Gollum

[Gandalf The Grey]

I wonder where Gollum lived before the ring came to him?:confused:

[Finglas]

He lived in a small fishing community on the river Anduin.

[Gandalf The Grey]

Thanks

[Agburanar]

That it? Not going anywhere else? I've got the atlas of Middle Earth and I can't remember if it showed whereabouts on the Anduin but I should imagine it was pretty close to the mountains, how did those hobbits spread across the mountains?

[luinilwen]

smeagol (gollum) must have dwelled near the gladden fields, for i believe it was the gladden river in which isildur fell (correct me if i'm wrong!).

akin to the fathers of the fathers of the Stoors"
from LOTR. gollum wasn't actually a hobbit, but one would assume most creatures who lived near the wilderland went over the mountain out of necessity due to the darkening of mirkwood.

just a suggestion

[Laurelyn]

Gandalf says at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring that Smeagol was most likely hobbit-related, not necessarily a hobbit.

[Lightice]

But appendix of LotR tells, that when shadow had risen at Angmar, some hobbits travelled to south, at banks of Anduin, and became fishing river-people. Thus, I'd say, that Gollum was a hobbit, but from time when three houses of halflings were just started to separate of each other (and came back together, long before Bilbo was born).

[Agburanar]

Wasn't the Gladden river the Anduin, or was it just a tributary of the great river? At some point it ran into the Anduin and, although under normal circumstance it would be unlkiely for a thing of that size to be swept along the ring probably moved by it's own will.

[Bregalad]

From the Tolkien Companion:
He was born in the 24th century of the 3rd age and was in origin closely akin to Hobbit-kind, for his family were of Stoorish blood but had returned to the vales of the Anduin after dwelling in Eriador, unlike most of their race. They dwelt at that time, not far from the banks of the Anduin river, near the Gladden Fields.
The Gladden Fields were the wet, green lands about the mouth of the river, Gladden, where it ran into the Anduin. The Gladden flows into the Anduin from a high path in the Misty mountains about 100 miles north of the Dimrill Dale.

[SamwiseGamgeeOTS]

that's interesting.........no i know.

[Eowyn Telcontar]

Um, I decided to re-read the Hobbit then the LOTR series, and I was reading Gollum's part, and its soo scary, he talks about the riverfolk and about remembering how he lived in a hole and... for some reason I thought it was scary because...er, I dunno. Just thought I would say it

[wahine]

Well, I have a few gollum questions.

Why did the ring effect him the way it did? Reshaping his form and breaking his mind?

By speculation, how long could Frodo or Bilbo owned the ring before they succumbed to Smeagol's fate?

And Why didn't Gollum, like Sauron, disappear when the ring was out of reach, or out of pocketses (closer to the fact)? *Meaning simply, the books said Sauron lost a physical form, why didn't Gollum lose physical form also? Yes, I know that Sauron's spirit was bond to the ring as the Nazgul were bond to him, but his physical form was gone >POOF!< finito!> I will reittirate why didn't Smeagol go as Sauron did when Bilbo FIRST took the ring from him?*

Aloha!
Leilani

[azalea]

Here is my quick, thrown-together answer: The Ring was a very powerful tool, and the bearer gained unnaturally long life. Gollum's form was not so much changed by the ring, but by very old age. He also of course lived beneath the mountains for a very long time, which affected his physicality. Many believe that Smeagol was not as naturally good a creature as Bilbo and Frodo, and thus he was more easily corrupted by the Ring, eg, he immediately desires the ring, and kills his friend for it. Because he bore it for so long, it's evil power naturally "poisoned" him further, until he became a crafty recluse full of hate and selfishness.
I believe it would obviously have taken a lot longer to corrupt the two hobbits to the extent that Smeagol was corrupted. But eventually they too would become like him, not exactly, but still retaining a wisp of their former personalities. I forget how long it was from the time Smeagol obtained the ring to the time he holed up in the Misty Mts., but I guess it might have taken another 50 or so years until Bilbo was completely overrun by its power. Just a guess.
Sauron was immortal, the creator of the ring, he had put much of his power into it, and was "killed" (at least his physical form was destroyed) in battle. So that is why he "disappeared." Gollum was mortal, and when Bilbo took it he didn't kill him, and since Gollum's spirit was not literally part of the ring, there was not the same kind of tie there. I don't know why Gollum didn't just die anyway when he no longer possessed the ring, because he was so old. But I guess then we would have had a different story, eh?;) I hope this answered your question a little. There are other posts in different forums that may also be of help in answering them, so you may want to do some searches.

