"My Precious"

“My precious”

“This damn ring had derailed Gollum, no wonder he had gone insane”

Gollum

Gollum, originally known as Sméagol (or Trahald), was at first a River-folk, one of the three early Hobbit-types. Smeagol was an ordinary looking hobbit until he snatched the ring from Deagol. Gollum is the most mysterious and contradictory character in the fantasy adventure, "The Lord of the Rings". He got his nickname from a clicking sound he made from time to time with his throat which sounded like "Gollum". Such noises could express practically anything: excitement and delight, sadness and fury, and other feelings. His name “Gollum” was also the reason to be derived from this disgusting sound. In the Third Age, 2430, was the estimated year for “Gollum’s birth. Whereas March 25,(3019) was his death date. His life was extended far beyond its natural limits by the effects of possessing the One Ring,. At the time of his death, Sméagol was about 589 years old, a remarkable age for a creature that was once a Hobbit, Though once a Hobbit, Gollum’s 500 years in possession of the Ring has deformed his body and warped his mind. His life was a set of evilish practice. His chief desire in life was the possession of ring, to be enslaved by the ‘Precious”. He did a remarkable struggle, after losing the ring once, to regain it. Although he worships the evil, yet his struggle to regain he possession of ring is worth praising for. He pursued it for many years after Bilbo Baggins found it while walking in the Misty Mountains in the book The Hobbit. In the movies, he was a deuteragonist.

Stages to be Gollum

Smeagol to Gollum

Gollum's life can be divided into several periods, although gathered information is not that reliable. Before the Ring came into his possession, Gollum was a “Stoor-Hobbit”, lived near the Gladden Fields. His actual name was Smeagol, a translation of his Westron name, which means "burrow-deep". The ring perniciously worked on the hobbit's consciousness and Smeagol even strangled his friend in order to get the Ring. The Ring, possessed much greater powers and influences over the hobbit, unlike any common copper or tungsten rings would. However he called the Ring his “birthday present” his “Precious” and said it came from his grandmother, who had lots of beautiful things of that kind.

Corruption is
development

“Stoorish-Hobbit”, Sméagol spent the early years of his extended life under the strict and hard rules of a Matriarch, his grandmother. He was one of the Ring bearers. He became the fourth bearer of the One Ring in the Third Age (2463), after Sauron, Isildur and Deagol. Déagol was his cousin, and on Sméagol's birthday, they went fishing in the Gladden-Fields north of the mountains. It was there that Déagol found a gold ring, after being pulled into the water by a large fish. By seeing the irresistible charm of the ring, he felt the malicious appealing of ring and demands the ring as a “birthday present”. But, Deagol too was captivated by the charm of the ring and refused his demand. 

Deagol and Smeagol

Under the barbaric rage, Sméagol promptly fought with Deagol over the ring and strangled him to death and took the ring as his own.

Smeagol's first murder
for Precious

Sméagol was quickly corrupted further by the ring and banished by his people, turned by his grandmother out of her hole. Around the Third Age (2470), he began to live in a Cave in the Misty Mountains. The pernicious influence of the ring twisted his Hobbit body and mind, and gifted him with a prolonged age of 589 years, enough to live and suffer. He called it his "Precious" or his "Birthday Present".

My Precious

His constant telling of lies became one of his main qualities, which he wouldn't part with throughout the story. Only fear and Sauron's tortures made Smeagol say something close to the truth. Here what Gandalf says about Gollum: "Gollum is a liar, and you have to sift his words".

Life under the Misty Mountains

Gollum under Misty
 Mountains

For over four hundred years, he lived under the Misty Mountains. He lived on raw blind fish (which he caught from his small row boat), bats and Goblins when he could get them. Indeed, he made a song about raw fish that he uses as a riddle to Bilbo and much later sings to Frodo in a longer version. In later years, by practicing such food, he could not digest Hobbit and Elven food. As when Frodo offers him lembas bread given by elves, he could not eat and said: “We cannot eat Hobbits food, we must starve”. 

