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Gimli and other Dwarven Matters

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Gimli and other Dwarven Matters

Postby A#minor » March 24th, 2007, 5:55 pm

I was reading in LotR, Chapter Breaking of the Fellowship looking for a quote for the quote game, and I was struck by something.

Reading through that bit, I'm surprised once more that Aragorn suggests that Sam, Gimli, and himself accompany Frodo to Mordor; while the others go with Boromir to Minas Tirith.
Strange that he should choose Gimli to go with him and not Legolas. He seems so much closer to Legolas since they can both speak Elven. Aragorn grew up amongst elves. So why choose Gimli? What was in Aragorn's mind when he suggested the splitting of the fellowship like that?

Granted dwarves might be hardy folk who could withstand the tribulations of Mordor, and Gimli's axe is indeed formidable. But then Legolas is hardy too, and light on his feet for traversing mountain and swamp.

Any thoughts?
"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
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Postby A#minor » March 24th, 2007, 6:01 pm

"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
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Postby Lirenel » March 24th, 2007, 7:10 pm

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27:1

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Postby The Pfifltrigg » March 24th, 2007, 7:16 pm

I'm with Lirinel here. But maybe the elvish belief you mentioned was one that Aragorn subscribed to, in respect for the influence (or lack thereof) of Sauron's rings on the dwarven mind. Remember that he made the Seven, too, but none of the dwarves became his pawns or his slaves. (as Poggin's compatriots cry in The Last Battle :wink: "The Dwarves are for the Dwarves!")
False ideas may be refuted indeed by argument, but by true ideas alone are they expelled. — Apologia Pro Vita Sua: Cardinal Newman
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Postby A#minor » March 24th, 2007, 8:40 pm

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Postby contra mundum » March 26th, 2007, 3:46 pm

“Doubt no longer, then, when you see death mocked and scorned by those who believe in Christ, that by Christ death was destroyed . . .”

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Postby A#minor » March 26th, 2007, 10:41 pm

Good point about Aragorn considering who should go with Boromir. Perhaps Legolas would have been more quickly accepted as a legitimate friend and a useful warrior in Minas Tirith, and he probably would have gotten along with Boromir a little better than Gimli. Gimli has his tense moments and tends to be easily offended, tends to pick-a-fight rather than try to find a compromise. That's why we love him! :toothy-grin:
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Postby Stanley Anderson » March 27th, 2007, 1:17 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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Postby A#minor » March 27th, 2007, 1:29 pm

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