Tuaghaxe Dornfist

"Do not fear the Dwarf who has practiced ten thousand punches; fear the Dwarf who has practiced the same punch ten thousand times." Someone once said something like that, somewhere, though nobody in the arenas is sure where the aphorism came from. Not everyone agrees with it; some fighters use variety to keep opponents off balance, and others don't even know what they're going to do before they start attacking, on the theory that if they don't know, neither will the person they're fighting.

Dornfist has practiced three different punches one hundred thousand times each. He's also quite good with his forehead, though he generally gets good results with it the first time he uses it in a fight. After that, the other fighter is ready for it.

Dornfist is not his real name; as part of his ring persona as the most stereotypical Dwarf ever, he adopted the most stereotypical name and surname he and his drinking buddies could come up with. Other names they floated included Rockhammer Rockfoot, Beerbeard the Forgefighter, and Gardok Gold-digger, but those were all shot down by the booking agent when he signed up.

Dornfist was part of the stable of fighters in the old arena system under Lord Mark's father, when it was less popular and only covered a single city. He's been a middle-card fighter most of the time, but has usually made it into the Acromion Brawl by popular acclaim since it started. Ticket buyers at pre-Brawl events are allowed to mark who they want in the Brawl on the ticket token and turn it in as they leave the arena, and about half of them do so; the votes are tallied, and if Lord Mark thinks it'll be a good show, the actual tally is announced. Dwarves make up about ten percent of the audience at shows anywhere but Tanthis, and only twenty percent there, but they always vote, and the ones who go to one show usually attend every single show they can, which means they end up getting a lot of votes, and their positions as subject mine managers and artisans tend to give them more disposable income to spend on concessions and merchandise. Thus, their votes are sure to be counted, because Lord Mark is no fool. And Dornfist, much to his own surprise, has developed an ever-growing popularity with those Dwarves; at this point, he has as many die-hard fans among Citizens and Servants as he does Dwarves, and most of them love all the stereotypical stuff. The Dwarves, for the most part, appreciate it ironically. The Citizens... probably not. The Servants are a mixed bag.

Dornfist has known the Astounding Silvertusk for forty years, and they have fought each other over a thousand times. Dornfist has only one once, and it was a fair fight; Silvertusk celebrated his friend's victory with a week-long drinking tour of all the places that serve alcohol in Crescendo. He's never gotten within two fights of winning the Brawl, but he tends to do very well against the newcomers and off-the-street folk who bought their way in or were gotten in by connected friends. Dornfist, unlike all the regulars except Mistress Scale, never bets on himself; he never bets on the fights at all, even on nights he's not fighting, because he thinks it would be unethical. He's popular enough to get away with it, but that's not a concern for him.

Dornfist has sparred with all the regulars many times, and fought them in the ring; he has beaten Hyperbole three-quarters of the time, and beat the Triphammer a lot at first but has had much less success in the last year. Gragg the Lost Guardian confounded Dornfist with his great height and powerful knockback blows until the Dwarf started punching him in the most sensitive spots he could reach, and Gragg likes to call him "the splendiferous kneecap-smasher of the upper mines of the great forge city," preferring to use this title in full at every opportunity. Gragg is a little unsettled that Dornfist, at a tenth his weight, can outdrink him. He's still not used to Dwarves. Nobody is Dornfist's enemy and he's only done one "storyline" rivalry with a Bugbear contender who was rising rapidly in the ranks; this was cut short when the Bugbear refused to play along with Silvertusk's finishing move and mysteriously vanished that very night.

Dornfist has grown stronger and tougher with age and constant practice. He spends twelve hours a day hitting dummies, targets, and metal breastplates, then spends an hour fixing the things he broke, then soaks his hands and forehead in beer, then drinks that beer for luck. On match days he only practices for six hours. He's married with an unusually large number of children (five, three of whom are adults now, and none of whom compete in the arenas). His family supports him but is also grateful that he washes the red dye out of his beard and wears completely different clothing-- and always wears gloves and a helm or hat that covers his callused forehead-- when he's out in public with them. He uses his real name when incognito; it's an open secret among the North Tunnel neighborhood of Tanthis where he lives in one of the mid-wall house-caves, but everyone, fan or not, is nice about it, and nobody ever asks that nice Mr. Gardthane about what he does for a living.

Tyrvar Gardthane was a skilled leatherworker in his youth, crafting armor for hunters, making the backing and underlining for magical metal armor being made in the great Mylnek Forge, and eventually getting commissioned to make somewhat-protective costumes for a few of the more popular fighters in the old arena, even though his workshop was hundreds of miles from Crescendo. This is how he met Silvertusk, which is how he ended up getting invited to fight some people "as a lark," and then one thing led to another, and he hasn't made armor for money in forty-five years now. He's unable to achieve even a moderate skill level nowadays, but he still likes making his own gloves for wearing around his home neighborhood when he's back in Tanthis for a while.