Unlikely.
First, considering Tolkien's worldview, I doubt very much his intention was to communicate Gimli lusting after Galadriel, let alone specifically wanting to "enjoy" her hair. But, assuming you (or anybody else reading this) are in favour of the "Death of the Author," I'll provide some speculations based on the world and text.
While Gimli describes Galadriel as more fair than all the jewels beneath the earth, we don't know that he had erotic intentions towards her. Assuming dwarves don't want to get to some pelvic delvin' with the jewels they mine, they likely find jewels so fair and desirable on pure aesthetics. Dwarves are great craftsmen and artisans, and they likely have a high appreciation for things of beauty and things that are well-made. In a Platonian "true form" sense, they likely see the shadow of some perfect essence of beauty through mined materials and crafted works. I believe Gimli, in Galadriel, was seeing a much rarer and purer revelation of this essence. So, because of Platonian forms, his love was platonic.
But why the hair? Hair is often given as gifts of remembrance from sweethearts. So, yes, this might be a point in favour of Gimli asking for something romantic. But, if the love is that of the ideal, "agape" sort (as I indicate in the previous paragraph) then it follows that Gimli is asking for a token of love, but not of erotic or romantic love. Perhaps Romantic... Anyway, he wants to always see Galadriel's beauty, and her hair is both part of that beauty and detachable. He can't ask for her nose or eyes, after all.
Could the love be romantic? Possibly. But Gimli does not speak of her in those terms. He defends her beauty and honour, which could be like a Knight for his Lady, but we don't see him setting a goal to return to Lorien nor lamenting Galadriel's marriage to Celeborn. In this way, he might be more of Knight Templar, speaking of a paragon of goodness and defending that. He's spreading Gospel, not jealously bragging about "his woman."
More to the point of your specific post, Gimli doesn't show any erotic attachment to either Galadriel or the hair. So, even if he is romantically attracted to Galadriel (if) and if he does have designs on her, that is not apparent, and neither are indicative that he specifically is erotically attracted to the hair.
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SemiAnimus (1289)
4 months ago
The weirdest part is that you came up with all this about 20 minutes after the original post.
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KingsRule (898)
4 months ago
Thank you for that informative response.
"But why the hair? Hair is often given as gifts of remembrance from sweethearts. So, yes, this might be a point in favour of Gimli asking for something romantic.
Why the hair indeed..... He could have asked for a picture/portrait of Galadriel. I seem to remember Gimli in TTT showing that Rohan lady a picture of his wife/love interest.. Surely this would be a more appropriate request from Gimli?
"Could the love be romantic? Possibly. But Gimli does not speak of her in those terms. He defends her beauty and honour, which could be like a Knight for his Lady, but we don't see him setting a goal to return to Lorien nor lamenting Galadriel's marriage to Celeborn. In this way, he might be more of Knight Templar, speaking of a paragon of goodness and defending that. He's spreading Gospel, not jealously bragging about "his woman."
I have to disagree. Not only is Galadriel happily married, it is also unheard of for elves and dwarves to have romantic/sexual relations. Obviously it is displayed in the Hobbit trilogy but I'm fairly certain this was not Tolkien's work, rather the studio execs demanding some sort of romantic "plot".
"More to the point of your specific post, Gimli doesn't show any erotic attachment to either Galadriel or the hair.
We can't say for certain that Gimli doesn't show any erotic link with Galdriel's hair. He was clearly interested in her physically, as we see him stuttering and blushing when Galadriel speaks to him.
One more thing: all of the Fellowship are seen using their gifts from Galadriel, apart from Gimli. He never mentioned it again, nor did we see him displaying it. Why is this? Fetishists are known to keep their sexual proclivities tightly under wraps. They realise it is taboo and frowned upon, to various levels, so their fetishist and any paraphernalia is often hidden from the outside world, meant only for the person who indulges in their pleasure. Food for thought.....
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