[Kalimac]

I always saw it as a way of whistling in the dark. It's not as if Legolas and Gimli are filled with insatiable bloodlust and just happened upon the Orcs when they felt like having a head-counting party. They have to kill or be killed - I'd say that the contest was a way to keep their minds occupied and yet keep concentrating at the same time.

I don't think that a lighthearted contest somehow detracts from the fundamental morality or immorality of their killing Orcs - as C.S. Lewis once pointed out, a long face is not a moral disinfectant. If they were soberly murdering men of Rohan, they'd be wrong to do it. If they were giggling like schoolgirls while killing invading Orcs (as disturbing an image as that is) they'd still be right. Everything else is gravy.