Gollum's food

Under the devastated spell of the Ring, he supposed to have a sort of dissociative identity disorder. That’s why when Frodo remind him of what he was and his name, he began to remember his name, identity and his good, strong personality as Smeagol. Here a distinction can be made between Smeagol and Gollum

Frodo reminding Gollum
his name

Smeagol,a positive, strong personality of will power who supports emotions like love and friendship, and adventurous for fishing. Whereas Gollum, a negative character all opposite of Smeagol, whose only purpose to live is The One Ring, his precious to serve his precious and ruin the one who intends to get it from him.

Years later, Samwise Gamgee would name the good personality "Slinker" (for his fawning, eager-to-please demeanor), and the bad personality "Stinker". The two personalities often quarreled when he talked to himself (as Tolkien put it, "through not having anyone else to speak to") and had a love/hate relationship, mirroring Gollum's love and hatred for the Ring and for himself.

Gollum living in the Misty Mountains

In the Misty Mountains

In Third Age, (2941), during the Quest of Erebor, the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins stumbled upon the subterranean lake on which he lived and found Gollum's Ring. Gollum had lost the Ring while squabbling with an imp goblin in the network of caves leading to the lake, though in fact it is more proper to say that the Ring abandoned Gollum, for it was known to have a will of its own. As Gandalf says later, it looks after itself, trying to get back to Sauron. After the infamous Riddle Game, during which Gollum was unaware of his loss, Gollum refused to show Bilbo the promised way out and plotted to murder him. When he went to get his "birthday present," however, he found that it was gone. He suddenly realized the true answer to Bilbo's last riddle—"What have I got in my pocket?" -, breaking into a rage and then begun to chase him in the tunnels. Bilbo inadvertently stumbled across the Ring's power of invisibility as he ran, allowing him to follow Gollum to the back entrance of the cave. There, Bilbo at first thought to kill Gollum, but was overcome with pity, so he jumped over him to escape. As Bilbo ran, Gollum cried out, "Thief! Thief, Baggins! We hates it forever!"; he did not immediately follow Bilbo out of fear of being caught by the goblins, and so lingered in his cave.

Gollum's precious has
 gone

Death

Gollum's Death

Moments later, Frodo was standing on the edge of the Crack of Doom, but, unwilling to destroy the Ring, claimed it for himself and put it on. Then Gollum attacked the hobbits again.

Gollum's attack on Frodo

 Gollum knocked out Sam with a rock whilst Frodo was invisible. But Gollum was able to track his footprints and jumped on Frodo. The two fought and finally Gollum bit off Frodo's finger with the ring on it.

What are the riddles that Gollum asked 

Bilbo in the Hobbit?

Gollum's Riddle Game
with Bilbo Baggins

The riddle game, which is a contest of knowledge and reasoning, appears in many famous writings. Each person takes turns asking a question. The first one who can't come up with the right answer is the loser. , while one of the oldest is Sophocles' Riddle of the Sphinx in Oedipus the King. You'll also find riddles in Rumpelstiltskin and Die Hard with a Vengeance. (Well, okay — that last one is actually a movie, but the riddle scene is really, really nerve-wracking!)

In The Hobbit, Bilbo and Gollum test their wits. If Bilbo wins, then Gollum has to show him the way out of a tunnel; if Bilbo loses, he becomes Gollum's dinner.

Can you guess the answers to Gollum's riddles?

Riddle 1:
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

Riddle 2:
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

Riddle 3:
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes out first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

Riddle 4:
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.

Riddle 5:
This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountain down.

Answers: (1) mountain, (2) wind, (3) dark, (4) fish, (5) time

Obviously, Bilbo wins and Gollum misses out on a delicious meal — otherwise, we wouldn't have The Lord of the Rings trilogy. What was Bilbo's winning question? What have I got in my pocket? Sneaky question! Bilbo had the Ring in his pocket.

Sources:

·        The Lord of Rings

·        The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth

·        Cliffs Notes

·        Gollum at Tolkien Gateway