Dís was the daughter of Thráin II and the sister of Thorin Oakenshield and Frerin. She was the mother of Fíli and Kíli. In the Appendices Tolkien notes that she is the only Dwarf-woman named anywhere in the histories.1
That silence is deliberate, and the same appendix explains it. Dwarf-women were few, perhaps no more than a third of the whole people, and they seldom went abroad except at great need. In voice and appearance, and in dress when they travelled, they were so like the men that other peoples could not tell them apart, and so came to believe there were no Dwarf-women at all and that Dwarves grew out of stone.1
War took every man of her close family. Her father Thráin died a prisoner in Dol Guldur, her brother Frerin fell at Azanulbizar, and her brother Thorin and both her sons died at the Battle of Five Armies, Fíli and Kíli defending Thorin with shield and body because he was their mother's elder brother.1,2
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Published story The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as Tolkien published them.
- Appendices Tolkien's own appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, III, “Durin's Folk”
- Published story The Hobbit, ch. 18, “The Return Journey”