January 12, 2003

Gimli in FotR
Mithril Miner

I know this is coming out of nowhere, but I just recently read the Fellowship again, and I noticed that the Moria incident was very twisted.

In the book, Gimli was very afraid of Moria, as was Aragorn. It was Gandalf's idea to go through Moria: he was the only one who dared.

But in the movie Gimli is eager to go to Moria, and he gets excited about seeing his cousin Balin. Gandalf is the reluctant one. It is backwards.

Gandalf's willingness is part of the irony of his death: he was the one who wanted to go through Moria (admittidly he was a little hesitant), and they did try Caradrhas (spelling?) first, but ultimately he was the "let's go through Moria" member of the fellowship. All the others, even Legolas, did not want to go through Khazan-dum, and Boromir suggested going through the Gap of Rohan. Oh yeah, and in the book the mountain did not want them going through, not Sauruman, as it is in the movie. I think this took away some of the mysticism of Caradrhas.

In addition to this, Gimli knew that Balin was probably dead. The dwarves had not heard from Balin's re-take Moria party for a long time. I think Gimli comes off a little too...well...blockheaded in the movie.

Just a thought.