Great Character: Gollum (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy)
He’s one of the most fascinating characters in contemporary literature, perhaps the ultimate Trickster figure: Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings,” the epic fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Per Tolkien Gateway:
Originally known as Sméagol, he was later named Gollum after the disgusting gurgling noise he made in his throat. His birth can be estimated to be around the year 2430 of the Third Age. His death date is given as March 25, 3019 of the Third Age. His life was extended far beyond its natural limits by the effects of possessing the One Ring. At the time of his death, Gollum was about 589 years old, a remarkable age for a creature who was once Hobbit like, but he had been deformed and twisted in both body and mind by the corruption of the Ring. His chief desire was to possess the Ring which had enslaved him, and he pursued it for many years after he lost it.
Once a Stoorish Hobbit, Sméagol spent the early years of his life living with his extended family under a Matriarch, his grandmother. This was during the Watchful Peace, when Sauron was in the East.
Around the year T.A. 2463 Sméagol became the fourth Bearer of the One Ring, after Sauron, Isildur, and Déagol. Déagol was a close relative, and on Sméagol’s birthday they went fishing in the Gladden Fields. It was there that Déagol found a gold ring, after being pulled into the water by a large fish. Sméagol demanded the ring as a birthday present and strangled Deágol when he refused.
Sméagol was quickly corrupted further by the ring and, banished by his people, was forced to find a home in a cave in the Misty Mountains. The Ring’s malignant influence twisted his Hobbit body and mind and prolonged his life far beyond its natural limits. He called it his “Precious” or his “Birthday Present,” the latter as a justification for killing Déagol.
He lived in the Misty Mountains for over four hundred years, living on raw fish, which he caught from his small raft, and Goblins, and in later years he found Hobbit and Elven food repulsive.
During his centuries under the Ring’s influence, he developed a sort of multiple personality disorder: Sméagol, his “good” personality, still vaguely remembered things like friendship and love, while Gollum, his “bad” personality, was a slave to the Ring and would kill anyone who tried to take it. Years later, Samwise Gamgee would name the good personality “Slinker” (for his fawning, eager-to-please demeanour), and the bad personality “Stinker”. The two personalities often quarrelled 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.
We see evidence of the character’s divided self in this scene from The Return of the King, Gollum played brilliantly by Andy Serkis:
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” A line from Lord of the Rings? No, an observation from the book “Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics” by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, a graduate of Yale Divinity School. The book was published in 1932. Perhaps it was an influence on Tolkien who introduced Gollum in his book “The Hobbit,” published in 1937. Even if not, Niebuhr’s point is just about the perfect description of the story’s central theme as evidenced by the sway of the Ring over anyone in its vicinity. In this regard, Gollum can be seen to be the physicalization of the monstrous pull of power on a human [or hobbit] soul.
Given Gollum’s lifelong obsession with the Ring, his “Precious,” it is all the more dramatic that in the end, it is not Frodo who throws the ring into the fires of Mordor, but Gollum who destroys the ring through his own fatal plunge:
Thus in the end, the Trickster proves to be a hero, albeit inadvertently, adding yet another layer of meaning onto the concept that absolute power does corrupt — and destroy — absolutely.
Who else finds Gollum fascinating — and great — character?
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