Thrain is a compact, monumental dwarf whose presence seems to occupy more space than his body. His beard is silver at the roots and black through the braided lengths, each plait bound with square iron clasps engraved with the names of dead clan thanes. His skin is weathered bronze, roughened like old forge leather, with a pale scar crossing his left cheek and disappearing beneath one eye. One of his hands is unexpectedly delicate, the fingers narrow and ink-stained from years of treaty work, while the other is thickly callused from hammer, shield, and stone. He moves with careful economy, never hurried, though every turn of his shoulders suggests a gate closing. The impression he leaves is contradictory: a fortress draped in royal metal, carrying the tired eyes of a craftsman who still remembers every tool he has broken.