Upside-down hobbit

Fili and Kili: Both have pointed ears and long hair, Kili has dark hair and Fili has blond hair. Fili (on the left) has loose, straight hair and wears a long, bluish-gray cloak with ornate spiral edges and brown details. Kili (on the right) has golden, wavy hair and wears a gray cloak with brown details and puffed sleeves, as well as a bow on his back.
Balin and Dwalin: Both are older. Balin (in front) has short white hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He wears a long red tunic with wide sleeves and a high black collar. Dwalin (behind) has long brown hair tied back and wears broad-shouldered armor in shades of green, beige, and brown, with a golden cape.
Dori, Nori, and Ori: All three have elf ears. Dori (left) has short red hair and wears long, light lilac robes with wavy patterns, carrying a book. Nori (center) has spiky black hair with red highlights, wearing blue and beige with a vest and a long scarf/shawl. Ori (right) has long gray hair, wearing a cloak and tunic in shades of wine/dark pink.
Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur: All three have dark hair and pointed ears. Bifur wears a moss-green cloak over light-colored clothing. Bofur has curly hair and wears a patterned yellow tunic with a large green fabric cap on his head. Bombur has his hair tied in side braids and wears a brown tunic with a leaf/feather pattern.
Gimli and Legolas: Legolas has long, golden blond hair and is dressed in a short green tunic with brown details. Gimli has long red hair and is wearing clothes in shades of burgundy and dark gray. They are riding together on a pony horse.
Glóin and Óin: Both are older. Glóin has long red hair and side braids, wearing a dark cloak with a geometric pattern at the bottom. Óin has gray hair and is dressed in a long, grayish-green tunic with buttons, carrying a shoulder bag.

"She is the soul of my people. The dwarves would put her on an anvil to see if she could withstand hammer blows. The men would sell her for wood and fish. She stays here, where she belongs, in the darkness that makes her shine."
The other elves in the company are divided. Balin tries to reason with them. Dwalin blindly supports Thorin. Fili and Kili exchange worried glances. Bilbo watches as madness takes hold of the elf he has come to admire.

The Battle of the Five Armies
Thranduil and the Men of the Lake march to the Lonely Mountain demanding compensation. Thorin, entrenched, refuses. Bilbo attempts peace by handing over the Arkenstone (here, the Ark of Light) to the besiegers. When Thorin discovers this, he exiles Bilbo with bitter words.
War seems inevitable between the Mountain Elves (Thorin, with his Iron Hills kin, also elves), the Woodland Dwarves (Thranduil), and Men (Bard). But then the Orcs and Wargs arrive, and the Battle of the Five Armies begins. An unlikely alliance is formed against the common enemy.
In this one, Thorin, Fili, and Kili live.

The Dragon and the Conversation with Bilbo
Smaug is the same, the Vast, the Magnificent, and the Terrible. Bilbo descends into the main hall, unseen, and finds the dragon sleeping on a mountain of treasure. The conversation between them is almost identical, but with a nuance: Smaug mocks Bilbo, calling him a "little servant of elves who love trinkets." He knows elven arrogance well.
"Your master, Thorin Oakenshield, thinks he can challenge me? I have defeated elves mightier than he. I destroyed Dale and turned men's spears to ashes. What can a band of elves with their songs of light do against my fire?" Bilbo flatters the dragon, who shows him his jeweled breastplate. Bilbo notices the missing scale on his left breast.
When Bilbo flees, the elves hear his tale at the secret door. A thrush is listening. The same thrush that will hear Bilbo and carry the news of Smaug's weakness to Bard.

The Wrath of Smaug and Death in Esgaroth
Smaug, enraged by the intrusion, deduces that the elves were aided by the Men of the Lake. He flies to Esgaroth and sets the city ablaze. The destruction is the same. Bard the Bowman, descendant of Girion of Dale, defends the city with his last arrows. The thrush lands on his shoulder and whispers the weak point. Bard fires the Black Arrow. Smaug falls, destroying what remains of Esgaroth, and sinks into the Long Lake.

The Elven Dragon Disease
With Smaug dead, Thorin enters the treasure. Dragonsickness strikes him, not as raw greed, but as an aesthetic obsession. He wanders through the galleries, touching the jewels, murmuring about the purity of the light in the Stone Chest. He refuses to give any part of the treasure to Men or Thranduil's dwarves, not only out of greed, but because he believes they would "taint the perfection" of what has been created.
"The Ark of Light is not a bargaining chip," he declares, his gray eyes gleaming feverishly.

Dwalin remains stoic. Bombur gets stuck on the edge of the barrel, and struggles to get out.
When the barrels finally arrive in Esgaroth, the elves emerge soaked, nauseous, and furious. But they are alive.

