In common with the ringbearers, Bilbo and Frodo, he, too has suffered the effects of the Ring. Thus Gollum’s connection with the hobbits is not simply to do with his origins. The effect of the Ring is an assault on the mind comparable to that described in George Orwell’s 1984, and Tolkien compares the suffering of a ringbearer to that of “those who now issue from prison ‘brainwashed,’ broken, or insane, praising their torturers…” 13 Burn writes that “There exists the possibility of being placed in positions beyond one’s power.” 12 Tolkien, in his draft of a letter to Miss J. The effect of the Ring has little to do with the morals of the ringbearer. Now that Frodo possesses it, the Ring begins to work its evil on Frodo’s mind as it once worked on the mind of Gollum, despite the fact that Frodo’s moral sense is strong, and Gollum’s moral sense has, from the first, been weak. He represents what Frodo himself might become. “Longevity or counterfeit ‘immortality’ … is the chief bait of Sauron – it leads the small to a Gollum, and the great to a Ringwraith.” 11Īs Frodo travels across Middle-earth with the Ring, he becomes painfully aware that Gollum is no alien creature. Tolkien, in one of his letters, explains that Gollum represents the long-term effect of the Ring on one such as Frodo. For the Ring begins to work on his own mind in much the same way. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all.” 10Īs the story progresses, Frodo begins to understand the torment that Gollum has gone through.
“The thing was eating up his mind … and the torment had become almost unbearable.Īll the “great secrets” under the mountains had turned out to be just empty night: there was nothing more to find out, nothing worth doing, only nasty furtive eating and resentful remembering. Gandalf also describes to Frodo the huge effect that the One Ring has had on Gollum over his many years of possession. It was actually pleasant, I think, to hear a kindly voice again, bring up memories of wind, and trees, and sun on the grass, and such forgotten things.” 9 “There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own, and light came through it, as through a chink in the dark: light out of the past. Gollum is a hobbit severed from his people by centuries of loneliness, and Gandalf tells Frodo that when Bilbo met him, Gollum was “not wholly ruined.” Right from the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien emphasises that Gollum, repulsive as he might be, still has a connection with the world of the benign hobbits, as that is where his origins lie.
“I can’t believe that Gollum was connected with hobbits, however distantly,’ said Frodo with some heat. Having heard a description of this creature, it therefore comes as a shock to Frodo when Gandalf reveals, at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, that Gollum was originally a hobbit. He is thin and emaciated, but surprisingly strong. 5 He runs “with bent back and with hands near the ground, like a beast,” although he is “not of beast-shape.” 6 He is a skilful swimmer and climber. Gollum has six teeth, and has distinctive eyes that glow in the dark like “green lamps.” 4 He apparently possesses the ability to switch his luminous eyes on and off at will. Later, this description is expanded (in both “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”) to include a wealth of detail, both humorous and repulsive. When we first meet him in “The Hobbit”, he is described simply as a small, slimy creature. The author’s physical description of Gollum leads the uninitiated reader to wonder what kind of creature he is. Straddling both worlds is Gollum, one of the most psychologically complex characters ever created by Tolkien. 2 In contrast, the focus of the malign characters is on the aggrandisement of the self and the negation of others. Tolkien’s benign characters live in a world of “unforced, unhurried activity, practical and creative.” 1 Living in peaceful societies such as Lothlórien or the Shire, they enjoy “the happiness of grateful contemplation of beauty,” and exhibit an intellectual curiosity with regard to the wider world. Tolkien contrasts two ways of thinking, two ways of living.
The Small, Slimy Creature: A closer look at Gollum
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