Race Gollum / Sméagol On the other hand, in Tolkien's recordings of The Lord of the Rings he also pronounced it "SMEE-gol" ['smi:gol] or "SMEE-AH-GOL" ['smi:.agol], suggesting that éa should either be pronounced as a hard "e"-sound or as a diphthong ea, and not as two distinct vowels "e" and "a". [T 6], Frodo and Sam confronted Gollum in the Emyn Muil; Gollum nearly strangled Sam, but Frodo subdued him with his Elvish sword, Sting, which had once belonged to Bilbo. [37] He won a Dora Award for the performance. Frodo and Sam were caught by Faramir, and Gollum followed them. Faramir found out that Gollum was taking them to the pass of Cirith Ungol, an entrance to Mordor through the Ephel Dúath mountains. Gollum followed them all the way, seeking a chance to surprise them and take the Ring. Culture Gollum visited the great spider Shelob, child of Ungoliant, because he was planning to betray the Hobbits by turning them to Shelob for food and then take the Ring for himself. 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Déagol is played by New Zealand actor Thomas Robins. He would cringe and flinch, if they stepped near him or made any sudden movement, and he avoided the touch of their elven-cloaks; but he was friendly, and indeed pitifully anxious to please. He fished the waters of the Misty Mountain's underground lake for centuries in almost complete darkness and almost anywhere he had to after leaving his cave in search of the Ring and the "thief" Baggins. [T 6] He was unable or unwilling to eat the lembas bread Sam and Frodo carried with them, and rejects cooked rabbit in favour of raw meat or fish. Tolkien Encyclopedia, suggests that Gollum may derive from H. G. Wells's Morlocks in his 1895 novel The Time Machine. When Déagol refused, Sméagol promptly flew into a barbaric rage and fought with Déagol over the ring, choking him to death and taking the ring as his own. [2] In Tolkien's Red Book of Westmarch, the name "Déagol" is supposedly a translation of the "original" name in the author-invented language of Westron, "Nahald", with the same meaning. [T 9] According to Sam in The Fellowship of the Ring, he had "paddle-feet, like a swan's almost, only they seemed bigger" when Gollum was following their boat by paddling a log down the River Anduin. He was freed, but was soon caught by Gandalf and Aragorn, who interrogated him about the Ring and placed him in the care of the Wood Elves of Mirkwood. [12] All the same, McGregor notes that Arthur Morgan identified evident parallels, starting with Alberich's curse: there is only one ring; it is cursed; it gives limitless power; owning it brings only misery, and it consumes its owner, who becomes its slave; its owner is called the Lord; owning it is living death. On January 15, 3019, the Fellowship was divided when Gandalf disappeared while fighting a Balrog (though he later returned). Hair Unlike the novel, Gollum's fall into the Cracks of Doom is caused when Frodo wrestles him off the precipice. He made his way south into Mordor where all evil was being drawn at the time, discovering the secret stair located near Minas Morgul and surviving an encounter with Shelob. Frodo, Sam, and Gollum left Faramir and began crossing the Morgul Vale and proceeded to climb the stairs of Cirith Ungol, in the border-mountains of the Ephel Dúath (Mountains of Shadow). When… Actor However, Sam woke up and spoke harshly to him, and the opportunity for redemption was lost. [1], The rhyming name of his relative "Déagol" is from Old English dēagol, meaning "secretive, hidden". He is also able to climb effortlessly straight down cliffs impossible to climb by Sam and Frodo, and can make long leaps. [42] He lived in the Misty Mountains for over four hundred years, living on raw blind fish (which he caught from his small row boat), bats and small Goblins when he could get them. At his wits' end in the dark, Bilbo agreed to a riddle game with Gollum on the chance of being shown the way out of the mountains. [27], In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gollum is a CGI character voiced and performed by actor Andy Serkis. Tolkien had a habit in his writing to put diacritics in varying places, as can also be seen in the name Eärendil, which also occurs spelt Ëarendil. [18] They mention also the cultural background of the late 19th century, combining economic recession, fear of moral decline and degeneration leading indeed to eugenics, and a "for-the-moment hedonism" in the face of these concerns. He survived on cave fish, which he caught from a small boat, and small goblins who strayed too far from the stronghold of the Great Goblin. 2-year-old female. Commentators have described Gollum as a psychological shadow figure for Frodo and as an evil guide in contrast to the wizard Gandalf, the good guide. Biographical information Gollum slipped away and visited Shelob, planning to feed the hobbits to her and then get the Ring for himself when she was done. This scene was originally earmarked for The Two Towers, but was held back because the screenwriters felt audiences would relate better to the original Sméagol once they were more familiar with who he became. He is shown without the scars he received later from his time in Mordor, and with slightly more hair. Voice As Bilbo escaped, Gollum cried out, "Thief, Thief, Thief! Gollum=Stinker, Smeagol=Slinker. [44], In 2014, the Turkish physician Bilgin Çiftçi shared an image comparing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Gollum; he was banned from serving in Turkish civil service,[45] and Erdoğan sued Çiftçi for insulting him. [3], Gollum's spying eyes in the Mines of Moria. He notes, too, that both Gollum and Gandalf are servants of The One, Eru Ilúvatar, in the struggle against the forces of darkness, and "ironically" all of them, good and bad, are necessary to the success of the quest. He could spot and catch fish in almost any level of light and waters. when he washed the mud away, there in his hand lay a beautiful golden ring; and it shone and glittered in the sun, so that his heart was glad". Gollum knocked out Sam with a rock whilst Frodo was invisible. According