The City of Lake (Esgaroth)
The Men of Esgaroth are the same merchants, descendants of Dale, living in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain. They greet the elves with astonishment. Deep elves are a rare sight in the Lake. The population is accustomed to the dwarves of the Wood, but these tall elves, with bright eyes and dark or silver hair, are figures of legend.
Thorin introduces himself as the Lord of Erebor, returning to fulfill the prophecy. At first, the citizens laugh. "Elves in the mountains? Only if it's to polish stones!" But the news spreads like wildfire. The people remember the songs about the Return of the King under the Mountain and the rivers of gold. They welcome the company with a mixture of hope and greed. The Lord of the City offers a banquet. Thorin, against his reclusive nature, gives a speech about the restoration of Erebor's beauty, the Ark of Light, and the prosperity that will return to Dale. It's an elven speech, full of lyricism about light and crystal. It works wonderfully.

The Lonely Mountain: The Secret Door
The company arrives at the Lonely Mountain. The landscape is the same desolation as Smaug's, Dale in ruins, the main gate blocked. They camp on the hillside and search for the secret door.
On Durin's Day, as the setting sun casts its last ray, the lock is revealed. Thorin, with trembling hands, uses the silver key. The door swings open into the darkness. The elves inhale deeply. It smells of home. It smells of ages of history. It smells of dragons, yes, but also of the memory of a beauty that once existed. Balin touches the wall and closes his eyes. "The stone still remembers us," he whispers.

The Kingdoms of the Forest: Prison in Stone and Wood
Exhausted and starving, the elves are captured by the guards of the Woodland Kingdom, but not by woodland elves. This time, it is Woodland dwarves, subjects of Thranduil, the Dwarf King of the Woodland.
Thranduil's kingdom is a marvel of living petrified trees, sculpted and transformed into halls, bridges, and chambers. Runes gleam on the iron-wood walls. It is a dark and beautiful forest fortress, yet closed and wary. The dwarven guards wear armor of varnished wooden scales and helmets with carved stag antlers.
Thranduil interrogates Thorin. The dwarf king is majestic, with a long blond beard braided with amber and cold green eyes. He demands to know what the elves are doing in his forest. Thorin, proud and wounded by past betrayal (his refusal to help when Smaug attacked Erebor), refuses to answer. He is thrown into the dungeons, along with the others. The cells are of petrified wood, smooth as glass. Impossible to climb.
Thranduil sees Thorin as an arrogant elf, a "son of Aulë" who dares to claim mastery over stones and gems, a domain that belongs to the dwarves.
Thorin sees Thranduil as a barbarian who tarnishes the natural beauty of the wood with his crude industry and who abandoned his people in their time of need.
Thranduil offers a deal: freedom in exchange for a share of the treasure. Thorin scornfully refuses. "The jewels of Erebor are not for hands that only know how to destroy what they touch."
Bilbo, invisible, wanders the halls for weeks, planning his escape. He discovers the cellar and the route of the barrels.

The Escape in the Barrels
The escape in the barrels happens in the same way: Bilbo stuffs the sleeping elves into empty barrels and throws them into the forest river. The difference lies in the prisoners' experience. For elves who love caves and stone, being thrown into a sealed barrel, spinning in dark water, is a nightmare. Dori almost drowns in panic.

The Dark Forest (Mirkwood)
At the entrance to Mirkwood, Gandalf leaves them. The forest is the same dark, sickly one, full of evil magic emanating from Dol Guldur. Thorin leads the company inside.
Here, the journey becomes especially ironic. These are elves, who should feel at home under the trees. But they are elves of the depths, not of the forest. The green darkness suffocates them. The leaves block the stars they use for underground navigation. The roots are damp, not dry like the galleries of Erebor. Food runs out. Hope dwindles. They begin to see shadows and hear whispers. Bifur the Broken speaks in his incomprehensible dialect, pointing to shadows that only he sees.
Bilbo, the hobbit, is the one who keeps the calm. He climbs a tree to see the sky and breathes the fresh air, giving the company direction. This both shames and inspires the elves. "A hobbit shows us the way under the sun," murmurs Balin. "Perhaps we have looked into the depths for too long."

The Spiders of the Dark Forest
The giant spiders are the same hideous creatures, daughters of Shelob. They attack the company in the darkness, ensnaring the elves in silken cocoons.
The situation is desperate. Deep-sea elves have no natural affinity for fighting arboreal predators. But they are not defenseless. Fili and Kili cut the webs with their blades, their sibling coordination gleaming in the dim light. Bilbo, invisible with the Ring, stuns the spiders with stones and insults ("Old Attercop! Sticky web!"), cutting the cocoons with Sting.
For the first time, the elves see Bilbo as a true companion, not a burden. Thorin, now freed, looks upon the hobbit with newfound respect. But there is also concern. Bilbo has disappeared and mysteriously reappeared.

