The Death of Sméagol
		When recently mentioning my membership of Eredain to a group of friends, some had difficulty placing Tolkien. I tried to help out by naming The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings .... "Didn't he win the Nobel Prize for that ?" (I think he should have done) "No, that was The Lord of the Flies" And then there were some (thankfully) who knew a little more. "...there was a funny little man who blew smoke rings with his pipe and always wished he'd never left his own dear little home..." "...Bilbo..." "...Bilbo he was called, Bilbo the Hobbit, the book was called after him..." "...what a cute little name..." "...and there were lots of nasty giant spiders..." "...and there were those choir boys who went hunting pigs..." (still not understood that this is Tolkien?) "...and there was this slimy little being who sat at the bottom of a cave and solved riddles..." yessss, my precious "...Gollum..." Sooner or later, that's the bit almost everybody remembers. Gollum! But who is Gollum? Middle Earth historians (but not of course, these friends) will know that Gollum was a hobbit, or at least of hobbit kind. So let us delve into a little Middle Earth history: Before evil came to Greenwood, hobbits lived on the plain of the Anduin between that wood and the Misty Mountains. Many left these lands as the shadow rose and Greenwood became Mirkwood. The period of Hobbit migration was T.A. 1150-1300. They crossed the mountains, colonising Bree and other settlements in Eriador. The Shire was not reached until T.A. 1601. As Gollum-Sméagol was at home by the Anduin until c. T.A. 2470, we must presume that he was descended from those Hobbits who had decided to stay in their traditional lands despite being wedged between the growing evils of Mirkwood and the Orcs of the Misty Mountains. Hobbits, we know, are fond of their homes! Survival was tough under this constant threat, but toughness too is natural for Hobbits. We are told that Sméagol was curious and inquisitive-minded. He liked to delve into pools and tunnels (alone). He hid behind trees while Déagol fished. He was what one might call an individualist. That closely knit Hobbit society didn't fit him. Those hobbits had to hold together to survive, but Sméagol's interests were above those of the community. When Déagol found the Ring in the Anduin, Sméagol was attracted by it and murdered his friend. Suddenly Sméagol was powerful. He could move unseen. He could spy and discover secrets to hatch wicked plots. Although nobody knew the source of his power, it's effects made him unpopular. The malice of the ring ultimately led to his expulsion. Sméagol-Gollum then vanished from history for over 400 years, until Bilbo met him in that famous riddle contest under the Misty Mountains in T.A. 2941. The ring had increased his evil, but also lengthened his life. Here, on an underground lake, he had established his own kingdom. "yess my preciouss, all ours it iss" But can fear of the sun really drive a hobbit underground? Did the ring increase his longing for the dark? If he had had that longing before, he wouldn't have been out fishing with Déagol. If the Ring had given it to him, why didn't Bilbo or Frodo develop the same sympton ? We know that Gollum's eyes glowed in the dark, as was observed in the crossing of Moria. Hobbit eyes didn't! We also know that Shelob didn't kill Gollum although she could have done. Could age and evil alone have rendered Gollum unpalatable to Shelob? Remember Shelob ate even Orcs! And if Gollum were a Hobbit, why didn't he ever say so? And why did Bilbo not see anything hobbitlike in him? There are several references to people describing Gollum as frog-like. Can years of darkness and an evil ring make a Hobbit frog-like? Could it be that Gollum never was a Hobbit? This evidence may seem circumstantial, and each point can doubtlessly be explained in some way of its own. Of course, the reader may reply that Gollum had simply had the Ring far longer than Bilbo. In time, Bilbo too would have become like him. I doubt whether this is true. Sméagol had had the Ring for 478 years. Bilbo had it for 60 years. Plainly speaking, Sméagol had had it eight times as long: just eight times, not a hundred times. If the ring completely destroyed and enslaved Sméagol in those years, it must at least have started to do the same to Bilbo. The Ring definitely lengthened Bilbo's life, and it made him most reluctant to part with it. Once he even called it his Precious. If that's the beginning