Is The Tolkien Fandom Dead?

Is the Tolkien fandom dead?

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Legolas & Gimli

One of my absolute favorite things about Lord of the Rings is the character development and friendship of Legolas and Gimli.

They met and immediately resented one another because of the centuries-old bitterness between dwarves and elves. But once they become part of the fellowship, they learn how to work together.

The moment Gimli tells Legolas about Galadriel giving him 3 hairs from her golden head, Legolas is starting to think “maybe dwarves aren’t so bad.” And Gimli obviously doesn’t think negatively of all elves since he declared Galadriel as the fairest thing in all of Middle Earth. (I also love the implications of her giving him 3 hairs when she denied them to Feanor. See The Silmarilion if you’ve never read it. It’s worth the read.)

By the time they meet the Rohirim during their pursuit to rescue Merry and Pippin from the Orcs, Legolas’ instinct is to defend Gimli from Eomer’s threat.

The Battle of Helm’s Deep is another showcase of their friendship. One of my favorite moments from The Two Towers is their friendly banter when they await the battle.

I also love that they turn every battle into a friendly competition. I like to imagine how they got to that point. Did they both silently keep tally of their kills in the battle against the goblins in Moria? And then later discuss it? Perhaps as a coping mechanism to the grief of losing Gandalf on the bridge of Khazad-dûm? I can see it starting as banter between whether elves or dwarves are better fighters. And I can just see how from that point on, they have this agreement of “whoever kills the most enemies in the next battle is the superior warrior.”

And when Legolas takes down the oliphaunt in the Battle of Gondor and Gimli is just flabbergasted. He indignantly insists it still only counts as one. By that point, they are completely friends who would lay down their lives for the other without thinking twice.

And one of the many moments throughout the series that brought me to tears was their march against the Black Gate. They all expected to die there - a last ditched effort to distract Sauron so Frodo could destroy the ring. They were the diversion and they knew it. When Gimli says he never thought he’d die side-by-side with an elf and Legolas just smirks and counters “What about side-by-side with a friend?”

Gimli considers and you can see him really process it. That Legolas is his friend. After everything they endured together, how could they not be? I’ve watched these films at least 30 times and I always tear up when Gimli replies, “Aye. I could do that.”

If you’ve never read the books, please consider doing so. Their friendship is so fantastic. It’s truly one of Tolkien’s greatest acts of the trilogy in my opinion. Legolas even built his own boat and snuck Gimli into Valinor, making him the first and only dwarf to ever see the undying lands. The fact that they remained such close friends until the end of time just gives me so many feels. I stan one elf-dwarf friendship as the ultimate enemies to friends trope.