Overt and Covert Agendas

Gimli and Legolas (Photo credit: Dunechaser)

The Rivendell scene is all about motivation.  Each of the fellowship members has his own reasons for volunteering for the quest, and these reasons reveal character.  In each case there is an obvious motivation and one or more underlying purpose, even for those who seem much less important than Frodo and Aragorn, the obviously heroic individuals in the group.  I find that I'm suddenly interested in Legolas and Gimli.  Legolas signs on in order to support Aragorn (he defends Aragorn from Boromir's verbal attack, and it's clear from Aragorn's reaction that the two of them are friends), as well as to carry out the mission of destroying the ring (hey, top-elf Elrond says it has to be done, so it's reasonable to assign that motive to the only elf who volunteers).  But then there's Gimli.  He's so loudly against the participation of any elf that he makes himself a bit ridiculous ("NEVER TRUST AN ELF!!!), yet his stated fear of the elves taking control of the ring is itself ridiculous, since they already have it -- Frodo having turned it over to Elrond by setting it on the stone table.

And, Gimli is obviously in agreement that the ring must be destroyed-- it could be because of the possibility of the elves getting hold of it, but he seems to accept that it has to be done for whatever reason, so he hops right up and tries to smash it with his battleaxe, which shatters on impact, leaving the ring undamaged, unlike Gimli himself, who seems to have been injured in the attempt.  The most likely reason he joins the quest then, based on that evidence, is simply to destroy the ring, but he uses his anti-elf prejudice as a justification.  This is ironic, since he has only the word of Elrond, the elf, that it must be done.  Which leads me to wonder, what about Elrond?  What are his expectations or hopes for this council?  His behavior is sort of alien, in the non-human sense, or maybe it's just that he is a kind of king among elves and tries to stay above the rest of them.  This idea is probably not going to find its way into my paper, but it's interesting anyway.

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