I think that Galadriel just liked Gimli more than she had Fëanor. He wanted her hair, not for his own glory, or so that he could use it to create new and better gems, but because he genuinely appreciated its inherent beauty. Also Gimli was a member of the Fellowship of the Ring, in whom were invested all the hopes of the Wise; people who were unselfishly risking their lives for the common good. Then there's the fact that Gimli is such a smooth operator:
Quote:
|
'There is nothing, Lady Galadriel, ' said Gimli, bowing low and stammering. 'Nothing, unless it might be - unless it is permitted to ask, nay to name a single strand of your hair, which surpasses the gold of the earth as the stars surpass the gems of the mine. I do not ask for such a gift. But you commanded me to name my desire.'
|
Able to choose any gift that the Lord and Lady of Lórien could bestow, he asked only for a single hair from Galadriel's head. What woman could resist that sort of honest flattery? And he certainly has a silver tongue, the suave devil.
Of Galadriel's relationship with Fëanor Tolkien says:
Quote:
|
From her earliest years she had a marvellous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding, and she withheld her goodwill from none save only Fëanor. In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldor, and upon her own.
|
(Italics my own)
Perhaps by this last telling phrase Tolkien means to imply that Fëanor's difficulty in getting on with people might not have been the only reason for Galadriel's refusal of his request. Whether she knew it or no, she too had been tainted by the malice of Melkor. Could it be that it was the shadow of his deceits that prompted her disdain?
[ February 19, 2003: Message edited by: Squatter of Amon Rudh ]