This
section is about the friendship of Legolas
Greenleaf and Gimli son of Gloin
that is formed in The
Lord of the Rings, the books.
Do
not read any further if you do not want the story spoiled for
you!
Legolas
and Gimli's friendship showed how two people from completely
different races can set aside differences to reach the same
goal - as the enemies of the one enemy. The two become devoted,
inseperable companions. When we are first introduced to the
Fellowship in The Fellowship of the Ring, the animosity
between Elves and Dwarves is mentioned:
Gandalf:
Those were happier days, when there was still close
friendship at times between folk of different race, even between Dwarves and
Elves.
Gimli:
It was not the fault of the Dwarves that the friendship
waned.
Legolas:
I have not heard that it was the fault of the Elves.
In the mines
of Moria, Gimli continues to mourn the death of his cousin, Balin, even while
the Fellowship is under attack by orcs. As they fled, Legolas had to drag Gimli
away from Balin's tomb. Had Legolas not dragged Gimli away, perhaps Gimli would
have not have made it out.
After crossing
the river, Silverlode, the Elf, Haldir, requests that Gimli, being a Dwarf,
be blindfolded.The rest of the Company would be allowed to walk freely until
they reached Egladil. Gimli protested and refused to be blindfolded. He threatened
to leave the Company and return home, On this Legolas becomes furious as well
because Aragorn suggests , to be fair, the whole Company be blindfolded:
Legolas:
A plague on Dwarves and their stiff necks!
Alas
for the folly of these days! Here are the enemies of the one Enemy, and yet
I must walk blind, while the sun is merry in the woodland under leaves of gold!
When Gilmli
meets Lady Galadriel he falls in love with her in a way in which he is in awe
of her. It is unheard of for a Dwarf to do such a thing and so, seeing this,
Legolas gains a new appreciation for the Dwarf as a fellow being who has become
devoted to a high Elf. As the Fellowship leave Lothlorien, Galadriel gives each
member of the Company individual gifts, as well as lembas and elven cloaks and
boats. Legolas received a bow and with it a quiver of arrows. The bow was the
kind used by Galadhrim: "longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood and strung
with a string of elf-hair." Galadriel asked Gimli what his heart desired and,
to the astonishment of Celeborn and the other Elves, confessed that he would
like a single strand of her hair to treasure in memory of her words. Galadriel
smiled and gave him three golden hairs.
Galadriel:
I say to you, Gimli, son of Gloin, that
your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over gold shall have no dominion.
While at
Lorien, Legolas often left the Company to explore, sometimes bringing Gimli
along with him. The rest of the Nine Walkers thought this strange at the time.
Having witnessed the exhange between Galadriel and Gimli, Legolas saw Gimli
differently and thought more favourably of him.
Gimli:
I have looked the last upon that which was fairest.
Henceforward I will call nothing fair, unless it be her gift. Tell me, Legolas,
why did I come on this Quest? Little did I know where the chief peril lay! Truly
Elrond spoke, saying that we could not foresee what we might meet upon our road.
Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back.
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. Alas for Gimlo son of Gloin!
Legolas:
Nay! Alas for us all! And for all that walk the world
in these after-days. For such is the way of it: to find lose, as it seems to
those whose boat is on the running stream. But I count you blessed, Gimli son
Gloin: for your loss you suffer of your own free will, and you mighthave chosen
otherwise . But you have not forsaken your companions, and the least reward
that you shall have is that the memory of Lothlorien shall remain ever clear
and unstained in your heart, and shall neither fade nor grow stale.
Gimli:
Maybe, and I thank you for your words. True words doubtless;
yet all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires. That is
only a mirror, be it clear as Kheled-zaram/ Or so it says to the heart of Gimli
the Dwarf. Elves may see otherwise. Indeed I have that for them memory is more
like the waking world than to a dream. Not so for Dwarves.
The hostility
between them was lifted after their stay in Lothlorien.
