They actually raise a good question though...
LotR is myth, like all of Tolkein's writings...myth of course stems from a poor source of analytical history, some fact, mostly fiction.
So did tolkein purposely write things skewed?
As in...Gimli never really was there, but was only added later on by who ever is telling the story?
Kinda like Beowulf...where some of the characters most likely did not ever exist...or better yet, Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was real that's for sure, but many other characters were never real...
Anyways...more likely or not this is a bungle-headed idea