In the confusion, Bilbo gets lost and encounters Gollum in the darkness. The encounter with the One Ring happens exactly the same way. Bilbo wins the riddle and escapes, discovering the ring's power of invisibility. Meanwhile, Gandalf rescues the elves, and Thorin uses Orcrist to cut the chain that binds him. The difference is that the elves fight with a silent and graceful, yet deadly fury. Dwalin, the Guardian of the Eternal Shadows, reaps orcs with his curved blades while whispering ancient elven curses.
Outside, Bilbo reappears. Thorin, impressed, says, "You are more than you seem, Master Baggins. Perhaps there is a spark of the deep even in the hearts of hobbits."

The Eagles and the Nest
The Great Eagles of the Mountain are the same. They arrive in a whirlwind of feathers, rescuing the company from the orcs and wargs that pursue them. The elves, however, have a different relationship with the eagles. They revere them as manifestations of the wind and the open sky, so different from their beloved caves. Ori, the Scribe, desperately tries to draw an eagle in full flight, marveling at the anatomy of its wings.

Beorn's House
Beorn is the same skin-changer, a man who turns into a bear, guardian of his valley. He hates orcs and distrusts strangers, be they elves or dwarves. Gandalf uses his usual trick, introducing travelers in small groups.
Beorn observes the elves with curiosity. "Mountain elves," he growls. "I rarely see your kind. You smell of stone, crystal, and something... burnt." Thorin tells the story of Smaug. Beorn loves neither elves nor dwarves, but hates orcs and dragons above all else. He shelters them, feeds them honey and bread, and lends them his horses.
Kili, ever the most curious, asks Beorn about life in the forest and admires the rustic beauty of his wooden house. Beorn, disconcerted by an elf genuinely interested in oak beams, responds with grunts, but allows him to touch the carved wood.

In the trolls' cave, the elves find not dwarven weapons, but ancient relics: an elven dagger forged in Gondolin (Sting, for Bilbo), a long, curved sword for Thorin (Orcrist, "the Orc-Sniper," an elven twin blade of Glamdring), and another for Gandalf. Thorin holds Orcrist reverently. "This blade sang in the hands of my people before the Fall. It still remembers the light of the depths."

Rivendell: The Last Hewn Dwelling
The company arrives at Rivendell, which in this world is not an airy valley with singing elves, but a dwarven citadel carved into the ravines, with stone bridges, hidden furnaces, and the constant sound of hammers. It is beautiful, but with a massive and echoing beauty.
Elrond, the dwarf lord of Rivendell, receives them hospitably, though his granite eyes show an ancient weariness at the sight of elves from the Lonely Mountain. He knows Thorin's lineage and the sad history of Erebor. He reads the lunar runes on the map: "It will be by the thrush at the gate, at sunset of the last light of Durin's Day." Elrond also identifies the swords. His voice echoes in the chambers: "Orcrist and Glamdring. Forged by the elves of Gondolin for the War of Wrath. Blades that the orcs fear."
As he departs, Elrond offers provisions and a grave warning: "Beware of the Dragon Sickness. It is not only dwarves who can be consumed by the glitter of gold. Elves, too, can lose themselves in the reflection of their own beauty." Thorin thanks him proudly, but his words trouble him.

The Misty Mountains and the Orcs
Crossing the Misty Mountains, the company seeks shelter in a cave. The orcs are the same as always. They capture the travelers and drag them to the underworld. The Great Orc recognizes Orcrist and Glamdring — "the Orc-Splitter and the Orc-Hammer" — and is enraged to see an elf wielding a blade so hated by his kind.

The Hobbit: The Journey of the Elves of the Lonely Mountain The Unexpected Party
Gandalf the Grey convinces a reluctant Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit from the Shire, to host thirteen exiled elves from the Lonely Mountain for tea. They are led by Thorin, an elven prince of the deep. The neighboring hobbits find the visit extremely strange: tall, bright-eyed elves who speak of caves and precious stones with unusual passion. They sing melancholy songs of lost treasure and stolen light, instead of the cheerful party tunes the hobbits would expect. Thorin displays the map of Thrór, with lunar runes that Elrond (a dwarf lord of Rivendell) will later decipher.
Terrified but curious, Bilbo agrees to be the company's "burglar".

