LOTR Survivor

[Anguirel]

The problem with Merry as Cavalier is he lacks the crucial element of Royalist romanticism. Namely, his ending is prosaic but happy.

Gimli, on the other hand, ends up following a strange people in resignation and defeat in pursuit of a final sight of an unattainable love. Sigh.

Hence, Gimli is the Cavalier, Merry the burlesque Restoration hero. And I know which one I inevitably prefer.

If you profess Romanticism, if you are caught into Tolkien because of the loss, the Long Defeat, the gallant but helpless defiance and delaying of the inevitable with unimpeachable bravery...if you surge with excitement at "he died with the Dawn in his eyes..."

Then Gimli is your man, or rather Dwarf. Vote accordingly!

EDIT: Note for reader's interest-the man portrayed in the painting "The Laughing Cavalier" is neither laughing nor a Cavalier!

It's rather like the Holy Roman Empire...