Gimli, son of Gloin was the dwarf rep in the Fellowship of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He might not have been given as much screentime as the dwarves in The Hobbit trilogy, but his movies were way better, so people might want to recreate him in Dungeons & Dragons.
Gimli's role in the story of The Lord of the Rings novels and movies was quite different. In the books, the story of the friendship between Gimli and Legolas was the main thrust of both of their roles, as such camaraderie between dwarves and elves was rare. Gimli's adoration for Galadriel and the fact that he sailed off to the Undying Lands with Legolas (being the only dwarf to ever make the journey) painted him as a special character, even if his role wasn't as important as that of Aragorn or Frodo. In the movies, Gimli was transformed into a comic relief character, especially after Merry & Pippin were separated from the Fellowship, and he mostly provided punchlines. The two versions of Gimli are loved by fans, though for very different reasons.
The version of Gimli we have created uses material from the Player's Handbook. Gimli is a mountain dwarf fighter, who will take on the Battle Master archetype when he reaches level three. Gimli's fighting style is all about strength and bearing down on enemies from the front lines. Using the basic stat spread listed on page 13 of the Player's Handbook and taking his race into consideration, Gimli's starting stats would be STR 17, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 13, WIS 12, and CHA 8.
Gimli will only get to choose one Fighting Style over the course of his progression, so Great Weapon Fighting would be the best option. Once he becomes a Battle Master, he will get to select from different combat maneuvers. Gimli will get to choose a total of nine different maneuvers (assuming he reaches level 15), and the best options for his combat style are Disarming Strike, Distracting Strike, Goading Strike, Lunging Attack, Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Rally, Sweeping Attack, and Trip Attack. If the variant Feat rules are used, then the best options for Gimli are Athlete, Charger, Dungeon Delver, Durable, Great Weapon Master, Savage Attacker, Sentinel, or Tough.
We don't know much about Gimli's life before the events of the first book, except that he traveled to Erebor after it had been freed and was sent to Rivendell by Dáin. It's safe to assume that his comrades were confident in Gimli's combat abilities if he was one of the people chosen to travel to Rivendell, so his background would be Soldier. His starting skills would be Athletics, Intimidation, History, and Survival. Gimli's starting gear would be a greataxe, a set of chainmail, a couple of handaxes, and an Explorer's Pack.
Like many other members of the Fellowship, Gimli fits comfortably into the Lawful Good alignment. He went on the journey to destroy the One Ring in order to ensure the safety of his people and had no expectations of reward (or even making it out in one piece) at the end. Gimli was initially unpleasant toward Legolas (a feeling that was reciprocated), but the two become close friends after adventuring together. Gimli's story was one of losing the prejudice that had been ingrained into him by his people, which acted as a secondary story to that of the destruction of the One Ring and could easily become part of a D&D campaign.
In the same way that Legolas was the prototype for many elven archers in D&D (especially after the release of The Lord of the Rings movies), Gimli formed the basis for many axe-wielding dwarven warriors that were created by players. While not the most complex character in terms of depth or build, a D&D version of Gimli acts as a great starting point for people who are learning about the rules and want to create something familiar, while still having the chance to develop him in different ways over time.