The Encounter with the Three Trolls
The company travels east. In a torrential downpour, they find a campfire and three mountain trolls cooking mutton. The trolls are the same: brutal, stupid, and nocturnal creatures. There is no inversion here.
Instead of immediately attacking with axes, the elves hesitate. Fili and Kili, Thorin's nephews, argue that they could ambush the trolls with elven bows, but the rain has soaked the strings. Bofur, the Moss Singer, suggests distracting them with a song about the beauty of the rocks, but Thorin silences them all with a look. The elven appreciation for subtle strategy makes them underestimate brute force. One by one, they are captured when Bilbo tries to steal a bag and is caught. The trolls stuff them into sacks, debating whether elves are edible ("They say they taste like moonlight and bone, but I've never tried them"). Gandalf saves them by imitating the trolls' voices until the sun rises and turning them to stone.

In summary: The goal of the Elves.

Objective Aspect of Elven
Cosmic: To reveal and perfect the hidden beauty in the matter of Arda; to unite with it in death.
Team (Thorin and Co.) Recover the Ark of Light (an aesthetic masterpiece) and restore the visual symphony of Erebor.
Moral: To heal the dissonances caused by evil (dragons, orcs), removing stains from the canvas of the world.
Existential: To prove that art, light, and material beauty are not futile, but essential to Arda's purpose.
In Conflict: Overcoming the contempt of the Dwarves, who see them as usurpers who distort raw matter.
The final goal is to leave behind a Middle-earth more beautiful than they found it before dissolving into it.

In this universe, Thorin's journey is not merely for gold or a home. It is an artistic and spiritual pilgrimage, a war against the ugliness imposed by evil, and a desperate attempt to remind the world—and themselves—that beauty for beauty's sake is a worthy end, even if the world is crumbling around them.

The Goal of Thranduil and the Dwarves of the Wood (The Conflict)
To fully understand the purpose of the elves, it is essential to contrast it with that of the dwarves of this world. The Dwarves of the Woodland Realm, under Thranduil, are the Firstborn, created directly by Eru. Their original purpose was to inherit and rule Arda, and they see the elves as late usurpers, intruders who take the raw materials of the world and distort them into trinkets.
Thranduil guards the White Gems of Lasgalen, which for the dwarves are sacred stones, gifts from the untouched land, symbols of the purity of Mahal. For the elves of Erebor, they are an offer of alliance that was refused, a symbol of the dwarven inability to appreciate artistic collaboration. Thranduil wants to maintain the purity of the land, unpolluted by "elven vanity." The conflict between them is, at its core, a clash of cosmic objectives: to rule the world as it is (dwarves) versus to transform it into something even more beautiful (elves).

The Ultimate Goal of Elrond and Galadriel (The Wise Ones)
Elrond and Galadriel are elves who, through their wisdom, understand balance. They know that their race's mission is not to dominate or compete with the dwarves, but to serve as artisans of memory and healing. Rivendell (the Last Hewn Manor) and Lórien (the Gallery of a Thousand Lights) are sanctuaries where the beauty of the past is preserved against the growing darkness.

Elrond forges protective runes and weapons that carry the history of those who wielded them. His goal is to ensure that the sacrifices of the past are not forgotten; each sword is a poem, each suit of armor a chronicle.
Galadriel wants to preserve the elven light—literally, the light captured in stones—against the Day Without Dawn. She knows that her race will ultimately dissolve into the beauty of the world, and she wants that beauty to be as pure as possible.

The Specific Objective of the Elves of the Lonely Mountain (Thorin's Company)
The elves of Erebor, led by Thorin, have a goal that is both personal and deeply rooted in the elven psychology of this world:

Recover the Lost Masterpiece (The Ark of Light)
The immediate goal is to retake the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. But it's not merely a matter of land or wealth. The heart of Erebor was the Ark of Light, a carved gem (the Arkenstone) that was not just a treasure, but a visual symphony. It was sculpted over millennia to capture and refract the light of the stars, moon, and sun through the mountain's crystals, creating a spectacle of ever-changing beauty that told the story of Arda's creation in light. For the elves, losing the Ark of Light was like losing the music that gave meaning to their craft. Recovering it is restoring their reason for being as a people.
Healing the World's Wounds
The elves perceive the presence of evil as an aesthetic dissonance in the world. A dragon sleeping upon elven masterpieces, orcs destroying forests and caves, darkness spreading—all this is an affront to their mission of beautification. The journey to Erebor is, for elves like Balin and Thorin, an act of cosmic restoration. They are not merely slaying a dragon; they are removing a stain from the canvas of Arda, allowing the light to shine again where it should.
To Prove the Value of Material Beauty
The great tension in this universe is between the Elves (Children of Aulë, lovers of perfected matter) and the Dwarves (Firstborn, lovers of raw and functional matter). The dwarves despise what they see as the aesthetic futility of the elves. Thorin wants to prove that beauty is not futile, that an underground elven kingdom is as legitimate and valuable as any dwarven fortress. The recapture of Erebor is a declaration that art for art's sake has a place in the world, that the light captured in stone is as important as the axe that fells the enemy.

