Gollum is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. He was introduced in the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became a major character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the River-folk who lived near the Gladden Fields. In The Lord of the Rings, it is stated that he was originally known as Sméagol before he was corrupted by the One Ring, and later named Gollum after his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat".
Sméagol obtained the Ring by murdering his cousin Déagol, who found it in the River Anduin. Gollum calls the Ring "my precious", and it extended his life far beyond natural limits. Centuries of the Ring's influence have twisted Gollum's body and mind, and, by the time of the novels, he "loved and hated [the Ring], as he loved and hated himself." Throughout the story, Gollum is torn between his lust for the Ring and his desire to be free of it. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins finds the One Ring and takes it for his own, and Gollum afterwards pursues it for the rest of his life. In The Return of the King, Gollum finally seizes the Ring from Frodo Baggins at the Crack of Doom in Mount Doom in Mordor, but he falls into the fires of the volcano, where both he and the Ring are destroyed.
Commentators have treated Gollum as a monster: the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger suggests that Gollum is Tolkien's central monster-figure. Others have described Gollum as a psychological shadow figure for Frodo, and as an evil guide in contrast to the wizard Gandalf, the good guide. They have noted, too, that Gollum is not wholly evil, and has a part to play in the will of Eru Iluvatar, the God figure of Middle-earth, necessary to the destruction of the Ring. For Gollum's literary origins, scholars have compared Gollum to the shrivelled hag Gagool in Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and to the subterranean Morlocks in H. G. Wells's 1895 novel The Time Machine.
Gollum was voiced by Brother Theodore in Rankin-Bass's animated adaptations of The Hobbit and Return of the King, and by Peter Woodthorpe in Ralph Bakshi's animated film version and the BBC's 1981 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. He was portrayed through motion capture by Andy Serkis in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The "Gollum and Sméagol" scene in The Two Towers directly represents Gollum's split personality as a pair of entities. This has been called "perhaps the most celebrated scene in the entire film".
Name
The Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson, editor of The Annotated Hobbit, suggests that Tolkien derived the name Gollum from the Old Norse word or , meaning "gold, treasure, something precious"; this has the dative form . Another suggestion is that it derives from golem, the name of a being in Jewish folklore.
In Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien pretends that the name Sméagol is a "translation" of the Middle-earth name . The latter means "burrowing, worming in", and is hence rendered by a name based on the Old English verb smēagan, meaning "to scrutinize, investigate".
The rhyming name of his relative Déagol is from Old English , meaning "secretive, hidden". As with Sméagol, this is supposed to be a translation of an original Middle-earth name (in this case, ).
Appearances
The Hobbit Gollum is introduced in The Hobbit as "a small, slimy creature" who lives on a small island in an underground lake at the roots of the Misty Mountains. He survives on cavefish, which he catches from a small boat, and small goblins who stray too far from the stronghold of the Great Goblin. Over the years, his eyes have adapted to the dark and become "lamp-like", shining with a sickly pale light.
Bilbo Baggins stumbles upon Gollum's lair, having found the Ring in the network of goblin tunnels leading down to the lake. At his wits' end in the dark, Bilbo agrees to a riddle game with Gollum on the chance of being shown the way out of the mountains. In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum's size is not stated. Originally, he was also characterised as being less bound to the Ring than in later versions; he offers to give the Ring to Bilbo if he loses the riddle game, and he shows Bilbo the way out of the mountains after losing himself. To fit the concept of the ruling Ring that emerged during the writing of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien revised later editions of The Hobbit. The version of the story given in the first edition became the lie that Bilbo made up to justify his possession of the Ring to the Dwarves and Gandalf.
In the new version, Gollum pretends that he will show Bilbo the way out if he loses the riddle-game, but he actually plans to use the Ring to kill and eat him. Discovering the Ring missing, he suddenly realises the answer to Bilbo's last riddle – "What have I got in my pocket?" – and flies into a rage. Bilbo inadvertently discovers the Ring's power of invisibility as he flees, allowing him to follow Gollum undetected to a back entrance of the caves. Gollum is convinced that Bilbo knew the way out all along, and hopes to intercept him near the entrance, lest the goblins apprehend Bilbo and find the Ring. Bilbo at first thinks to kill Gollum in order to escape, but is overcome with pity, and so merely leaps over him. As Bilbo escapes, Gollum vows eternal hatred of him and the Baggins family name.
The Lord of the Rings
The chapter "The Shadow of the Past" in Tolkien's sequel novel The Lord of the Rings supplies Gollum with a backstory, which Gandalf relates to Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's cousin and heir.
Gollum's real name was Sméagol, and he had once been a member of the secluded branch of the early Stoorish Hobbits. He spent the early years of his life with his extended family under a matriarch, his grandmother. On Sméagol's birthday, he and his relative Déagol went fishing in the Gladden Fields. There, Déagol found the Ring in the riverbed after being pulled into the water by a fish. Sméagol fell immediately under the Ring's influence and demanded it as a birthday present; when Déagol refused, Sméagol fatally strangled him, taking the ring.
