Legolas and Gimli complimenting each other

[roselightfairy]

 Forgive me, I just-- I need more things in this  community, so I'm gonna crosspost one of my Tumblr posts to here. (Also a reference, should people be interested for fic or something!)  A list of every moment from the books in which Legolas or Gimli compliments or brags about the other.  I know that playful competition is a massive trope with these two, and I do like to read it, but there's this side of their relationship too, and this is the one I most like to play with.

Fellowship of the Ring:
 

“But I count you blessed, Gimli son of Gloin: for your loss you suffer of your own free will, and you might have chosen otherwise. But you have not forsaken your companions, and the least reward you shall have is that the memory of Lothlorien shall remain ever clear and unstained in your heart, and shall neither fade nor grow stale.”

“Praised be the bow of Galadriel, and the hand and eye of Legolas!” said Gimli, as he munched a wafer of lembas. “That was a mighty shot in the dark, my friend!”
 

Two Towers
 

“Only a few hours ago you were unwilling to sit on a horse of Rohan,’ laughed Legolas. “You will make a rider yet.”

“Yet you comfort me. Where you go I will go.” Gimli to Legolas in Fangorn

“But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe. I wish there were more of your kin among us.” Legolas to Gimli at Helm’s Deep

“Twenty-one!” said Gimli.

“Good!” said Legolas.

“You move me, Gimli,” said Legolas. “I have never heard you speak like this before. Almost you make me regret that I have not seen these caves.”

“Strange it may seem,” said Legolas; “but while Gimli lives I shall not come to Fangorn alone. His axe is not for trees, but for orc-necks, O Fangorn, Master of Fangorn’s Wood. Forty-two he hewed in the battle.”
 

Return of the King
 

“Say not so!” said Gimli. “There are countless things still to see in Middle-earth, and great works to do. But if all the fair folk take to the Havens, it will be a duller world for those who are doomed to stay.”

“Heavy would my heart have been, for all our victory at the havens, if Legolas had not laughed suddenly.” – Gimli

“Then Legolas repaid his promise to Gimli and went with him to the Glittering Caves; and when they returned he was silent, and would say only that Gimli alone could find fit words to speak of them.”
 

WHAT FUZZY AND SAPPY BFFS THEY ARE. This is the reason that I can read genfic of them just as well as shippy fic--because you hardly have to squint or tilt your head to make it romantic.

 

Comments

[ilyena_sylph]

Such adorably sappy darlings!!

I adore them so freaking much.

[roselightfairy]

Me too! <3

[mipeltaja]

It's such a great relationship that they develop. Thank you for the refresher course on why I love them.

[roselightfairy]

Haha, aww, anytime! Really the movies just don't do it for me in terms of representing this relationship.

[mipeltaja]

Yeah, I enjoy the movies, but they don't do the Gimli-Legolas dynamic of the books justice.

[roselightfairy]

I didn't include it in this list because the purpose of this list was more the two of them talking each other up than making their declarations of undying love, but one of my absolute favorite moments comes at the end of Helm's Deep, when they've come back together after being separated and after Legolas worried Gimli wouldn't come back-- Gimli comes traipsing up out of the caves and yelling about his forty-two kills, and Legolas says, "You have passed my count by one, but I do not grudge you the game, so glad am I to see you on your legs!" I just love that he gives up the contest so easily because losing that is nothing in comparison to if he had lost Gimli. And the way the movies present that scene was one of the biggest minor disappointments to me. Like, it's not a big thing, not compared to some other stuff, but it meant a LOT and it was really disappointing to me the way they twisted it into an argument over numbers.

*steps off of soapbox now*

[urbanspaceman]

plus "nervous system" is anachronistic and always jars on me like whoa

[katajainen]

I DO NOT thank you for reminding me. (Because I had blissfully forgotten about the whole damn thing. UGH I say.)

[urbanspaceman]

IDK. I've learned to take on board the PJ content I like and discard what I don't like-- unless I can use something I don't like to spur along the motives in a story-- in that way I guess @roselightfairy and I are less compatible than we might be; she just rejects it all outright. X-D There are certain things I tend to accept, but the Helm's Deep contest isn't one of them. I dislike Helm's Deep from the movies pretty uniformly except for Bernard Hill's performance as Theoden. Bernard is the one bright spot there.