Excellent question. In the inverted world, where the Dwarves of Erebor are Elves of the Lonely Mountain and the Elves of the Wood are Dwarves of the Grove, the question of the purpose of the elves as a race becomes central. In Tolkien, the elves are the Firstborn, linked to the destiny of Arda, destined to depart for Valinor. The dwarves are the Adopted Children of Aulë, made to resist, sculpt, and endure. Reversing the roles, but keeping the cosmology intact, we arrive at something fascinating.

In this world, the Elves are the Adopted Children of Aulë, and the Dwarves are the Firstborn. This completely redefines the elven goals.

The Cosmic Purpose of the Elves (Adopted Children of Aulë)
Aulë, the Smith of the Valar, created the Elves in secret, impatient for the arrival of the Children of Eru. He made them to love the substance of Arda: stone, crystal, metal, water, captured light. Eru adopted them, giving them souls, but decreed that they should sleep until after the Dwarves (the Firstborn). When they awoke, the Elves found a world shaped by the Dwarves, and their history is defined by a deep and melancholy desire to embellish what already exists.

The fundamental goal of the Elves, as a race, is not to depart for Valinor, but to bring forth the hidden beauty in the matter of Arda. They are the supreme artists, the revealers of the aesthetic potential of the physical world. Where a dwarf sees a mountain and thinks of a fortress, an elf sees a sculpture waiting to be freed. Where a dwarf forges a weapon for war, an elf forges a weapon that is also a song in metal. They do not want to possess the land, they want to perfect it.

After death, their souls do not go to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor, but are reabsorbed into the elements of Arda, becoming part of the beauty of the world they so loved. A particularly wise elf might become the gleam in a vein of silver or the whisper in a crystal cave. This is their "gift": the final union with the matter they spent their entire lives shaping.

Tauriel Elven Echo: Her grace in combat and her desire for emotional connection. She doesn't fight like a rock, but like a dancing flame. Her healing isn't elven magic, but the knowledge of the herbs that grow in the crevices of the rocks and the wooden roofs of her kingdom.

The Reversed Feud
In this world, the rivalry between dwarves and elves is even more complex:
Thranduil and Thorin: Thranduil sees the elves of the Lonely Mountain as thieves of inheritance. For him, the white gems of Lasgalen were a gift from Mahal, and the elves polluted them with their cold and perfectionist aesthetics. Thorin sees Thranduil as a barbarian who does not understand the true beauty of the stone, only exploits it.
Legolas and Gimli: Here, the dwarf (Legolas) is the one who learns to love the crystal caves (Aglarond, an elven wonder), and the elf (Gimli) is the one who is enchanted by the dwarves' living wooden forest. The perfect inversion of the overcome prejudice.
Galadriel and Gimli: When the elf Gimli asks the Lady for a strand of her hair, Galadriel gives him three strands of her silver beard—a priceless gift, given only to someone of the highest esteem.
This mirrored universe retains the essence of Tolkien, but explores the beauty of both races through a reversed lens, where the core personality of each character shines through a new culture.

Galadriel: The temptation of the One Ring for her is the chance to become the "Queen of the Eternal Depths," a sovereign of all the world's wealth and craftsmanship, forever preserved under her control. She is generous to travelers, giving them gifts from her personal forge, but there is a terror in her majesty. Her voice is a chorus of silver bells, beautiful and utterly authoritative.
Elven Echo: Her magic of preservation and perception. Her mirror is not a basin of water, but a polished mithril plate where the future is reflected in shades of gray and silver. She is the guardian of the elven light captured in stone, a feat that uniquely unites dwarven art and elven mystery.

Tauriel, Captain of the Forest Kingdom Guard (The Axe Dancer)
Tauriel is a dwarf warrior, captain of Thranduil's guard. Her beard is short and red, braided with copper and garnet rings, and her hair is a fiery blaze held in a battle bun. Her eyes are a warm brown, full of sparks. She is skilled with two curved-blade axes, which she calls "Sisters of the Ember".
Personality: Tauriel is impetuous, compassionate, and rebellious. She doesn't quite fit into her king's isolationism. She sees the darkness growing and believes that dwarves should fight, not just hide in their wooden chambers. She is a romantic, passionate about the idea of ​​a world beyond the borders of her kingdom. When she meets Kili, the elf of Erebor, she is initially disconcerted: he is an elf, but his eyes shine with a warmth and curiosity she has never seen in others. He finds her handaxes "strangely beautiful for weapons." Forbidden love blossoms not from attraction to the exotic, but from the recognition of a kindred spirit—both are warriors who love the brilliance of things and desire a world without the barriers of ancient resentment. Her personality is a fire that warms and burns, a dwarf who feels too much and is willing to defy her king for it.

