Original Lord Of The Rings Cast Member Returns In A Brand New LOTR Project
In recent years, we've seen the entertainment industry return to Middle-earth in multiple ways. Amazon Studios' "The Rings of Power" series brought back familiar characters like Elrond and Galadriel (albeit with new faces in the form of Robert Aramayo and Morfydd Clark, respectively). Magic: The Gathering released its own iteration of Middle-earth imagery in a new set of cards. Warner Bros.' upcoming but delayed anime "The War of the Rohirrim" is set to bring Miranda Otto's Éowyn back to life — and that isn't the only Tolkienian project the studio appears to have in the works, either.
Everywhere you look, Middle-earth is back, folks. And now, the legend himself, John Rhys-Davies (who plays Gimli in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), is also set to make a Dwarvish reappearance in much the same matter as Otto. The acting legend is reprising his role as Gimli by voicing the hero in the game "The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria." The opening cinematic for the game was recently posted in the lead-up to its digital release, and it heavily features Rhy-Davies using his Gimli voice. It's an instantly recognizable articulation. It's also a perfect way for the actor to revisit the character without re-experiencing the allergic reactions that he had to the Dwarven make-up he wore when on camera during "The Lord of the Rings" films.
Rhys-Davies loves Gimli
Actors can fall in love with their characters just as easily as fans, and in the case of John Rhys-Davies, he remains fully enraptured by his Gimli persona. "Actors often create characters out of love, and it's very hard, sometimes, to let them go," Rhy-Davies told Eurogamer. "Certainly, Gimli is, for me, a character that I really adore, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to reprise him in a different context."
Rhy-Davies was able to provide interviews despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike as long as he talked about the game and didn't discuss the films — something he indicated in another interview with popular Tolkien influencer Nerd of the Rings.
Rhy-Davies told Eurogamer that the opportunity to explore Gimli's story arc in the context of "Return to Moria" is especially enticing because it allowed him to revisit a loose thread in his character's story. "It's always fun to come back and think of the 'what-ifs,'" the actor said, "and the chance to work on this game is an exploration of one of the what-ifs, isn't it?" It turns out that this particular "what if" isn't just an interesting cinematic adaptation or artificial extension of Gimli's story, either. The game delves into very real Dwarven history that takes place in the wake of "The Lord of the Rings" story (even if they do alter it a bit to have Gimli present).
The Return to Moria concept comes straight from Tolkien
In his posthumously published book "The Peoples of Middle-earth," Tolkien provides us with countless snapshots of information about what happened before, during, and after the War of the Ring. One of these juicy tidbits says that a long-prophesied Dwarven king named Durin VII, aka Durin the Last, "returned to Moria; and there was light again in deep places, and the ringing of hammers and the harping of harps, until the world grew old and the Dwarves failed and the days of Durin's race were ended." To be fair, this is all Tolkien ever says about a recolonization effort, which leaves the doors open for adaptive details to emerge. Gimli's expanded story is one of these details.
The appendices of "The Return of the King" tell us that "after the fall of Sauron, Gimli brought south a part of the Dwarf-folk of Eerebor, and he became Lord of the Glittering Caves." Those caves are in Rohan behind Helm's Deep — in other words, not in Moria. We learn that Gimli's people thrive and even help rebuild Gondor's gates. Eventually, Gimli heads West with Legolas over the sea to the Blessed Realm, where he can see Galadriel again.
And that's it. That's all we get, which does technically make it possible to read between the lines and devise a story where an older version of Gimli helps refound Moria. Is it technically Tolkien? No. Does it work? Yes. And using it to get John Rhy-Davies back in Middle-earth? That's just plain awesome.