Edit: If you mean when Sauron "disappeared" when the ring was destroyed, it's because he was the Ring in a sense, because he was already weakened from his original form of many years ago, and he had put so much of his power into the ring, and the immortal beings were basically concentrated power, in a manner of speaking. So, no power, no being. That was not the case w/ Gollum, a mere mortal, who lost the ring.

[wahine]

Aloha azalea super moderator.

I appreciate your lengthy and concise response, and my eyes have been opened. Kindof.

But okay I get the fact the Sauron was apart of the ring, and that he couldn't disappear or die fully until the ring was destroyed. Gollum, as you said, was a mere mortal, and his life was prolonged by the ring, as was Bilbo's. What confuses me is when the ring was gone, after a mere, what, 50 years of possessing the ring, and it being taken away, Bilbo aged drastically. Gollum, or Smeagol, was closing related to hobbits. So without the ring, after having it for 500 years, he would have (within reason), turned to dust. (for the Old Took had only lived to what, a hundred and something.) So Why, if this statment is Tolkienly correct, was Gollum not "by the book" so to speak?

[Ma Uai: Ua Nemti]

Here is my quick, thrown-together answer:

very quick i see

[wahine]

I'm glad you edited that Pharoah because I was going to ask you "What's quick?"

Anyway....

[Ma Uai: Ua Nemti]

...that Pharoah because...

See? See!?!?!? I'm not crazy! I am not CRAZY! I am your Pharoah! Your God-King! HAHAHAHA...........

sorry

[wahine]

...and so am I, and so am I, and so am I, and so am I...

:D

[azalea]

In answer to your question, I'm really not clear about that either. I believe that he was not technically a hobbit, but his kind were predacessors (sp?). I guess that would make them more man-like, I don't know. It's kind of a mystery. But my best guess for why he didn't just die is that he had it for SOOOO very long that some of whatever it is that brings long life to the bearer "rubbed off" on him and kept him going. But it is an inconsistency IMO that would have been good for Tolkien to address. Maybe he did in letters, I haven't read it yet.

originally posted by Ma Uai: Ua Nemti

quote:

very quick i see.

It's the ent in me, I guess!;)

[Nilore]

It was at Gladden fields

[Earniel]

I think Gollum's desire for the ring kept him alive. He wanted it back so badly, his only goal in life was to hold his precious. That why he left the mountain to go look for it again.

Bilbo on the other hand gave the ring up which is in my eyes rather significant. Though he would long from time to time for the ring it was no longer the only purpose in his life. He had his songs, his books and and his friends. In a way I guess Bilbo was 'freed' from the ring whereas Gollum who hadn't given up the ring voluntarily was not.

[Eothain]

he lived with hobbits

[L@ur@y Elven Warrior]

I think gollum should forget about the ring and help destroy it.

[Thrain]

Gollum should have just turned to dust but since he didn't i guess that he was still connected to it in some way or because he just needed it so much he just wasn't ready to give it up. It also says in the Hobbit that Gollum didn't use the ring very much so why did he live so long. Maybe he had some elf or dwarf blood in him! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!
Just kiddin' but an interesting tid bit is that Bilbo Baggins was the only owner of the ring who gave it up freely. Sauron had it chopped off, Isildur was killed, Deagol was killed by Smeagol, Smeagol lost it, Bilbo found it, then he gave it up, Frodo took it, Gollum bit it off Frodo, Gollum fell into firery pit and burned really into a crisp.

[Agburanar]

Salt and Gollum flavour!:D