# I identify with Gimli. How about you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256 "2010-09-10T02:22:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TurboNuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@TurboNuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TurboNuke)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/1 "2010-09-10T02:22:09Z")
I’ve read LotR many times. I identify with Gimli more than any other character. He seems more “human” than the other characters. He doesn’t have any super powers like the elves and Aragorn. Frodo and Sam don’t do it for me. Gimli gets the job done with courage and perserverence. Just wanted to know how common it is to identify with Gimli. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/2 "2010-09-10T05:43:59Z")
I do as well. He’s as big a bad-ass as Legolas or Aragorn, but without all the showboating or emo dithering. He just gets the job done with good humor and gusto. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/3 "2010-09-10T06:02:08Z")
I identify with that lame ass hobbit who gets carried around all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/4 "2010-09-10T06:27:34Z")
Golem: Life would have been perfectly fine if you’d just let me sit in my cave with my treasures tucked all around me, but nooooo, you had to go and steal my stuff, wave it under the nose of some guy who wants to destroy the world, and make me get off my ass to chase after you before you throw my favoritest thing ever into a frickin volcano. I mean damn people, a VOLCANO? I thought we gave up on sacrificing virgins and food and treasures via volcano millenia ago. Get with it already! ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/5 "2010-09-10T06:34:53Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I identify with that lame ass hobbit who gets carried around all the time. I think that’s Pippin. He hangs out with the Ents while Merry hangs out with the Gondor people. Or do I have that backwards? He’s pretty much who I identify with, too. Someone who has no freaking clue what they’re doing and needs to be carried around by walking trees. Yup, that would be me. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/6 "2010-09-10T08:42:00Z")
I identify with one of those ents who don’t wake up during the whole thing. There are no women anymore anyway, who cares. I’m not gonna cancel naptime just because some guy became more colorful or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/7 "2010-09-10T11:37:34Z")
There is an interesting dwarf vs elf personality type “essay” in Cryptonomicon. Being the engineer type, drawves to have some appeal. Thats what I play in LOTRO Brian ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/8 "2010-09-10T12:00:28Z")
Depending on context, I might be Éomer or Tom Bombadil. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/9 "2010-09-10T12:11:13Z")
Depending on context I’d probably be like Aragorn but with Elrond’s immortality and I’d ride a dragon. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/10 "2010-09-10T12:25:15Z")
I always assumed I’d identify mostly with the hobbits back in the Shire. It would work out great in the movie, in the books, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/11 "2010-09-10T12:35:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I always assumed I’d identify mostly with the hobbits back in the Shire. It would work out great in the movie, in the books, not so much. The Sharkey regime is brief, you’d get through. But it was an important element, sadly lost in the movie, because it was the industry, pollution and corruption of Isengard come home–probably one of the more personal parts of the story for JRRT. I like the hobbit community very much, but I just can’t see myself as any kind of li’l folk. Too tall, too inclined to either wanderings or seclusion. I could be a Dúnadan I guess, but there aren’t really any character examples of them besides Aragorn. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/12 "2010-09-10T13:02:39Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I identify with one of those ents who don’t wake up during the whole thing. There are no women anymore anyway, who cares. Oh, the entwives just ran off to get their bark munched by the bearded dwarf women. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/13 "2010-09-10T13:22:49Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Golem: Life would have been perfectly fine if you’d just let me sit in my cave with my treasures tucked all around me, but nooooo, you had to go and steal my stuff, wave it under the nose of some guy who wants to destroy the world, and make me get off my ass to chase after you before you throw my favoritest thing ever into a frickin volcano. I mean damn people, a VOLCANO? I thought we gave up on sacrificing virgins and food and treasures via volcano millenia ago. Get with it already! Of course, he should blame it on the ring. I identify strongly with Aragorn. I have always identified with the hero. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/14 "2010-09-10T13:43:54Z")
Third drunk from the left, along the back wall of The Prancing Pony? That’s me. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/15 "2010-09-10T14:51:29Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > > [@Superhal](#): > > > > I identify with that lame ass hobbit who gets carried around all the time. > > I think that’s Pippin. He hangs out with the Ents while Merry hangs out with the Gondor people. Or do I have that backwards? He’s pretty much who I identify with, too. Someone who has no freaking clue what they’re doing and needs to be carried around by walking trees. Yup, that would be me. [nitpick]They both hung out with the Ents, and Pippin winds up in Gondor while Merry stays with the Rohirrim.[/nitpick] Pippin has always been my favourite hobbit, and definitely the one I identified with. Originally I think because he was the youngest, and I was a kid the first time I read the books, but each subsequent reread has just increased my fondness for him. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/16 "2010-09-10T15:21:59Z")
I’m one of the shivering wretches taking sanctuary in Helm’s Deep. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/17 "2010-09-10T15:41:33Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > > [@mr.jp](#): > > > > I identify with one of those ents who don’t wake up during the whole thing. There are no women anymore anyway, who cares. > > Oh, the entwives just ran off to get their bark munched by the bearded dwarf women. No, they _RUNNOFT_. (Coen reference) I never personally identified with any of the characters, although if I could choose one to be most like, it would definitely be Gandalf. And if my favorite character had been Gimli, I think I might have been offended by the way the movie pretty much turned him into comic relief. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/18 "2010-09-10T15:45:44Z")
What, no love for Ghan-buri-ghan? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/19 "2010-09-10T15:58:18Z")
Tree hugging, bark munching druids never get the respect they so richly deserve. 😃 Since Elendil is mentioned in the Appendix, I’ll go with him. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256/20 "2010-09-10T16:00:19Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > And if my favorite character had been Gimli, I think I might have been offended by the way the movie pretty much turned him into comic relief. That was what bugged me most about the movies. Gimli is stalwart, steadfast, and has a surprising depth when it comes to his appreciation of beauty. In the movies he was a buffoon. Unforgivable. If Jackson had screwed up the Rohirrim as well, he’d have completely ruined the movies for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-identify-with-gimli-how-about-you/553256.md?page=2)