Gollum
| House / Order | Stoor-kind of the River-folk |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | Hobbit (Stoor-kind, corrupted) |
| Status | Slain |
| Origin | The Gladden Fields / Vales of Anduin (origin); the Misty Mountains; Mordor |
| Born | c. T.A. 2430 |
| Died | 25 March T.A. 3019, in the Cracks of Doom |
| Weapon | Strangling hands; teeth |
| Fate | Bit the Ring from Frodo's hand and fell with it into the fire of Mount Doom |
| Portrayed by | Andy Serkis |
Gollum, born Sméagol, was a creature of Hobbit-kind twisted across centuries by his possession of the One Ring. Once one of the Stoor River-folk of the Vales of Anduin, he murdered to gain the Ring and was warped by it into a wretched, long-lived, hate-and-love-riven thing that dwelt in the dark beneath the Misty Mountains.
His role in the War of the Ring is decisive and terrible. Spared by Bilbo and again by Frodo, Gollum guided the Ring-bearers toward Mordor even as he plotted their ruin — and at the very end, in seizing the Ring for himself, he destroyed it, fulfilling the Quest that Frodo's will could not.
Origins
Sméagol lived around T.A. 2430 among a community of Stoors, the smallest and most secretive branch of Hobbit-kind, dwelling on the banks of the Anduin near the Gladden Fields. He was inquisitive and burrowing by nature, fond of roots and beginnings and the dark places under hills. On a fishing-trip his kinsman Déagol found a golden ring in the river-bed — the One Ring, lost there by Isildur long before. Sméagol coveted it at once, and strangled Déagol to take it. So began his long corruption.
Biography
The slow ruin
The Ring gave Sméagol unnatural long life but ate away his body and mind. Shunned by his people and at last driven out, he fled into the Misty Mountains, where he dwelt for nearly five hundred years beside a cold underground lake, gnawing at fish and at goblins, hating the Sun and the Moon, and muttering to the Ring, which he called his "Precious." From the swallowing sound in his throat his folk had named him Gollum.
Bilbo and the riddles
- Main article: Riddles in the Dark
In T.A. 2941, during the Quest of Erebor, Bilbo stumbled lost into Gollum's caves and chanced upon the Ring, which Gollum had at last let slip. The two played a riddle-game for Bilbo's life; when Bilbo escaped using the Ring's power of invisibility, Gollum pursued him with murderous fury, and his loss of the "Precious" set him on a path of pursuit that would last a lifetime. Bilbo's choice to spare him, out of pity, would later prove the hinge of the whole tale.
The hunt and the guide
Long afterward Gollum left the mountains to seek the thief "Baggins" and the Shire. He was captured and tormented in Mordor, where he gave up the names "Baggins" and "Shire" to Sauron's servants, then was held and lost again by the Elves of Mirkwood. At last he tracked Frodo and Sam into the Emyn Muil. Frodo captured him, and — moved by the same pity Bilbo had shown — spared him and took him as a guide. Gollum led them through the Dead Marshes to the Black Gate and then south toward the secret way at Cirith Ungol.
Betrayal and the end
Within Gollum two persons warred: Sméagol, who half-loved Frodo for his kindness, and Gollum, who plotted to win back the Ring at any cost. The crueler self prevailed. He led the hobbits into the lair of Shelob, hoping the spider would slay them and leave the Ring for him. The plan failed, but at the Cracks of Doom Gollum attacked again — and when Frodo claimed the Ring at the last, Gollum bit it, finger and all, from Frodo's hand. Dancing in triumph at the edge, he lost his footing and fell with the "Precious" into the fire, and so the Ring was unmade. As Gandalf had foretold, the pity that spared Gollum's worthless life ruled the fate of many.
Character
Gollum is the tale's great study of the Ring's corrupting power — a being neither wholly evil nor able to be good, ruined by a craving he cannot escape. His split self, "Slinker" and "Stinker" as Sam names them, is among the most vivid portraits of an addicted and divided soul in literature. Yet even in him a flicker of the old Sméagol survives, and the mercy shown to him, rather than his own redemption, becomes the instrument of the world's salvation.
Relationships
- Frodo Baggins — his captor and master, whose pity nearly reached the Sméagol in him.
- Samwise Gamgee — who distrusted and despised him, and was proven right.
- Bilbo Baggins — who won the Ring from him and spared his life.
- Déagol — his kinsman, whom he murdered for the Ring.
- Sauron — who tormented him and used his stolen knowledge.
Appearances
- The Hobbit ("Riddles in the Dark")
- The Fellowship of the Ring (history recounted by Gandalf)
- The Two Towers (Book IV)
- The Return of the King
In Peter Jackson's film trilogy (2001–2003), Gollum was realised through motion-capture and voice by Andy Serkis. The films dramatise the Sméagol/Gollum split as on-screen dialogues and add Gollum's framing of Sam to drive Frodo and Sam apart near the end.
Quotes
We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses.
Master! Master loves us... Sméagol will look after nice master.