The Dwarves of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings were defined by a few key character traits, both positive and negative. They were proud, resilient, stubborn, fearsome in battle, and most of all, greedy. Over the course of Middle-earth’s long history, the Dwarves’ desire for gold, jewels, and other precious minerals led them to make countless unwise decisions that spelled disaster for themselves and those around them.
To name just a few examples, Dwarves murdered the Elven king Elu Thingol to steal his necklace, awoke the Balrog that slumbered beneath the Mines of Moria by tunneling too deep in search of mithril, and nearly went to war with the Elves of the Woodland Realm and the Men of Dale because they refused to part with any treasure from Smaug’s vast hoard. Yet Middle-earth’s most famous Dwarf, Gimli, subverted this trope, which was best exemplified by a scene in the Mines of Moria.
Gimli Was Not Tempted By Mithril Like Other Dwarves
Both in the novel and in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring film, Gimli and his fellow members of the Fellowship were assaulted by a swarm of Orcs after discovering Balin’s Tomb. Though the heroes were victorious, Frodo Baggins was stabbed in the chest with a spear during the scuffle.
The chapter “The Bridge of Khazad-dûm” described Frodo’s attacker as “a huge orc chieftain,” but the film changed the perpetrator to a cave-troll. Either way, Frodo miraculously survived this seemingly fatal blow with nothing more than some bruising. When his companions checked his wound, they discovered that he had been protected by a shirt of mithril chainmail that Bilbo Baggins gave him.
Mithril was extremely rare, especially by the time of the War of the Ring, because Sauron had collected all the mithril he could find. Tolkien wrote that mithril had once been worth ten times more than gold, and its price only increased after Moria was abandoned, preventing any new mithril from being mined.
In “The Bridge of Khazad-dûm,” Gandalf stated that Frodo’s mithril shirt surpassed “the value of the whole Shire and everything in it,” which Gimli believed was an underestimate. A typical Dwarf would have been obsessed with the sudden discovery of a large amount of mithril, possibly trying to steal it from Frodo or expressing worry that it had been damaged by the spear, but Gimli did no such thing.
Gimli Valued Friendship Over Treasure
Gimli’s only concern was for the safety of Frodo, whom he had canonically known for under a month at this point. In the novel, he called the mithril “a kingly gift” and said that it had been “well given.” His reaction in the film differed slightly, but he expressed a similar sentiment; he simply smiled and said, “You are full of surprises, Master Baggins.” The value of the mithril must not have weighed on his mind as it would most Dwarves, because he never mentioned it again in either the novel or the film.
This scene was not the only instance of Gimli lacking the expected Dwarven greed. When Galadriel asked him what gift he would like, he requested only a few strands of her hair, something with no monetary value. Likewise, in a moment exclusive to Jackson’s version of the story, he proved his resistance to the One Ring’s temptation by trying to break it with an axe at the Council of Elrond.
Gimli was the son of Glóin, one of the Dwarves who had accompanied Thorin II Okaneshield in The Hobbit, so he surely grew up hearing tales about how Thorin’s obsession with material wealth nearly spelled doom for the Dwarves during the Battle of the Five Armies. He may have even been told Thorin’s final words, which claimed that the world would be a better place if less value were placed on gold. Gimli clearly took this message to heart, and his lack of greed made him the perfect Dwarf to accompany Frodo on his quest to destroy the One Ring.
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