LOTR Survivor

[Boromir88]

Votes so far are...

Hama- 4
Gimli- 2
Merry- 2

[Firefoot]

++Merry

This is one character who deserves some recognition. He's one of those people without whom nothing would go right, yet people seem intent on forgetting him anyway!

He is the one who organized the conspiracy to make sure Frodo didn't do something stupid. He's the one who knew about the Old Forest and the path inside. If not for him, the hobbits and Strider would not have been alerted to the presence of the Black Riders in Bree.

Then for a while he is just sort of in the background, but that isn't his fault that he's overshadowed by all these other high and mighty sorts! He can't help it that he's neither big nor particularly strong, but he does his best and does his part. He's one of those people who join the Fellowship purely because of his friendship with and loyalty to Frodo.

At the Breaking of the Fellowship, he proves he can keep his head - he attempts to cut off as many arms and hands of the Orcs as he can before receiving his head wound. Of course he must recover from this before he can help very much, but he quickly catches on to Pippin's game and once they have escaped, once more proves his worth. Though overloooked in Rivendell, clearly he had not wasted his time. He had looked at maps and knew rather where they were. It was he and Pippin who met Treebeard - Treebeard who, due to their oft-overlookedness, didn't even know what a Hobbit was! Gandalf seems to be the only one who ever acknowledges his part in the breaking of Isengard.

Then, Theoden doesn't even see how Merry can be of use in battle and so orders him to stay behind. Merry continues on, though, not in disloyalty but because of loyalty. He wanted to do his part to help, and he does, playing an all-important part in slaying the Witch-king, who had noticed him as little more than a worm in the mud. Even after that, no one notices him! He has to drag himself up into the city, despite being injured and sick.

Afterwards, Frodo and Sam get all this praise - "Praise them with great praise!" But once more, Merry is horribly overlooked. All he ever receives in reward is a little horn.

For once, Merry deserves some recognition. He should be the sole survivor.

Besides... he's the character who's most like me! (Well... half the time. The other half it's Frodo, but that's irrelevant. )

[WaynetheGoblin]

++gimly.

[Lalaith]

The question to ask yourself here is, are you a Cavalier or a Roundhead?
Do you lean towards lace, fine wine, polished banter and skilled swordplay, or starched linen, stern looks and dismal meals taken in joyless silence?

Speaking as an unabashed, unashamed Cavalier, this is not the finale I'd hoped for. The New Model Army of Roundheads among the voters have wreaked their dour puritan vengeance on most of our dashing and glamorous contestants.

Who remains who can bring a little colourful splash of gallantry to the winner's podium?

Not Hama. Like that dreary Orkney fisherman I mentioned earlier (dullest ever winner of Big Brother) he is the very model of a Roundhead - worthy, earnest and oh so NOT who you'd like to be sat next to at a dinner party.

Gimli - well, a possible. He is a worshipper at the golden shrine of the glamorous Galadriel, he loved bright shiny things, such as the Glittering Caves. And my Survivior ally Anguirel wants him to win.


But then there is Merry. Lordly, folk called him, meaning nothing but good. He has panache, he has courage, he was not too proud to sit behind a woman and he was by far the coolest hobbit in the Scouring of the Shire chapter. A man of principle but also of decisive and practical action:

"it will certainly mean fighting. You won’t rescue Lotho, or the Shire, just by being shocked and sad, my dear Frodo."

What is more, the beloved memory of Eomer and Eowyn would be honoured by his win. Merry is the only remaining Cavalier, and so he gets my vote.
++MERRY

PS There was a part of me that just wanted to wait to see what Mormegil would do and then do the precise opposite. But I am bigger than that.

[Anguirel]

Lalaith, I too am a firm Cavalier. I believe Gimli qualifies as one, in the end.

Looks aren't everything. Charles II himself admitted "God's fish, I am an ugly fellow!" What matters is culture, chivalry, courtesy, wit. Gimli possesses these in unusual abundance.

He sings the song of Durin. He gallantly requests three of Galadriel's hairs; in the game of wooing he is strides ahead of the cold, formal Aragorn, and only slightly behind Faramir.

He knows the chivalrous choice is to rescue Merry and Pippin. He declines to sing of the East, showing great tact. Once in Rohan, he behaves with proper hauteur but is not too strict about grudges. He saves Eomer's life despite their quarrel. He takes part in a "joust" with Master Elf.

He conquers his fears and passes the Paths of the Dead with supreme knightly courage. And then there is his final, glorious, romantic altercation with Eomer-

(paraphrasing) "You have chosen the evening. But I prefer the morning, and I fear it may soon pass."

Well, it did, in the person of Lady Galadriel, but Gimli's still here, and I exhort that you vote for him. Sir Gimli-knight, gallant, cavalier, paragon of chivalry and oldie courtesie!

[mormegil]

I wouldn't say Gimli conquered the paths of the dead. More accurate would be to say that he was so shamed that he was more or less forced to do it. And all this talk of Gimli forging Elf/Dwarf relationships is a misrepresentation of the actual facts. The truth is, it was Galadriel that began the reforging and Gimli was simply the witless dwarf who was caught under her enchantment

[Anguirel]

I didn't say he conquered the Paths of the Dead either. I said he conquered his fears, a far more important achievement. Who showed the greater courage-Aragorn, who knew he could not be touched, or Gimli, who had no such assurance?

And your comment about Galadriel is rather rich in light of your vote for her, driving her off the island. Besides, it was clearly Gimli who took the initiative in requesting the hairs and in becoming a battle brother of Legolas. Since Legolas stayed into the Fourth Age and Galadriel didn't, this friendship did far more for Elf-Dwarf harmony than any manipulation you can attribute to Galadriel.