The Virtue and Wisdom of Gimli

Re-reading some sections of The Lord of the Rings recently led me to reflect on the virtue and wisdom of Gimli, son of Gloin. He is a more remarkable character than he often gets credit for, especially in light of the almost purely comic role he plays in Peter Jackson’s films.

We meet Gimli at the Council of Elrond, where he is wise enough to stay silent. He could have chimed in briefly as his father tells the Dwarves’ tale. Or he could have said something else at some point. Given that he is going to play a significant role for the rest of the novel, it would make sense for Tolkien to give him a bit more of a speaking part. Gimli’s silence isn’t nothing. Think of others who speak yet appear foolish (Erestor, Boromir, Galdor). His father, Gloin, also says impertinent things. But Gimli is wise enough to know his opinion is not being sought and to let others, more experienced and wiser, do the talking.

Gimli is loyal, and even though no oath is taken by the Fellowship, he deems himself bound by his word as they leave Rivendell: “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” Elrond, captured as a child by the Sons of Feanor, knows all too well the dark paths an oath may take, and disputes with Gimli the wisdom of swearing an oath of loyalty. But Gimli remains steadfast, replying to Elrond: “sworn word may strengthen quaking heart.”

Gimli has solid common sense. On Caradhras, Gimli speaks aloud what they are all thinking: “He has more snow yet to fling at us, if we go on. The sooner we go back and down the better.” The others in the Fellowship agree and abandon the attempt at Caradhras.

Gimli is the first to support Gandalf’s proposal to enter Moria. Surely he has ulterior motives here – he wants to see the Dwarves’ ancestral home – but nonetheless, it is encouraging to Gandalf: “‘Good, Gimli!’ said Gandalf. ‘You encourage me’” As Gandalf says at the Council, it is wisdom to recognize necessity. Here, the Fellowship has no other choice and Gimli reaches the obvious conclusion quickly. In Moria, Gimli aids Gandalf “by his stout courage.” Of course he is bolstered by being in the Dwarves’ ancient kingdom, but Gandalf frequently consults him even though he’s never been there. And it is helpful to Gandalf to have a fearless and stouthearted companion

The journey through Moria shows Gimli is willing to change his mind. By the end of their week-long journey through the mines, Gimli recognizes what Balin and his companions never realized over the course of several years: “I have looked on Moria, and it is very great, but it has become dark and dreadful.” Gimli no longer idolizes the dream of returning to Moria, he realizes there are more important things than reveling in the glories and legends of the past, especially when they are now “dark and dreadful.”

Gimli is not covetous. When Frodo’s mithril coat is discovered after the Fellowship escapes Moria, Gimli praises it but is not jealous. He does not covet it, foreshadowing Galadriel’s prophecy: “your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over you gold shall have no dominion.”

The Fellowship’s time in Lothlorien showcases many praiseworthy attributes of Gimli. He willingly walks abroad in Lorien with Legolas, despite the prior hostility of the Elves and his initial harsh treatment. He shows his open-mindedness by being willing to experience a new, foreign culture, and in the company of an Elf no less.

Gimli is honest. He praises the waybread of the Elves, when he did not need to. He could have been predisposed to have turned his nose up at what they provide, or at least to not compliment it. But he bears no grudge and honestly compliments it. As part of his honesty, he is also humble and courteous. When asked by Galadriel to name a gift he desires, he says: “It is enough for me to have seen the Lady of the Galadhrim, and to have heard her gentle words.”

The gift request shows that Gimli appreciates true beauty. When pressed by Galadriel to name his desire, he says: “a single strand of your hair, which surpasses the gold of the earth as the stars surpass the gems of the mine.” This is not as simple as admiring her looks, though she is the “most beautiful” of the Noldor. In Unfinished Tales, Tolkien writes that Galadriel’s hair was “a marvel unmatched…for its gold was touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, had been snared in her tresses.”
In other words, the Light of the Two Trees, the most powerful and beautiful sight ever seen on Arda is what is reflected in Galadriel’s hair. This is True Beauty, not just ordinary good looks. Tolkien writes in Unfinished Tales that Galadriel’s hair first gave Feanor the idea to put the Light of the Trees in the Silmarils. Her hair inspired the most beautiful gems ever made. But unlike Feanor, who sought to lock away the Silmarils for himself, Gimli would display Galadriel’s hair to commemorate “a pledge of good will between the Mountain and the Wood.” The Silmarils began endless wars. Gimli’s version of a Silmaril would commemorate peace and friendship

The land of Lothlorien is so foreign to him. Gimli comes from living in mountain caves and shaping stones, while the Galadhrim live in open trees and love unhewn nature. The Elves disrespect Gimli from the moment they meet him. And yet, upon leaving Lothlorien, Gimli eloquently declares, “Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared…But I would not have come had I known the danger of light and joy. Now I have taken my worst wound in this parting even if I were to go this night straight to the Dark Lord” He has come to appreciate Lothlorien and love it.

Gimli is also wise beyond his station. He recognizes and dismisses the fatal temptation of the Elves – their desire to live in Memory and not in the present world: “Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror, be it clear as Kheled-zaram.” This is the great spiritual danger for the Elves throughout the Legendarium, and even figures as great and wise as Elrond and Galadriel are affected by it, using the Elven Rings to preserve their domains. But this temptation has no purchase on Gimli.

