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In the LotR movies, Gimli leaves Rivendell with the Fellowship directly following the Council of Elrond. Yet he seems to have an absurd number of axes with him. One is destroyed when he tries to chop the Ring in half at the council - I assume this was his main axe; yet although he has no time to go home and get a replacement, he has at least 3 more LARGE axes on him during the quest. One - at least 4 feet long - is destroyed when he throws it at Gandalf (because he thinks Gandalf is Saruman). He also throws at least one more in battle (I believe at Helms Deep), and presumably never gets it back (we certainly never see it again). And throughout the trilogy he wields a massve double headed axe in battle. He has no bags, certainly none large enough to hold axes, so where do the axes keep coming from?

Do the books address where all these axes are coming from, how he carries them all, and why we never see him with more than 2 at a time (in the scene where he throws one at Gandalf, we see the 4-foot throwing axe in his hand and the double headed axe on his back, but I don't remember seeing more than one axe at a time in any other scenes)? Does he have fewer axes in the books? Or does it simply never come up in the books?

Wad Cheber
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    There were other Dwarves at the council. He almost certainly borrowed one from them before setting off. – Valorum May 09 '15 at 22:24
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    @Richard - In the books, there was a different Dwarf at the council - Gloin I think. Other Dwarves may have been there too, but Gimli was sent later. In the movies, I don't remember seeing any other Dwarves, though I could well be wrong. And that still doesn't explain where all these other axes keep coming from – Wad Cheber May 09 '15 at 22:27
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    Based on the longshot of the Council of Elrond, I see at least two other dwarves; https://youtu.be/TrJJ6ncp1fc?t=4m1s – Valorum May 09 '15 at 22:29
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    @Richard - you beat me to it . I checked and saw 3 to 4 Dwarves total in the shot where everyone is arguing... in your clip I see Gimli standing and 3 others sitting – Wad Cheber May 09 '15 at 22:31
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    We're still no closer to knowing where he hides at least two 4-foot-long axes. – Wad Cheber May 09 '15 at 22:34
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    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HammerSpace – Valorum May 09 '15 at 22:39
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    And Gimli was very visibly holding the axe he destroyed by attacking the Ring throughout the council (until it was destroyed), even resting his chin on it. The other Dwarves aren't holding any axes as far as I can tell. They might have left them in their rooms, of course, but then why didn't Gimli leave his? – Wad Cheber May 09 '15 at 22:39
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    @Richard - I have a similar but slightly different question about Gandalf's staves (we see 4 in the movies). Should I add it to this question or start another? – Wad Cheber May 09 '15 at 22:41
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    It's a separate but related. I'd say new question. – Valorum May 09 '15 at 22:47
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    "...and my infinite axe supply!" – Tim Pederick May 10 '15 at 03:52
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    Why do you think dwarves have such long beards? They're littered with pockets. – terdon May 10 '15 at 22:20
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    I am shocked by how many upvotes this got, considering how trivial the issue involved in the question is. :) – Wad Cheber May 11 '15 at 00:49
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    After the Council of Elrond he could have borrowed one from the Elvish armoury. After the "throwing" incident with Gandalf, he could have grabbed one from the armoury at Helm's Deep, or even Rohan. Same goes for the thrown axe at the Battle of Helm's Deep. – Möoz May 11 '15 at 05:03
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    People have been so focused on Legolas's never-ending supply of arrows that we didn't notice that Gimli has him beat there, too! – KSmarts May 11 '15 at 14:04
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    I doubt he would have thrown his "good" axe anyway, and I'm sure he equipped himself with more than just armor at Helm's Deep. The elvish armory would certainly have been opened at the start of the quest, and there are many times and points along the way that all the adventurers would have resupplied, though it wouldn't make for a good movie. – Adam Davis May 11 '15 at 15:48
  • In Roadrunner cartoons, characters appear to defy gravity by hanging in the air for a few seconds before falling after running off cliffs. Is it possible that some chapter in Principia Mathematica (haven't read it) explains this phenomenon? –  May 13 '15 at 10:56

5 Answers5

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In the book, Gimli doesn't try to destroy the ring at the council, so no lost axe problem there.

And he doesn't lose an axe to Saruman in the Eaves of Fangorn either.

As far as the book is concerned, Gimli has one axe and keeps it throughout.

Valorum
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Joel
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    Yes. Movies always get things wrong. – jamesqf May 10 '15 at 04:43
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    In the book, Gandalf does disarm Gimli (who thinks he's Saruman) in Fangorn, but the axe isn't destroyed, merely dropped. – cjm May 10 '15 at 06:18
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    @Joel: The problem is that the answer is fairly obvious. "All these axes" simply don't exist in the books, nor do some of the described actions, like Gimli trying to smash the Ring at the Council of Elrond. You just have to deal with the fact that pretty much every moviemaker will screw things up in search of good visuals :-( – jamesqf May 10 '15 at 17:52
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    @jamesqf: I personally don't care much about the movies, except that I see the characters faces in my head as they are in the movies, and that is OK since the casting was really good in my opinion (well except, Aragorn should be taller and other small things like that). But the stories are deeply embeded in my head from many readings of the books, so I see no big problem there :-) – Joel May 10 '15 at 18:24
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    @WadCheber: ok, thanks, but I don't see this as a contest, it's mainly for the fun of discussion with people sharing a common passion. A part of me has been living in Middle-earth for many long years... ;-) – Joel May 11 '15 at 13:27
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    Besides, Tolkien had at least some experience in a real military at real war time (others certainly know more about this). Silly things like throwing away your weapon at every opportunity probably never crossed his mind. – John Robertson May 11 '15 at 17:51
  • However, after the battle of Helm's Deep, Gimli says that his axe was damaged because Orc No. 42 wore a steel colar on his neck. Did Gimli took a replacement from Hornburg's armory? – Triceratops Dec 25 '23 at 15:36
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Per my comment above, in regards the first missing axe, there are at least 2-3 other dwarves at the Council of Elrond. It seems reasonable to assume that one of them would have been willing to lend Gimli an axe for the vital journey ahead.

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Later in FotR we see him carrying at least 4 axes about his person; a longer "walking axe", 2 belt-mounted "throwing axes" and a smaller "hand axe".

enter image description here

Valorum
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  • I just watched the scene twice - the most you can say is that the axe Gimli uses in Rivendell was sitting between his chair and the chair of the dwarf to his right (our left). When Gimli grabs the axe, the dwarf beside him shifts because the axe gets snagged on his clothes, making it seem like he is handing the axe to Gimli, but he is just getting out of the way. My guess is that it was indeed Gimli's axe. Assuming he is, as he seems to be, right-handed, he would probably put his axe on his right. – Wad Cheber May 10 '15 at 00:01
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    Not sure if this matters, but the council axe seems to be solid and relatively plain looking (although it is very hard to see and is only visible for a second or so) - not like the double headed axe he uses throughout the trilogy, which is decorated with brass fittings, elaborate engraving, and seemingly non-functional cutaways (i.e., geometric holes between the faces and the stave) - it seems unlikely that the less decorated axe is his primary weapon, but why bring the plain looking one to the council - wouldn't you want to show off the good stuff in such rarified company? – Wad Cheber May 10 '15 at 00:10
  • Richard - what scene is that shot from? I believe you, but I don't see the two throwing axes and I want to watch that part of the movie. – Wad Cheber May 11 '15 at 00:08
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    @WadCheber - I think it was around the 2:00:00 mark. You can see them a bit more clearly here: https://bplusmovieblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-1660.png?w=590 – Valorum May 11 '15 at 05:55
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    The big double-headed axe he got from Balin's Tomb after the Cave Troll smashed it. At least according to the Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare book. – TheRealSpartacus May 11 '15 at 13:30
  • @TheRealSpartacus -Do you have a copy? – Valorum May 12 '15 at 15:44
  • I do! It's a little banged up, but I've had it for a while. – TheRealSpartacus May 13 '15 at 17:12
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    It prompts the question of why he bothered to bring an axe to a meeting anyway. Imagine showing up to my weekly status meeting on Tuesday with an axe. Just doesn't seem reasonable. – corsiKa May 24 '15 at 22:44
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    @corsiKa - Clearly you've never worked in a school. – Valorum May 24 '15 at 22:45
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    @corsiKa A dwarf goes nowhere without his axe. To do so would be akin to you showing up to your weekly status meeting on Tuesday without a shirt on. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jun 17 '15 at 21:58
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    It always looked to me like he grabs the axe from resting on the chair of another dwarf, rather than his own axe. So Gimli destroyed none of his own axes in the attempt to break the ring. – Vincent Apr 11 '18 at 20:25
  • Any guitarist worth his salt has a number of guitars... oh, wait, wrong sort of axe. – Wallnut Jun 15 '18 at 10:38
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In addition to the other answers, if you watch closely he picks up some axes when making the barricade in Moria and doesn't use all of them in the barricade, including that double-headed one he uses for quite a bit thereafter.

Joshua
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Gimli would have had access to a forge in Rivendell, Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith. He probably wouldn't have had time at Helm's Deep to do more than sharpen his axe, but he had plenty of time in Rivendell and Minas Tirith to perform more significant repairs. The armouries in those three strongholds would certainly contain a number of battleaxes of varying quality, from which Gimli would have had his pick.

mikeagg
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Gimli doesn't actually destroy his own axe during the council of Elrond, he picks up the dwarven smith Thrarin's axe who is sitting on the right of Gimli and tries to destroy the ring with his axe.

HousekeeperOfOrthanc
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    This addresses one point in the question (One is destroyed when he tries to chop the Ring in half at the council), but it doesn't answer the full question of how many axes Gimli brought. Your post might be better as a comment rather than an answer? – Rand al'Thor Jun 14 '18 at 23:06