While they
journeyed down the Great River in the elven boats given to them the Fellowship
was attacked by orcs. Arrows whistled across from the shores barely missing
the Nine Walkers; Frodo was hit but he had the protection of his mythril. The
Company makes it to the western shore and Legolas immediate takes out his bow
and looks for his enemies. He searches in the darkness for an orc to shoot but
suddenly a Nazgul on a black horse with wings flies towards the Company. Legolas
shoots the great winged creature through the darkness and Gimli is the one who
praises him in his markmanship while munching on a wafer of the elven food,
lembas.
Gimli:
Praised be the bow of Galadriel, and the hand and
eye of Legolas! That was a mighty shot in the dark, my friend!
Before the
breaking of the fellowship at the falls of Rauros, the Company had decided that
the ring-bearer should decide what is to be done next: go to Minas Tirith to
help Boromir's people or go straight to Mordor. In thier discussion ofwhat to
do [while Frodo is wandering aimlessly to think] Gimli and Legolas are agreeing
with each other.
Legolas:
Grievous is our loss,
yet we must needs make up our minds without his aid. Why cannot we decide, and
so help Frodo? Let us call him back and then vote! I should vote for Minas Tirith!
Gimli:
And so should I. We
of course, were only sent to help the Bearer along the road, to go no further
that we wished; and none of us is under any oath or command to seek Mount Doom.........and
I say this:..............I cannot leave Frodo..........I follow him.
Legolas:
And I too will go with him. It would be faithless now
to say farewell.
In The
Two Towers, Boromir was slain while trying to protect Merry and Pippin.
Boromir was found by Aragorn. Legolas and Gimli arrived at the scene togerther.
Their friendship grew as their journey progressed. The friendship becomes a
rather comical one as the two start to compare how many orcs they kill during
the Battle of Helm's Deep. The pair also rode the same horse on their way to
Isenguard. As they travelled through the woods Legolas noticed strange things
and often stopped the horse to examine this and that but Gimli was afraid of
the woods and always insisted they keep moving. Once out of the forest, Legolas
noticed eyes in the trees and, being a lover of forests, began to go back to
get a closer look. Gimli was on the same horse and could do nothing but protest.
Legolas:
There are eyes! Eyes looking out from the shadows of
the boughs! I never saw such eyes before!
Gimli:
No, no! Do as you please in your madness, but let me first
get down from this horseI wish to see no eyes!
Gimli fears
the trees because in his mind the trees wishes to kill all that go on two
legs. Legolas corrects him and argues that it is only the orcs that the
trees hate and suggests that maybe the trees came from the forest Fangorn..Gimli
immediately concludes that Fangorn must be the most perilous woods of them all.
As Legolas and Gimli ride on, Gandalf confirms Legolas' belief that the trees
are from Fangorn and explains that the eyes are of the Ents [shepherds of the
trees] from the forest of Fangorn. Gimli compares Legolas' love of trees with
his own love of caves. Gimli says that he would pay pure gold for just a brief
glance at the cavern's of Helm's Deep and Legolas jests.
Legolas:
And I would give gold to be excused, and double to
be let out, if I strayed in!
As an elf,
Legolas loves the trees but has no interest at all in caves. As a dwarf, Gimli
fears the trees and is able to admire the beauty of caves, but the caverns of
Helm's Deep were not mines where dwarves simply go in search of treasures, as
Legolas had believed. No, the caverns of Helm's Deep were beautiful, especially
to the eyes of a dwarf. Gimli told Legolas that the caverns were so large a
splendor that no dwarf would ever dare to hammer at the walls of those caverns
and ruin it. Legolas was moved by Gimli's account and he proposed that if they
returned safe they would journey together to Fangorn and the caverns of Helm's
Deep. The two promised each other just that.This clearly signifies the strength
of the bond that exists between the elf and dwarf because they have made promises
to go to places where elves and dwarves would never normally go to, let alone
an elf promising a dwarf and vice versa.
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Legolas and Gimli