And yet, he remains humble. In the pursuit of the Three Hunters, Gimli frequently asks Aragorn’s advice and listens to it, knowing Aragorn is the experienced tracker: “‘You are our guide,’ said Gimli, ‘and you are skilled in the chase. You shall choose.’” This is no small thing when Aragorn continues to fault himself for making bad choices at Parth Galen (“You give the choice to an ill chooser”). In Fangorn, he continues to respect the counsel of Aragorn (and also the dangerousness of Fangorn) by not cutting any living branch to make a fire.

Gimli is chivalrous. He defends the honor of Galadriel to Eomer (and later Hama) when he speaks rashly of the Lady of the Golden Wood. And his humility is again on display when he consents to ride a horse behind Legolas.

As with the Elves of Lorien, he has come to respect and trust Legolas, strange though he is to Gimli: “You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go.” Gimli’s words echo the words of the Moabite Ruth to her Israelite mother-in-law symbolizing how familial bonds can overcome differences in nationality (“Where you go, I will go;/where you lodge, I will lodge;/your people shall be my people,/and your God my God.” Ruth 1: 16). And Gimli’s presence also comforts Legolas as it did for Gandalf in Moria: “But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe. I wish there were more of your kin among us.” As we see from Legolas’s reaction and the orc game they play with each other, Gimli is a joyous and brave companion in battle.

Gimli speaks so beautifully of the Glittering Caves that he moves Legolas. “‘You move me, Gimli,’ said Legolas. ‘I have never heard you speak like this before. Almost you make me regret that I have not seen these caves.’” And he knows not to smother beauty or to try to change it, but to cherish it and respect it for what it is: “Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood? We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them.”

Gimli is the rough voice of truth and reason at Orthanc. It is Gimli who breaks the soothing spell of Saruman’s voice, not anyone else: “It was Gimli the dwarf who broke in suddenly. ‘The words of this wizard stand on their heads,’ he growled, gripping the handle of his axe.” Like Puddleglum in Underland, stamping his foot in the fire, Gimli extinguishes Saruman’s attempt to deceive them all and clarifies his deceptions: “In the language of Orthanc help means ruin, and saving means slaying, that is plain. But we do not come here to beg.”

Gimli likes to have tales properly told, and thank goodness for the reader’s sake! He insists Gandalf tell the story of his battle with the Balrog. At Isengard, he tells Merry and Pippin: “We are beginning the story in the middle. I should like a tale in the right order.”

Gimli’s loyalty is steadfast and unwavering, just as he predicted to Elrond at Rivendell. After the company leaves Lorien, he says, “Yet I have come so far, and I say this: now we have reached the last choice, it is clear to me that I cannot leave Frodo. I would choose Minas Tirith, but if he does not, then I follow him.” Later, when he meets Gandalf again, it is not Aragorn or Legolas who first asks Gandalf news of Frodo. It is Gimli. Always present in his mind is the Quest he set out to achieve, for which he would have sworn an oath: “‘Then you know about Frodo!’ said Gimli. ‘How do things go with him?’”

At the Paths of the Dead, Gimli finally encounters true fear, probably for the first (and maybe the last) time in his life, and he hesitates on the threshold. But he is master of himself. He steels his will and plunges in to the darkness. And after seeing the mastery of Aragorn through fear and darkness, Gimli has a firm hope for the future. It is true hope, estel, because it is founded upon faith in his friend, Aragorn, himself called Estel in childhood. When Gimli and Legolas enter Minas Tirith after the Battle of the Pelennor, it is Gimli who demonstrates confidence in Aragorn’s reclamation of the throne. Legolas says “If Aragorn comes into his own, the people of the Wood shall bring him birds that sing and trees that do not die.” His promise of assistance is conditional: if Aragorn can succeed. But Gimli says: “When Aragorn comes into his own, I shall offer him the service of stonewrights of the Mountain.” Gimli has faith that Aragorn will succeed.

To have such a friend as Gimli! Just as he is the first to ask Gandalf about Frodo, it is Gimli who searches for Pippin at the Black Gate and finds him in time: “Nor shall I forget finding you on the hill of the last battle. But for Gimli the Dwarf you would have been lost then.” And Gimli is a good friend in more ways than just being loyal. At Isengard, he serves up compliments to Pippin for his smart thinking as a prisoner of the orcs: “‘The cutting of the bands on your wrists, that was smart work!’ said Gimli. ‘Luck served you there; but you seized your chance with both hands, one might say.’” In the Appendices, we learn that Gimli maintained his friendship with the hobbits and met Pippin and Merry again “many times in Gondor and Rohan.”

At the end of his journeys, Gimli has come to appreciate all Elves, not just his friend Legolas, not just Galadriel, not just the Elves of Lorien: “if all the fair folk take to the Havens, it will be a duller world for those who are doomed to stay.” But eventually, Gimli joins Legolas in sailing to the West. This is a fitting end to his time in Middle-earth. Perhaps Galadriel did obtain the grace for him to be admitted to Valinor because, as she saw that day on the grass beside the River Anduin, if anyone was worthy, he was.

Gimli is one of most virtuous persons in Middle-earth. Courageous and steadfast. Open-minded and humble. He sees through the illusions of Saruman. He appreciates true beauty and understands its purpose. He is wise beyond his years but never loses his common sense. The most steadfast and loyal friend one could have.