The Lord Of The Ring: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Fellowship
7. Gimli Established A New Dwarf Kingdom At Helm's Deep
One small detail left out of Peter Jackson's movies was Gimli's fascination with Helm's Deep, and more specifically the caves that lay behind it. During the battle of Helm's Deep the orcs manage to blast a way through the Deeping Wall, scattering the defenders and forcing everyone who can, to retreat. In the movies Gimli makes it back to the Keep with everyone else, but in the books he's cut off, leaving Aragorn and Legolas fearful for his fate.
Eventually it's revealed that Gimli, along with Éomer, managed to take refugee in the caves way back in the valley. Now we all know how much a dwarf loves a good cave, but these were so spectacular (according to Gimli) that after the war he returned with a colony of dwarves and set up a new kingdom. Gimli became known as the Lord of the Glittering Caves.
You'd think the Rohirrim might have something to say about a bunch of hairy dwarves just moving onto their land, but they more than made up for it. They rebuilt the damaged fortress of Helm's Deep and aided in the reconstruction of Rohan after the war.