[Ughósh the Abominable]

Heh, it'd be funny to say Ugluk and just turn everyone's head [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img].

But I'm not going to do that. What I am going to do, however, is try and whipe some of the smudge off of Gimli's good name. I think one negative thing that has come of the Lord of the Rings movies is the perpetuation of the view of Gimli as some tottering bag of comic relief with the voice and face of Sala from Indiana Jones. I *never* imagined Gimli as anything like this in the books. To me, he was always a very Dwarvish character: sort of bitter, tragic maybe, yet defiant and stout, and fierce in battle, with a fierceness that comes from vengeance. He is, without doubt, an extremely skilled warrior, probably among the best the Dwarves have to offer in the late Third Age (which explains why he was sent in the Fellowship). I mean, come on! He dove through the thick of battle at Helm's Deep and came out relatively unscathed, with 42 kills to his name (*saving* Eomer in the process, I might add). Simple he may be, and perhaps lacking in finesse (how much grace can you really display when wielding an axe); but he's not just some fat, comical little gnome played by Jon Rhys-Davis.

And about that whole "size disadvantage" thing? Come on, people; it's not the size that counts, it's how you use it. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Ok, you've got me; I'm a bit of a dwarf fan-boy. Come on, you know you love them. But getting back to this thread's original purpose. I took the question to mean something more like "who has the most raw battle prowess". I think Theoden is definitely out; while he has many years' worth of battles behind him, they have left their mark, and he simply can't match any of the other candidates for strength or speed. I tend to agree that Ugluk is out from the start; come on, he's a bloody orc, even if he is "hai". Then we have Gimli, Eomer, and Faramir. Eomer is indeed mighty in arms, but he is quite young. Many might deem this a big advantage, except when you consider this: he is a Middle-Man, and only 27 years old by the time of the War of the Ring. Faramir, however, is about 35, young indeed for a Dunadan, yet 8 years older--and more experienced in battle--than Eomer. And Gimli tops both of them, being 39. It's not a huge margin, but it's still there, and important when comparing three warriors whom I believe are so close together in prowess. The thing is, Faramir, Gimli, and Eomer all have prowess, but Faramir and Gimli both have significantly more experience, which is equally important. Therefore I believe that Faramir and Gimli both surpass Eomer in raw combat power. And finally, I honestly think that a balls-out brawl between Faramir and Gimli would end with both combatants dead, unless one of them was significantly luckier that day than the other. So in the end, I must name Faramir and Gimli as my favoured fighters from the above list. And I guess I'll go one step further: Dwarves are my favourite Tolkien race, therefore Gimli wins. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]