[katajainen]

I don't know, I appreciate the visual setup of Helm's Deep, but otherwise... yeah, actually, the older I get the more I hate it XD

(Actually that actually would sum up my relationship with the PJ LOTR movies as a whole: they are very pretty, and have some quite lovely performances from individual actors, but often show a lack of any deeper context. Or characterization. Or meaningful character arcs.)

[urbanspaceman]

Yeah, that's it precisely. After the movies I decided I was willing to take the visuals and allow my brain to populate the novels with them, but I reserved the right to reject any and all story changes as I saw fit. X-D

[katajainen]

Ah, exactly the lovely brilliant post I needed *hearteyes* (because I was just about to dive into the book in search of the "You comfort me" quote)

I'll be keeping this for reference!

[roselightfairy]

For reference? Does this mean there might be (*bounces on balls of feet*) new content for this ship from you soon? No pressure if not, seriously; I'd just love to see some. But then, the quote is just always a good one regardless of purpose. I'm happy to be of service!

[katajainen]

I do not say "soon", for I would live to regret it.

But there are always things in the works, small things and big things and things of medium length, and some of those might even be for this ship. *whistles innocently*

[urbanspaceman]

*sits at the AO3 table with knife and fork in hands, watching empty plate, expectant*

[katajainen]

And this is why I don't talk about WIPs *hides under a rock until the next decade*

(It's not you, it's me. People having expectations makes me nervous and I lose all momentum to write. I'm working on it.)

[urbanspaceman]

Awww, I didn't mean to pressure you! *HUGS* I was just trying to let you know that whatever you produce in this pairing and whenever it is, I'll enjoy it. I don't have expectations for when or what. :-) ♥

[katajainen]

I know you didn't *hugs back* It's just this very weird and very personal combination of authorial self-consciousness and chronic inability to finish things that makes me go "EEEEP" any time anyone ever even suggests they're looking forward to reading something of mine.

(Imagine a particularly ugly brain weasel running in circles going "It's not even finished and it will be utter garbage anyway AAAAAAAAGH")

I'm trying to work around it by not posting anything before I have a full draft written, but that has the drawback of actually having to write the damn draft... and it doesn't help with the WIPs I've already started posting. Long story short, I still don't know how people who write and publish novel-length stuff actually manage it without going completely bonkers :?

[urbanspaceman]

Awwww, my bugbear with posting WIPs is that I freak out if I get certain kinds of critical feedback that make me second-guess decisions I've made, questioning my omissions, inclusions, or whatever choices that are now irrevocably made already and are likely to disappoint the reader who has made a comment. X-D

As for novel-length stuff.... I need any story, but especially longer ones, to have a germ of idea and plot that drives so hard it doesn't stall out and die, some over-arching vision that keeps me motivated. If I run into too much difficulty with plot or character, that driving idea tends to stall out (as it has in NGCS; I'm struggling with needing to work a lot more with Bagginshield in part 2 and I'm not comfortable there like I was in L/G).

Sometimes a novel-length idea dies if I get too much non-constructive criticism from people who just don't like where my vision is leading. I had that happen recently in Trek fandom, when I tried to write a polyamory fic while posting as a WIP and some people just couldn't deal with the need for their pet OTPs to have to share attention with people who weren't their OTPs but were in the multiple. I'm stubbornly trying to resurrect THAT fic and finish it even as we speak-- but I know it's not as good or as tightly plot- and characterization-structured as it would have been if I had been able to pursue my original vision while it was new and intense-- before it got contaminated by others' disapproval. It also would've been a better story if I hadn't been halted completely for over a year and a half, forgetting my plans and losing track of various threads while smack in the middle of it.

Writing is hard. WIPs are a pain. Waiting until finished to post them, especially long ones, is a challenge that I usually wish I the patience to wait for. I admire someone with that much self-discipline! X-D

It's so hard for me, as something of a perfectionist, to LET GO and accept that sometimes a fic just has to be whatever the process led to it becoming. I will always be the sort of writer who looks at my own work and sees the flaws instead of the triumphs, I'm afraid!

In short, your process is whatever it is. Let it work however it works best for you, and ignore people whose input makes you feel uncomfortable-- most of us, like me, did not intend to. :-)

[daisynorbury]

BLESSED CONTENT.
Aw. AWWW. So in love.

[roselightfairy]

THEY ARE <3 <3 <3