds the following. The Konungsbók manuscript lacks the names in accolades ({}), added later to Hauksbók.


Völuspá
11–12. Nýi and Niði, Norðri and Suðri, Austri and Vestri, Alþjófr, Dvalinn, Bífurr, Báfurr, Bömburr, Nóri, Án and Ánarr, Ái, Mjöðvitnir, Veigr and Gandalfr, Vindalfr, Þráinn, Þekkr and Þorinn, Þrór, Litr and Vitr, Nár and Nýráðr, Reginn and Ráðsviðr — now I have told the list of Dvergar right.
13–15. Fili, Kili, Fundinn, Náli, Hepti, Víli, Hanarr, Svíorr, {Nár and Náinn, Nípingr, Dáinn, Billingr, Brúni, Bíldr and Búri}, Frár, Hornbori, Frægr and Lóni, Aurvangr, Jari, Eikinskjaldi.
14–16. To tell the talk, the Dvergar in the generation of Dvalinn were [as] a race of [conquering] lions up to [the generation] of Lofarr. They sought settlements from the halls of stone [to] Aurvangr (‘plot of mud’) to Jöruvöllr. There was Draupnir and Dolgþrasir, Hár, Haugspori, Hlévangr, Glóinn, {Dóri, Óri, Dúfr, Andvari,} Skirvir, Virvir, Skáfiðr, Ái, Álfr and Yngvi, Eikinskjaldi, Fjalarr and Frosti, Finnr and Ginnarr. So [they will] remember while the eras [of humans] live, the list of the long descent [of the ancestors] of Lofarr.


The list of Dvergar seems to divide into three separate interpolations. The first from Nýi and Niði to Reginn and Ráðsviðr, who are perhaps involved in the creation. A second list from Fili to Eikinskjaldi comprising additional Dvergar without comment. Finally a third list recording the ancestral line from Dvalinn to Lofarr. Note, Eikinskjaldi who appears in the second list also occurs in the third list as one of descendants of Dvalinn. Later scribes inserted even more names, from Nár to Dáinn, and from Billingr to Búri, into the second list, and other later manuscripts from Dóri to Andvari into the third list.

A good translation of the lines would work like thus:
Those Dwarves Crafted by the Aesir: Mótsognir then Durinn
Those Dwarves from creation: Nýi and Niði, Norðri and Suðri, Austri and Vestri, Alþjófr, Dvalinn, Bífurr, Báfurr, Bömburr, Nóri, Án and Ánarr, Ái, Mjöðvitnir, Veigr and Gandalfr, Vindalfr, Þráinn, Þekkr and Þorinn, Þrór, Litr and Vitr, Nár and Nýráðr, Reginn and Ráðsviðr.
Those Dwarves of Dvalinn’s equals: Fili, Kili, Fundinn, Náli, Hepti, Víli, Hanarr, Svíorr, Nár and Náinn, Nípingr, Dáinn, Billingr, Brúni, Bíldr and Búri, Frár, Hornbori, Frægr and Lóni, Aurvangr, Jari.
Those Dwarves of Dvalinn’s line: Draupnir and Dolgþrasir, Hár, Haugspori, Hlévangr, Glóinn, Dóri, Óri, Dúfr, Andvari, Skirvir, Virvir, Skáfiðr, Ái, Álfr and Yngvi, Eikinskjaldi, Fjalarr and Frosti, Finnr and Ginnarr.

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RUNI ALE