Sméagol later used the Ring for thieving, spying and antagonising his friends and relatives, who nicknamed him "Gollum" for the swallowing noise he made in his throat, until his grandmother disowned him. He wandered in the wilderness for a few years until he finally retreated to a deep cavern in the Misty Mountains. The Ring's malignant influence twisted his body and mind, and prolonged his life well beyond its natural limits.
Gollum left his cave in pursuit of Bilbo a few years after losing the Ring, but the trail was cold. However, he travelled to Mordor, where he met the monstrous spider Shelob and became her spy, worshipping her and bringing her food. He was eventually captured by Sauron's forces and tortured, revealing to Sauron the names of "Baggins" and "the Shire". His testimony alerted Sauron to the existence and significance of hobbits in general and the Baggins family in particular. He was freed, but was soon caught by Aragorn and placed in the care of the Wood Elves of Mirkwood. Gandalf interrogated him about the Ring. He escaped from them (with the help of Sauron's Orcs) and descended into Moria.
Gollum begins following the Fellowship of the Ring in Moria, but is noticed by Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn. He trails the Fellowship to the edge of Lothlórien. He picks up their trail again as they leave, following them all the way to Rauros, then pursues Frodo and Samwise Gamgee across the Emyn Muil when they strike out on their own towards Mordor.
Frodo and Sam confront Gollum in the Emyn Muil; Gollum nearly strangles Sam, but Frodo subdues him with his Elvish sword, Sting, which had once belonged to Bilbo. Sam ties an Elvish rope around Gollum's ankle as a leash, but the mere touch of the rope pains him. Taking pity on the wretched creature, just as Bilbo once had, Frodo makes Gollum swear to help them. Agreeing to the oath, Gollum swears by the Ring itself, and Frodo releases him. The unlikely company, guided by Gollum, makes their way to the Black Gate, the main entrance to Mordor. Frodo's kindness brings out Gollum's better nature, and he makes at least some effort to keep his promise. Sam, however, despises Gollum upon sight, and often warns Frodo of the creature's deception and slipperiness.
When they reach the Black Gate and find it well-guarded, Gollum offers to lead them toward an alternative entrance into Mordor. Along the way, Frodo and Sam are seized by Faramir, and Gollum slips away uncaught (but not unseen) and follows them. When Frodo allows Faramir to briefly take Gollum prisoner in order to spare his life, Gollum feels betrayed, and begins plotting against his new "master". Faramir finds out that Gollum is taking them to the pass of Cirith Ungol, an entrance to Mordor through the Ephel Dúath mountains. He warns Frodo and Sam of the evil of that place, as well as the treachery he senses in Gollum.
Frodo, Sam, and Gollum leave Faramir and climb the stairs to Cirith Ungol. Gollum slips away and visits Shelob, planning to betray the Hobbits by feeding them to her so that he can then get the Ring for himself. When he returns, he finds the hobbits asleep, and the sight of Frodo sleeping nearly moves Gollum to repent. However, Sam wakes up and speaks harshly to him, and the opportunity for redemption is lost.
Gollum follows through with his plan and leads Frodo and Sam into Shelob's Lair. However, he disappears after entering the Lair, causing the Hobbits to realize he betrayed them. When Shelob begins chasing Frodo, Gollum takes the opportunity to attack Sam, who defeats him, and Gollum retreats. Frodo is soon stung by Shelob, taken prisoner by Orcs, and hauled to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Sam rescues Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol and, dressed in scavenged Orc-armour, the two make their way across the plateau of Gorgoroth to Mount Doom. When Frodo and Sam almost reach their destination, Gollum attacks them, but Frodo throws him down. Sam faces Gollum on his own, letting Frodo continue up the mountain to finish their mission. Like Bilbo and Frodo before him, Sam spares Gollum's life out of pity, turns his back on the creature, and follows Frodo.
Moments later, Frodo stands on the edge of the Crack of Doom, but claims the Ring for himself and put it on. Gollum strikes, struggles with the invisible Frodo, bites off Frodo's finger, and seizes the Ring. Gloating over his prize and dancing madly, he steps over the edge and falls into the Crack of Doom, taking the Ring with him with a last cry of "Precious!" Thus, the Ring is destroyed and Sauron defeated. Sam curses Gollum after his death, but Frodo urges his friend to forgive him, as without him the quest would have failed.
Characteristics
In the first edition of The Hobbit, Tolkien made no reference to Gollum's size, leading illustrators such as the artist and author Tove Jansson to portray him as very large. Tolkien realised the omission, and added in later editions that Gollum was "a small slimy creature." The Two Towers characterises him as slightly larger than Sam; and later, comparing him to Shelob, one of the Orcs describes him as "rather like a spider himself, or perhaps like a starved frog."