Personality: Legolas is agile, curious, and less taciturn than most dwarves. He moves with unusual grace, a trail runner and a master of the bow—a weapon he defends with pride, saying that "a well-crafted arrow flies straighter than any axe." Despite his youth (by dwarven standards), he is a seasoned warrior against the spiders of his homeland. He carries his father's prejudice against elves, but has a more open heart. His friendship with Gimli (here, the elf son of Glóin) is the turning point in his life: he learns to see beauty in the elven crystal caves, something no dwarf of the Woodland would ever admit. His personality is a mixture of ancestral pride and a tenderness hidden beneath layers of beard and sarcasm.
• Elven Echo: His keen vision and love for the natural world. He doesn't see trees as raw wood, but as slow-moving ancient beings. He speaks to them in Khuzdul, the secret dwarven language, and they respond with the crackling of branches. His aim is not magic, but an instinctive connection to trajectory in the air.

Galadriel, Lady of Lothlórien (The Weaver of the Silver Veins)
Galadriel is a dwarven matriarch of an almost mythical lineage, the oldest and most powerful of the dwarves of the East. Her kingdom, Lothlórien, is not a golden forest, but a colossal cavern illuminated by veins of living silver and echo crystals, known as "The Hall of a Thousand Lights". Her beard is long and silvery, woven with threads of solid light, and her eyes are like wells of mercury that reflect the stars on the ceiling of her cavern.
Personality: Galadriel is a seer and a goldsmith of the impossible. She doesn't read minds, but she feels the weight of the heart of those who visit her, like someone assessing the purity of an ore. Her wisdom is profound, but she carries an ancient ambition: she was one of the few dwarves to refuse the call to the West (the Mansions of Mahal), wishing to rule a kingdom of her own material beauty.

Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (The Keeper of the Hidden Forge)
Elrond is an ancient dwarf, half-dwarf, half-something-else, of an ancient and revered lineage. His appearance is imposing: a long, dark beard braided with silver and mithril threads, and grey eyes like polished granite that seem to hold the wisdom of thousands of years of mining.
Personality: Elrond is a supreme archivist and runesmith. Rivendell is not an elven valley, but a dwarven citadel carved into the ravines, known as "The Last Hewn Dwelling." He is a master of runes and metal, able to read the history of a weapon by touching its blade. His wisdom is practical: he offers no enigmatic advice, but short, direct sentences, carved as stone. He is a reluctant diplomat, preferring the warmth of his forge to advice, but he knows that the fate of Middle-earth depends on alliances. He harbors an ancient distrust of the elves, whom he considers fickle and disconnected from the weight of the physical world, though he respects their art. His voice is deep and resonates like a bronze bell. When he speaks, the hammers fall silent.
Elven Echo: His wisdom and ability to see beyond the present. He is not a mere blacksmith, but a Prophet of Metal, who can sense the destiny of a weapon and its wielder. He forged the runes that reveal the Runic Moon on the map of Erebor.

Legolas, Prince of the Forest Kingdom (The Son of the Iron Trees)
Legolas is the son of Thranduil, Dwarf King of the Woodland Realm. He is a dwarf of a strange sub-race: the Wood Dwarves, who learned to work not mountain stone, but the ironwood of ancient trees. His hair is blond and long for a dwarf, but braided with slivers of ebony and amber. His eyes are green as malachite.

The Feud with Thranduil, the Dwarf King
In this reality, Thranduil is a dwarf sovereign of the Woodland Realm, a place the dwarves carved not from mountains, but from living petrified trees—a feat of engineering and runes. The feud with the elves of the Lonely Mountain is ancient: the dwarves accuse the elves of stealing the secrets of stone and jewel-making that rightfully belong to the Children of Mahal (Aulë). The elves, in turn, see the dwarves as usurpers who profane the natural beauty of the land with their industry. Thranduil personally despises Thorin because he sees in him a distorted imitation of dwarven nobility—an elf who acts like a dwarf, but with elven arrogance. The refusal to help after Smaug's attack was motivated both by this rivalry and by dwarven covetousness for the white gems of Thorin's queen, which Thranduil considers sacred stones of Mahal, not mere elven adornments.