of the road to becoming Gollum the Second, it's going to need a long time yet! Bilbo's generosity at his Birthday Party and at other times shows the Ring had not yet really begun to turn him evil. The Ring worked very slowly. We have no evidence of Bilbo seeking the dark, fearing the sun, or eating raw flesh like a beast! And remember, the Ring had more opportunity to influence Bilbo than it did Sméagol. Bilbo had it close to his body on a chain day and night. Sméagol kept it in a secret place on his island. I come to a conclusion which must seem blasphemous to Gollum fans: I claim that the Ring did not have the same effect on Bilbo as it did on Gollum because Gollum was no Hobbit and Gollum was not Sméagol! Could it possibly be that the Hobbit Sméagol, leaving the Anduin decided to cross the Misty Mountains, possibly to seek his Hobbit brethren beyond. He knew of these through old lore, and he knew they were from his country. Maybe he hoped to start anew, or to live unseen among them, or to rise to great power through his evil plots and with the power of the ring? Parasitism and power are often related. "Sméagol the Great, Thain of all Hobbits." And then, cold and hungry, he decided to rest in a Goblin's cave in the Misty Mountains. He wanted to warm himself at their fire, to steal their food, and then to continue. Not even evil hobbits eat Goblins. It was the destiny of the Ring to seek power, not to hide from it. To be able to sleep in greater security, he found his way to lower tunnels where there were fewer Goblins. There dwelt Gollum, a creature as old as the mountains, a creature from an underworld who had been disturbed and awakened by the tunneling of the Orcs, as the Balrog had been aroused by the Dwarves of Moria. Sméagol, feeling safe, had taken off the Ring, or maybe Gollum's eyes could under certain conditions pierce the invisibility or recognise the shadow. There is evidence for the latter as Gollum was also able to see Frodo when he wielded the ring on the edge of the Cracks of Doom. Gollum engaged Sméagol in conversation, caught him off guard and ate him. In his conversation, he learnt some hobbit riddles, he learnt Sméagol's name, and he learnt about the world above. Gollum was a lonely creature and he lived in a lonely place. He brooded over what he heard for centuries. Maybe it was the only conversation he had ever had in all those years down there. Sméagol's fresh flesh was also to his liking, and so he longed for another Hobbit. He planned how to catch that second Hobbit, and brooded over his plans for centuries. Criminals often repeat their methods if they work succesfully once. The riddle game had been prepared years before Bilbo was even born. Gollum had selected the best of Sméagol's riddles and his own. Gollum was ready: "nice hobbitses my preciousss" But Gollum was not aware of the power of the Ring, and it was doubtlessly the Ring and not Bilbo's cleverness which foiled his plans. But why, may you ask, did Gollum refer to himself as Sméagol if he wasn't? He probably did this when Gandalf spoke to him in his captivity among the Elves, and certainly did so when guiding the Hobbits to Mordor. But could this not be the case of a murderer associating with his victim. He knew the life of Sméagol well. Maybe Sméagol conversed with him a long time. Gollum, brooding over this, was gradually unable to discern between his own past and Sméagol's. Cannibals ate their enemies not for only nourishment, but to win their strength and power. In the same way today, some Asians maintain that eating various body parts of rhinos, tigers and elephants gives them the strength of these creatures, with the saddest consequences for the survival of those animals. Horns, eyes, gall and even genitals are supposed to give the consumer the attributes of those body parts. And even in our culture, we tell of vampires prolonging their own miserable existence by drinking the blood of the living; and do Christians not eat the Body of Christ? Gollum became hobbit-like by eating a hobbit. Fish and goblins were mere nourishment, but Hobbits were different. Maybe his meeting and conversation with Sméagol was the only interesting event in his whole lonely life. He brooded over the hobbit's story until he believed it was his own. After all, Sméagol had brought him his "precious" and changed his entire life! "Yess, it's true my preciouss it iss"
	This article was published in Aglared 13 (1997). <== back to article list
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