[Belin]

While I must applaud the theory as a whole, there seem to be some deplorable misperceptions circulating of Gimli here. He gobbles the lembas not out of greed (or, as Underhill so elegantly puts it, appetite), but out of a lack of understanding of the substance itself. He underestimates the power of the waybread because it is elven; it is something not valued or easily understood by the Dwarves, though they have their own equivalent, in which they invest less care and less skill.

This is easily transferrable to Dwarven sexuality, which is both hidden and scarce. The lack of women is less problematic than (and possibly results from) their hiddenness. Furthermore, dwarves are possesive in marriage, perhaps hinting at an underlying anxiety about presently leashed power of sexuality. Dwarves, in short, repress and oppress their sexual natures, keeping it, so to speak, in their pockets--the stone halls mentioned above.

Elves, though indeed less fertile than they once were, are still able to wield their sexual powers to some extent. Note that Galadriel is the holder of Nenya, and it is she to whom Gimli feels such a strong attraction. He is pulled toward this strength, and he becomes more and more deeply attached to Legolas, a member of the more potent race.

From this perspective, it hardly seems surprising that Gimli devoured the lembas in much the same manner that the dragons devoured the rings of the dwarves, dragons that had, in fact, been attracted by the possesiveness of that race.

In other words.... it's time to Liberate Dwarf Women!!

--Belin Ibaimendi

[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]