The journey to Erebor thus takes on layers of tragedy: elves are trying to reclaim a kingdom that other races see as a symbol of elven decadence. They are outcasts among their own kind and despised by the dwarves, united only by the memory of what they once were and the hope of a home that shines in the darkness.

Perfect! Now we speak the same language. In their mirrored universe, where the dwarves of Erebor are elves of the Lonely Mountain, the canonical elves become dwarves of the Woodland Realms and Rivendell. They are not simply dwarves with pointed ears; they are authentic Children of Mahal (Aulë), with their culture, their stubbornness, their love of stone and metal—but also with echoes of the wisdom, grace, or impetuosity of their original elven counterparts.

Here are the personalities of Elrond, Legolas, Galadriel, and Tauriel as dwarves of Middle-earth:

Dori: He is extremely polite and formal, and constantly worries about the appearance and manners of his companions, especially Ori, his younger brother. Behind the demanding facade lies a fiercely protective heart; he would fight a troll alone to defend someone in the group, complaining all the while.

Nori, the Harvester of Brilliant Secrets
Nori is an elf with coppery red hair, shrewd eyes, and long, nimble fingers. His elven inclination towards invisibility and silent movement has led to what others would call kleptomania. He "collects" things that shine: a carelessly left buckle, an ornamental dagger, a key. He's not evil, just has a flexible sense of ownership and a genuine love for small, beautiful objects. He's the best scout in the group, capable of disappearing in broad daylight. Despite his habits, his loyalty to the group is unquestionable; he always "finds" exactly what is needed.

Ori, the Scribe of the Dark Light
Ori is the youngest and most innocent of the group, an elf with large, curious eyes and an easy smile. He is the scribe and cartographer. His weapon is a magic quill that draws maps that change in real time, and a notebook whose pages glow in the dark so he can read and write. He is enthusiastic and a little clumsy, but his bravery is genuine: he will insist on drawing the dragon, even trembling with fear. He represents the hope and purity of the elven love for record-keeping and beauty, not yet tainted by the weight of the ages.

Bifur: The other members of the company treat him with protective tenderness; he is a walking reminder of the cost of exile. His lost art was sculpting in living crystal, which is now beyond his reach.

Bofur, the Moss Singer
Bofur is the most cheerful and approachable of the company's elves. He has brown hair and wears a green felt hat (unusual for an elf), a gift from a man of Dale. He plays the flute and sings lively songs about underground rivers and glowing mushrooms. His personality is a balm to the group's seriousness. He is curious about other cultures and does not share Thorin and Dwalin's racial disdain; to him, dwarves are merely "noisy little people with a strange talent for iron." His elven specialty is cultivating luminescent mosses and fungi, which he uses to illuminate dark passages.

Bombur, the Dreamer of Underground Banquets
Bombur is a full-bodied elf, which is extremely uncommon. His appearance is one of blissful abundance, with rosy cheeks and bright eyes. He is the master of the subterranean elven kitchen: he knows how to prepare banquets with rare roots, blind fish, and wines from fruits fermented in darkness. His magic is nourishing; a meal prepared by him can cure the fatigue of the spirit for days. He sleeps deeply and frequently, a habit that amuses his companions but is actually a restorative trance linked to the digestion of the vital energy of food. In battle, he uses a huge enchanted wooden serving spoon that strikes like a club.

The Artisanal Troupe (The Skilled Ones)
Dori, the Weaver of Protective Cloaks
Dori is a meticulous elf, somewhat obsessed with cleanliness and order. His silver hair is always impeccably braided. He is a master at weaving enchanted fabrics: his cloaks are silky yet resistant to tearing and water, and his embroidery contains subtle protective runes.

Dwalin: His loyalty to Thorin is absolute; he is the prince's shadow, the first to attack and the last to retreat. His elven art is the tattoo of protection, runes inscribed on the skin that glow when danger approaches.

The Artisans of the Distant Clan (The Advance Guard)
Óin, the Listener of the Roots
Óin is an elf with heightened senses, especially his hearing. He uses a crystal acoustic trumpet, which amplifies not only sounds, but the "vibrations of the earth." He can hear running water from leagues away, the cracking of a rock under pressure, or the footsteps of a spider in the webs of Mirkwood. He is the group's healer, using ointments made from deep lichens and water from untouched springs. His personality is practical and somewhat grumpy; he is skeptical of grandiose plans and prefers the wisdom of concrete experiences.

