J. R. R. Tolkien created a character.
Gimli is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth legendarium , featured in The Lord of the Rings . J. R. R. Tolkien . Harlow : Longman , ISBN 0-582-05383-8 3 January 1892 -- 2 September 1973 ) was an English writer , poet , philologist , and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings , and The Silmarillion .