Hey Nonnie! This got me thinking, and I did some riffing on your ask – I hope this is the sort of thing!

Oh they’re around, all those “Elves-Are-Doodyheads” Dwarves… I mean, the Nogrod thing has a minor effect on the characters even in the living world (Haban is a Firebeard, and I’m rolling with the old fanon idea of Nogrod = Firebeards, and Belegost = Broadbeams). It was a sticking point with Thranduil, remember. He was NOT a fan of Gimli in any way… but ESPECIALLY AND IN PARTICULAR NOT THE ¼ FIREBEARD PART. So, that bit of history is also informing the ‘Dwarves-Are-Doodyheads” Elves, as well…! 

Anyway, back to the Halls. There’s some mention of how the watchers of the Quest gain some notoriety around the Halls of Mahal. At first, the watchers who violently oppose the Gimli-Legolas relationship have a lot of external support. They behave in a way that suggests that they feel secure, even self-righteous. That’s because the rumours that are flying around the place are framed pretty exclusively from the Elves-Suck perspective.

(This means that Narvi has been very isolated in her beliefs, as well as in her behaviour, for all those centuries.)  

As the Elves and Dwarves of the living world make each small, agonisingly tiny step towards a better understanding of each other, those Dwarves who are a part of the watch all grudgingly accept the change, one by one. Slowly of course, but they do. They can’t really force it to NOT happen. I mean, it’s right there in front of their eyes, and all they can do is watch it happen. It’s sorta undeniable.

It’s tiny steps, sure – but there are a LOT of them. And they start small, and get so much bigger…

There’s Gimli and Legolas of course – but there’s also Merilin, who rescued Dori and saved the Queen Dowager’s life. There’s Laerophen who fought in the dark and on the secret stair, who cares for the young ones and welcomes Gimli as a brother. There’s Laindawar who travels East because it is right, not out of love for Dwarves but out of a love of freedom – freedom from darkness and fear. There’s the Lady Galadriel, who speaks to Gimli with the utmost respect and chides her own husband on Gimli’s behalf. 

And eventually, even the pale old Spider himself, Thranduil… who fed their starving people. 

So, the watchers of the Quest will be spreading a new story. It will not make a lot of people happy to hear it. There will be a lot of disagreements and debate… but what can any of the dissenters do about it? It’s happened, they can’t affect it, they’re dead. The only one with a hope of actually affecting these events is Thorin, and he’s firmly on team Gigolas these days (he’s probably Ship Captain, tbh). Heck, when the news about Kili’s silent, hopeless vigil gets around… a lot of folks are going to bite their pipes in half, heh. 

It will take a LONG time for the rumour mill in the wider Halls to stop grinding out the old tune. Resentment is the last thing to fade in any heart. 

(And yes, I think the Petty Dwarves are there, but they’d mostly be keeping to themselves and not really hobnobbing much. They were rumoured to be exiled Dwarves from the seven great clans, after all… ones that used their true-names openly. So yeah, I think they’d have their own areas and not really mix, by choice. Mim might set a trap or pick a fight or two for the sake of it though, bc he is TOTALLY That Guy.)