Gollum, a character in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth, is a hobbit ancestor who becomes pivotal in The Lord of the Rings. He is corrupted by the Ring of Power and ultimately destroys it, redeeming himself. His character has been interpreted psychologically and as a study of addiction.
Of all the characters in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth, Gollum is one of the most enduring. When he was first introduced to readers in The Hobbit, he’s a supporting character, a blend of comedy and creepiness. Tolkien significantly expands on the character, first named Sméagol in The Lord of the Rings, where he becomes arguably one of the most pivotal characters in the trilogy and the ultimate means by which Sauron’s evil Ring of Power is destroyed.
The construction of Gollum’s story prior to his appearance in Tolkien’s books comes to the reader through the exposition of Gandalf and in Tolkien’s indexes to the trilogy. The young adventurer Bilbo first meets Gollum when he is already around 500 years old. Having been a bearer of Sauron’s ring for an extended period of time has caused him to constantly warp, twist and grow more wicked in mind and body, and is unrecognizable to Bilbo as a former hobbit. Tolkien intended Gollum to be a hobbit ancestor, more closely related to Frodo than to Bilbo. He associates the character with the first Stoors, who colonized part of the Shire and have relations especially with the Brandybucks, a tribe to which Frodo’s mother belonged.
This relationship is no accident, and Gollum’s longtime possession of the ring shows how hobbits are able to endure the ring without dying for long periods of time. Men tend to become corrupted more quickly by it and quickly fade or become ghosts under its influence. Hobbits, by contrast, may resist this trend, as Bilbo has done for 61 years. Of course, the long possession of such an instrument of evil would corrupt anyone, and almost instantly corrupts Gollum, who kills his friend Deagol soon after finding the ring. There is much scholarly controversy as to whether Gollum was already partially corrupt, since he is so quick to kill to keep what he later refers to as “his birthday present” or “valuable”.
After killing his friend, Sméagol earns the nickname “Gollum” due to the throat noise he makes that he appears to swallow, and is driven from his home, as his evil tendencies grow. Finally, the sunlight drives him under the Misty Mountains, where he preys on fish and unsuspecting young goblins. He has lived nearly 400 years in the mountains when Bilbo first meets him, and he has his famous game of ‘riddles in the dark’, in exchange for the precious ring.
The desire for the ring, believed lost forever by the evil wizard Sauron, draws Gollum back into the world, where he eventually makes his way to Mordor, and under torture reveals that the ring still exists. This gives Sauron the impetus to gather his strength and seek the ring, since it would represent certain victory for him, and he learns about hobbits and the name Baggins in the process.
While returning from Mordor, Gollum is taken by the Wood Elves of Mirkwood and held captive. He escapes, setting him on the path to Frodo – now the ring bearer – and perhaps setting his feet on a journey that will ultimately earn him redemption. The destruction of the ring is ultimately Gollum’s doing, and an important point to remember in analyzing his character.
One of Tolkien’s greatest philosophical positions in The Lord of the Rings is his concept of piety. When Frodo wishes Bilbo had killed Sméagol, Gandalf replies: “Pity? It was the Pietà that stopped his hand. Pity and Mercy… Be sure that he suffered so little harm from evil and finally escaped because he began to possess the ring… with mercy. In another reply to Frodo, Gandalf cannot agree that Gollum should be slain, “because even the wisest cannot see all ends”.
In a parallel story to Sméagol’s, Gandalf offers the same mercy to Saruman, even after Saruman has caused the deaths of many. While this mercy is rejected, the idea of offering mercy rather than death to even the most wicked suggests that ultimate good in Tolkien’s interpretation means never surrendering to those who seem to be beyond redemption. It could be, and has been read by some as a compelling argument against execution. This reading suggests that Tolkien is implying that the wise person can never judge someone as completely lost in hope or goodness.
Other modern interpretations of Sméagol focus on the psychological. Some consider it a study into the nature of addiction, while others rate Gollum as Tolkien’s apt description of multiple or dissociative personality disorder. The character clearly has two personalities, even if they interact with each other, which is not always a feature of this disease. Frodo’s servant Sam Gamgee later calls the personalities “Slinker and Stinker”, and Gollum draws a distinction between himself and his Sméagol personality, one more eager to please and more hobbit-like.
Frodo, in exercising mercy on Gandalf, refers to the character as Sméagol, hoping to bring out the more desirable personality and reminding him that he was once much like Frodo and Sam. This point is in fact emphasized by Tolkien who in describing Gollum watching Frodo sleep, suggests that he resembles “an exhausted old hobbit, dwarfed by the years which had taken him far beyond his time…” but then when accused of “sneaking” from Sam, crouches back “like a spider”. There is a strong argument that Gollum is torn, between a pitiful old object to the winds of fate, and a character full of mischief. He even refers to himself as “we” rather than using first person pronouns.
Another psychological reading of the character sees him as the shadow personality of Frodo. If Frodo allows Sméagol to be mastered, he will become him and be ruled by the ring. But in all interpretations of the Jungian hero, the route to personality integration is to utilize those shadow aspects of the personality so that the individual controls rather than being controlled by the shadow. In this sense, like Frodo’s shadow, Frodo using Gollum as a guide in the dark or underworld setting of Mordor shows integration of personality or, in Jungian terms, individuation of self.
A more straightforward approach to reading Sméagol is to simply look at his character progression. From The Hobbit to The Rings, he becomes of greater importance. Though he can’t find redemption in life, his conflict between his two personalities forces him to develop. He is as conflicted about his love for Frodo as he is about his desire for the ring. Both aspire to love and reject it by choosing evil. Yet it is in his ultimate choice to snatch the ring from Frodo just as Frodo chooses evil and dominion over the ring, that Gollum’s character reaches fulfilment.
In a wild move, Gollum bites off Frodo’s ring finger and then dances in celebration that he has regained his “precious”. This horrific act causes Sméagol to lose his footing and fall straight into the fiery lava of Mount Doom, and by this act he destroys himself and most of the evil in the world. It’s harsh redemption, but it justifies Gandalf’s view that pity and mercy are more appropriate for dealing with evil than aggression.
This is where the film version of Peter Jackson seriously goes astray for many lovers of Tolkien’s works. Gollum’s very act, his choice of evil and his jubilation are self-destructive. Frodo does not push him into the lava, as depicted in the film, but merely witnesses it, and is thus saved from becoming twisted and evil, or from becoming a mere copy of his dark guide to Mordor.
While Sméagol is serious and important, there is a lot about him that is also ridiculous and very funny. He appreciates and loves language, as evidenced by his love of “puzzles in the dark”. He sometimes sings, with many readers especially enjoying his “fish” song. Tolkien gives the character an appreciation for sarcasm, a pleasure to joke and some of the funniest jokes in Rings. The interaction between Sam and Gollum is especially fun to watch. Like Shakespeare, Tolkien realizes that tragedy and darkness require some comic levity, and he uses the character of him for that purpose, just as he uses Merry and Pippin in later and earlier points of Rings.
The complexity of the character, the growth of the character and the ability to play a character in multiple ways give Gollum/Sméagol a long lasting literary importance. What begins as a simple adventure for Bilbo with a strange and evil creature ends The Lord of the Rings with a certain majesty and bravado. The character allows Frodo to ultimately come across as one who exercises mercy to the fullest of his abilities. Though wounded and possibly facing death, he tells Sam, “If it weren’t for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the Ring. The Quest would have been in vain, even to the bitter end. So let’s forgive him…”
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