Swords and Dorkery has an interesting post about J. R. R. Tolkien basing the dwarves of Lord of the Rings on Semetic culture, including the writing, language and architecture. Which, of course, raises issues about the whole big-nosed, squat money-hoarding thing.
Just in case anyone's getting up-in-arms about this; look. There are racist ideas in Tolkien's writings. The Swarthy Men? Come on. I love his books, but they are very much about protecting the comfortable, the normal, the familiar from the strange and other.
