My top ten dwarves:
1. Balin
2. Gimli
3a. Fili (tie)
3b. Kili (tie)
5. Thorin Oakenshield
6. Bofur
7. Dwalin
8. Durin
9. Dain II
10. Nori
Balin got his a$$ beat in Moria. Also, where the f#*k is Gloin?
What did Gloin do aside from walking behind Oin all the way to Erebor and begetting Gimli?
Balin was killed by Durin's Bane, which you can't really fault him for. After the Battle of Azanulbizar the dwarves had pretty good reason to believe Moria was unoccupied, or at worst very lightly held. You can't really fault Balin for not being able to defeat a Balrog, or orcs supported by a Balrog.
Balin's my #1 because he was super cool to Bilbo when the others barely tolerated him. Even after Bilbo pulled that bush-league stunt making Balin look bad by sneaking past him wearing the ring, Balin was decent to him. He was a heck of a guy.
Gimli gets #2 because of his exploits with the Fellowship, and for helping pave the way to Elf/Dwarf reconciliation through his friendship with Legolas. To help patch up a feud that had raged for almost six thousand years (longer?) is a pretty good job.
Fili & Kili were cool, wore my favorite color to Bilbo's party, and fell honorably while defending Thorin "with shield and body, for he was their mother's eldest brother." That's some next-level love. Cool dudes.
Thorin comes in at #5 because he began the Quest of Erebor, and for his bravery at the Battle of Azanulbizar, and would have rated higher as the dwarf who reinstated the line of the King Under the Mountain, but he was greedy and blinded by rage and caused more hardship than necessary in the run-up to the Battle of Five Armies. Had Thorin bent his stiff neck, many men, elves & dwarves would have survived that battle.
