The mis-interpretation of dear Gimli

[Sir Kohran]

Originally Posted by davem

Oh, I suppose they felt they needed 'comic relief' & Gimli was the obvious choice. It was the most irritating thing about the movies for me. One of my favourite moments in the whole book is when Gimli leaps to the rescue of Aragorn & Eomer - 'Baruk Khazad! Khazad Aimenu!'.

PJ has him trip & fall into a puddle. 'nuff said.

Now whilst I agree that Gimli's 'comedy' was often cringe-worthy, I'm going to have to seriously disagree on your last point - in the film, he doesn't 'trip & fall into a puddle' - looking at the scene again (I assume you're talking about Helm's Deep), when the wall explodes, Aragorn is thrown off the wall and knocked unconscious, and the Uruks come through the gap at him. Gimli then jumps onto them from the wall and kills a few, holding them off long enough for Aragorn to get back up and regroup the Elves. Gimli gets struck down into the water, but the Elves shoot the Uruks before they finish him and then attack. During the fighting, Aragorn helps Gimli out of the water. I don't see him doing anything stupid there. Sure, it was a bit different to the books but he still jumps into the fray and saves one of his friends.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Sir Kohran

Sure, it was a bit different to the books but he still jumps into the fray and saves one of his friends.

You may be right. My brain had turned to mush by that point.

[Knight of Gondor]

I think it was just elements of Gimli's Dwarven personality that strike us as funny. While legions of Uruk-hai are pouring into the Deeping Coomb, Gimli is taking pride at his one-by-one elimination. (The contest itself was kind of amusing, and it was direct from the book.)

His pride was a little insulted when Aragorn dryly remarked "I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength."

He was a bit annoyed that his Dwarvish stamina was failing him in Emyn Muil, hence his frustrated remarks "Keep breathing! That's key!...Breath!" and such.

His own dry humor in the throne room of Denethor ("Certainty of death! Small chance of success! What are we waiting for?") was just his own "bring it on" attitude.

What other comic relief are you talking about?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Knight of Gondor

What other comic relief are you talking about?

Falling off the horse, the dwarf tossing jokes, the drunken flatulence, the 'Shall I get you a box?' 'joke'.... He was repeatedly the butt of jokes.

[Knight of Gondor]

Falling off the horse was done in a comedic style, but his dislike/distrust of horses was shown in the books. I don't recall any flatulance, but I do remember a belch or two...

[MatthewM]

hahaha, I will admit, I enjoy the drunken Gimli scene very much.

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

hahaha, I will admit, I enjoy the drunken Gimli scene very much.

How many negative reputations you've got for that one this far?

Falling off the horse, the dwarf tossing jokes, the drunken flatulence, the 'Shall I get you a box?' 'joke'.... He was repeatedly the butt of jokes.

To add on the list: jokes about dwarf women and lots of stupid facial expressions (take the one when he sees the warg on top of him for example), for starters.