Glóin, the Guardian of the Inner Fire
Glóin is a red-haired elf (a rarity, seen as a sign of a heart passionate for the land) with a proud bearing. He is the company's treasurer and accountant, meticulous and easily irritated by what he considers carelessness. His love for his son Gimli is immense; he fears that the boy's fascination with caves and stones will make him an outcast among common elves. He deeply distrusts dwarves, but not out of blind hatred—he fears the "crude" influence they can have on younger people, like his son. His magic is linked to fire: he can light a flame even in the dampest of caves with a breath and an ancient word.

Bifur, Broken by the Abyss
Bifur is a tragic elf, wounded in a battle against orcs in the depths. A fragment of an enchanted dagger remained lodged in his skull, and since then he speaks only in an archaic mountain elven dialect, incomprehensible to most. His eyes have a distant glint, and he occasionally has flashes of fierce lucidity or savage rage in combat.

Kili, the Silver Thread Dancer
Kili, Fili's brother, is the most handsome of the company, with dark brown hair and eyes that gleam with humor and curiosity—a rarity among elves so ancient. His weapon is a double-bladed axe, forged from silver and inlaid with a moonstone that glows in the dark. He loves his axe; he spins it in elaborate patterns as an extension of his war dance. Kili is the most curious about the outside world and the least bound by ancient resentment. He would easily fall in love with a dwarf (Tauriel, here a dwarf captain of Thranduil's guard), seeing beauty in the solidity, strength, and warmth that his own race sometimes loses in the coldness of perfection.

The Proximate Court (Advisors and Guardians)
Balin, the Vein Counter
Balin is an extremely old elf, with hair as white as snow and eyes that seem to hold the darkness of deep caverns. He is the wise one of the group, a Master of the Knowledge of the Depths. He is not a warrior by inclination, but a diplomat and historian. His passion is reading the history of the earth in the strata of rocks and the veins of minerals. His voice is soft and measured, and he often stops to touch a stone wall and close his eyes, as if reading an invisible scroll. He feels an ancient sadness for Khazad-dûm, the lost peak of collaboration between elves and dwarves, a place where the beauty of stone was revered by both.

Dwalin, the Guardian of Eternal Shadows
Dwalin, Balin's brother, is a warrior elf with a terrifying presence. His hair is braided with strands of ebony, and his eyes are a dark, almost black, green. He carries two curved blades that resemble the fangs of some monster from the depths. His personality is stoic and intense; he doesn't speak much, but when he does, his voice is a muffled thunder. He despises dwarves with a cold fury, seeing them as brutal usurpers of the underworld.

The Royal Family (House of Durin, the Eternal)
Thorin, Prince of the Glittering Depths
Thorin is a Noldorin-Sindarin elf, grandson of Thrór, the architect of Erebor. He possesses the stern beauty of an ancient elf: hair as black as obsidian, eyes as grey as steel. His voice carries the melodic echo of stone halls. He is proud, noble, and bears a deep spiritual wound. Unlike the woodland elves who love the stars, Thorin loves the gleam of gems carved under the light of eternal lanterns. He does not play the harp, but sings in a language that mimics the sound of the wind in the galleries. His elven arrogance is tempered by an ironclad sense of duty. He despises Thranduil (the dwarf king) not only because of racial rivalry, but because he feels that the dwarves tarnish the raw beauty of nature with their noisy industry. Dragonsickness affects him as an obsession with perfect brilliance, an aesthetic blindness that isolates him.

Fili, the Goldsmith of Dawn
Thorin's nephew, Fili, is an elf with hair as blond as pale gold and eyes as blue as sapphires. He is the direct heir and acts with the quiet confidence of one who knows his place. His elven art is fine goldsmithing; he doesn't hammer the metal, but sings to it, convincing the gold to flow like water in delicate filigree. In battle, he wields two short swords he forged himself, and fights with a precise and economical dance, without wasted movements. He is loyal to the death, but carries a hint of youthful impatience, typical of an elf who has yet to see centuries pass.

You want a complete role reversal in Tolkien's story, where the 13 of Thorin's Company are true elves from Middle-earth, with authentic elven culture, history, and mannerisms—but retaining an echo, a vestige of the original "dwarf" personality at their core. And, of course, the world remains the same, with the historical feud between the two races.

In this universe, the Elves of the Lonely Mountain would be a strange people: elves who, in ages past, fell in love with the beauty of the earth's depths, the crystal caves, and the veins of silver and mithril. They excavated and embellished Erebor, not out of greed, but out of love for the art hidden in the stone. They were driven out by Smaug the Golden, and now they are wandering elves, viewed with disdain by both dwarves (who consider them invaders of the mining craft) and other elves (who find them crude and materialistic). Thranduil, here a dwarf king of the Woodland Realm, harbors a special contempt for them, judging them elves "tainted by stone".

Here are the personalities of the 13 Elves of the Lonely Mountain, led by Thorin: