How did Gimli know Elvish?
In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, at Helm's Deep when Aragorn was commanding the Elves during the battle, he yells "Ladders" in the Elvish tongue (Sindarin). A moment later we hear Gimli saying "Good", because he was very eager to fight, and finally the wait was over.
But how did he know what Aragorn said? How did he know Elvish?
Best Answer
At the start of the battle, Aragorn led the elf warriors, and he did so using the elvish language. They were all in a group on the wall, and this was where Gimli was. It stands to reason that in preparation for the battle, anyone who was in that group would be briefed on the various commands that Aragorn would use. So I'd argue that off-camera Gimli was told what the various elvish words were and their meaning, so he would be able to follow the same orders as those around him.
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What language does Gimli speak?
GimliLocationThorin's Halls Lonely Mountain Glittering CavesAffiliationFellowship of the RingLanguageKhuzdul and WestronBirthT.A. 2879 Thorin's Halls18 more rows•Apr 10, 2022Why does Gimli say to Haldir?
In the Peter Jackson movies, Gimli actually shoots an insult at Haldir in response to his statement that they \u201chave not had dealings with the dwarves since the Dark Days.\u201d (Watch a short clip of the exchange here.)How does Aragorn settle the issue between Gimli and the elves?
However, there was some tension regarding Gimli's being in the Wood, and his Elven escorts wished to blindfold him for the journey. Gimli staunchly refused until Aragorn decided that all in the Fellowship should be blindfolded to make the Elven demand more equitable.What is the relationship between Legolas and Gimli?
Legolas and Gimli may begin Lord of the Rings hating each other, but by the end of the trilogy, they are the best of friends.The Complete Travels of Gimli | Tolkien Explained
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Answer 2
There are several possible explanations:
- The word for ladders in Elvish is similar to the word for it in Dwarvish
- Gimli learned the word from talking to Legolas and Aragorn during the time they spent together and his good relation with Legolas
- Gimli heard the word during battle strategy meetings
- Gimli knows a bit of Elvish. The Elvish tongue was not kept secret and many people know some basics of it
- Gimli just assumed that something was going to change during the seige (why else would Aragorn yell something) and any change in combat type was good for Gimli
and probably some more
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