Gimli and the Ring

Gimli may not have considered the ring a weapon, but there are other ideas that it could have put into his head. It was discussed at the Council of Elrond that Sauron had offered the dwarves dominion over Moria for all time, if they would reveal what they knew about the Shire.

Gimli could have been tempted to take the ring, and trade it for the fame, and honour of securing Moria for the dwarvish people. He could think of returning to the days of the Second Age when dwarves locked themselves away and largely ignored the problems of the surface world.

I think the ring would use whatever it needed to work away at the resistance of the members of the fellowship. Sooner or later it would have broken everyone.

[The Saucepan Man]

There are some further thoughts on this issue, relating to the Fellowship in general, here:

Which of the Fellowship would have gone ring mad?

[Nimrodel_9]

I believe that sooner or later everyone would have been tempted by the ring, though dwarves probably would have been some of the last.

[Eldar14]

Everyone seems to think that Gimli would be the last of the fellowship to fall to the ring, but that doesn't give much credit to the others. I believe that the other Hobbits would be the last ones to be drawn under its power. Hobbits have latent strength to resist things such as this ring. Also, Gimli would have many more inspirations in his heart that the ring could play on; it could make him think that the ring would be safest ith the dwarfs who would be able to hold it under ground, or maybe could draw upon his desire for Moria, even though I think that temptation less likely. Also, I'm not sure whether Legolas would fall before him; the elves have a pretty good track record with their rings.

[Boromir88]

Eldar:

I believe that the other Hobbits would be the last ones to be drawn under its power.

Good point about the Hobbits, I do think they wouldn't be affected like the other members. I think the only one it would "sway" more then the other hobbits would be Pippin, just because of his curiosity, but I think Merry and Sam would have been very resistant to the ring.

Also, I'm not sure whether Legolas would fall before him; the elves have a pretty good track record with their rings.

There, I'm not sure if I would agree, atleast not me. We know Galadriel and Elrond were power hungy, and I would think Legolas, being an elf from Mirkwood, and being tired of living in a dark forest infested with spiders, would use the ring to turn Mirkwood into a beautiful place like Rivendell or Lothlorien. I think je would just use the ring to turn the slums of Mirkwood into a beautiful Lothlorien. That is my opinion, though.

[Avie]

But the whole nature of the allure of the Ring is contradictory. Some characters display the slow poison of the thing (Bilbo, Frodo). Others are tempted (Gandalf, Galadriel) Others are immediately corrupted by the mere proximity (Boromir) whilst still others know of the Ring and are not affected by it (Merry, Sam, Faramir)
So the power to corrupt is not absolute. Sam was immune to it, despite actually bearing the Ring. Boromir was corrupted by it's mere proximity....why?

[Pallando]

We are steering slightly off topic, but let's get a few things straight here. The difference between Frodo's and Bilbo's situations is apparent. Bilbo gave up the Ring under less pressure than Frodo was under, and that includes when Frodo was at Bag End.

Not just situations, but also location and Sauron's strength at the time. When Bilbo had to give it up, Sauron was not as strong as he was at the end of the war, while Sauron's strength was much greater right before the end. Also, Frodo was in the Mountain of Fire, smack dab in the middle of Mordor, not to mention much closer to Sauron. The Ring's whisperings were stronger and could influence his actions greater there. Think about it: Isildur stood there, all those years ago, right after Sauron's physical form was defeated, too. What did he do? He claimed it. And he held it for what? A couple of minute? An hour?

[Zebedee]

Originally Posted by Eldar14

Hobbits have latent strength to resist things such as this ring.

Smeagol didn't.

[Avie]

No indeed. He immediately fell under it's malign spell...doing murder to gain possession of it. Yet Bilbo had it for many years and gave it up with only momentary reluctance....Frodo had it for much less time but could not destroy it...

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

We are steering slightly off topic, but let's get a few things straight here. The difference between Frodo's and Bilbo's situations is apparent. Bilbo gave up the Ring under less pressure than Frodo was under, and that includes when Frodo was at Bag End.

And Samwise was not immune to the Ring. Gimli would have been a logically good choice to bear the Ring with a Company to guide him, but I think the reasons Frodo was given the task are as follows; 1) he offered himself, and 2) the Wise, especially Gandalf, had that little voice in the head saying "Yes, go ahead with the Hobbit".