to the Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide by Brian Sibley, Legolas is 2,931 years old, which was a date decided by the screenwriters for the film adaptations. I love being recognized! Sam cursed Gollum after his death, but Frodo urged his friend to forgive him, as without him the quest would have failed. Gollum's toughness is said to stem from his hobbit roots. Bouchard's CGI Gollum looks much like the Gollum of the Jackson films. [33] Wizard magazine rated Jackson's Gollum as the 62nd-greatest villain of all time, from among 100 villains from film, television, comics and video games. Thus, the Ring was destroyed and Sauron defeated. When Frodo allowed Faramir to briefly take Gollum prisoner, however, he felt betrayed, allowing the "Gollum" personality to take total control. In the Jackson adaptation of The Two Towers, Faramir describes him as "having an ill-favored look." During his centuries under the Ring's influence, he developed a sort of dissociative identity 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. Gollum, originally known as Sméagol (or Trahald), was at first a Stoor, one of the three early Hobbit-types. Both names carry the meaning "apt to hide, secretive". 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. The groundbreaking CGI character was built around Serkis' voice, movements and expressions, sometimes by using a motion capture suit which recorded his movements and applied them to the digital character, and sometimes by the more laborious process of digitally "painting out" Serkis' image and replacing it with Gollum's, giving the appearance of a small, skeletal, thin and gaunt creature with large, beady eyes and small strands of brown hair. Hobbits [39], The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a video game centered on Gollum, is currently under development by Daedalic Entertainment. Serkis based the iconic "gollum" throat noise on the sound of his cat coughing up hairballs. Gollum while leading Frodo and Sam through Ithilien. [T 3] In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum's size is not stated. [38], Gollum appears in a 1989 three-part comic book adaptation of The Hobbit, scripted by Chuck Dixon and Sean Deming and illustrated by David Wenzel. Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien § Jungian archetypes, Christianity in Middle-earth § Moral conflict, The Fairytale Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, "Cain-Leviathan Typology in Gollum and Grendel", "Temptation and the Ring in J.R.R. Assisted by Orcs he escaped them, and set off looking for the Shire. Bilbo inadvertently discovered the Ring's power of invisibility as he fled, allowing him to follow Gollum undetected to a back entrance of the caves. Baggins! [26], Kari Väänänen portrayed Gollum (Finnish: Klonkku) in the 1993 live-action television miniseries Hobitit [The hobbits] produced and broadcast by the Finnish network Yle. In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Serkis himself appears in a flashback scene as Sméagol before his degeneration into Gollum. Around the year TA 2463, Sméagol became the fourth Bearer of the One Ring, after Sauron, Isildur, and Déagol. Like Bilbo and Frodo before him, Sam spared Gollum's life, turned his back on the creature, and followed Frodo. As in the previous entry, many were not clear on how to tell who was taking over Smeagol’s thoughts and actions. Andy Serkis Here Bilbo's long-ago kindness in sparing Gollum's life was rewarded, for Gollum then teetered on the edge of the great pit, overjoyed with finally reclaiming his "precious", then lost his balance and fell in, taking the Ring and finger with him along with a final cry of "Precious!". [46] Jackson stated that the image concerned was of Sméagol, not the evil Gollum. There, Déagol found the Ring in the riverbed after being pulled into the water by a fish. But from the vague numbers, Smeagol had it 500 years. With Tenor, maker of GIF Keyboard, add popular Gollum Birthday animated GIFs to your conversations. Serkis reprised his role of Gollum in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in which his appearance is much like that of his portrayal in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Ring's malignant influence twisted his body and mind, and prolonged his life well beyond its natural limits. They came against all odds to the fiery volcano Mount Doom. [T 6] The unlikely company, guided by Gollum, made their way to the Black Gate, the main entrance to Mordor. But Gollum was able to track his footprints and jumped on Frodo. He passed through Moria, but could not make it out of the West Gate. When Sméa… [T 4] Nelson notes that Tolkien was a famed scholar of the Old English poem Beowulf, which he acknowledged was a major source of his own fiction;[T 18] and that the Beowulf poet calls the monster Grendel one of the sons of Cain. Gollum canoeing in his cave in the 1977 animated film. I love hoarding toys almost as much as I love cuddles. . He was born c. TA 2430. His birth can be estimated to have happened in the year TA 2430, as the majority of the hobbit species was 33, Sméagol found the Ring in 2463 and he was very insistent about the Ring being his birthday present.Around the year TA 2463, Sméagol became the fourth Bearer of the One Ring, after Sauron, Isildur, and Déagol. Over the years, his eyes adapted to the dark and became "lamp-like", shining with a sickly pale light. There, Frodo was stung by Shelob, taken prisoner by Orcs, and hauled to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Riddles in the Dark. 2941, during the Quest of Erebor, Bilbo stumbled upon the subterranean lake on which Gollum lived and found the Ring. For if Gollum did not stay with Sam and Frodo to the end of Mordor, Frodo's inability to destroy the Ring would have alerted Sauron to it, and all good in the world of Middle-earth would disappear. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit[T 1][T 2] of the River-folk who lived near the Gladden Fields. Some have identified many such "pairings", such as Denethor as a shadow for Théoden, Boromir for Aragorn, Saruman for Gandalf, Ted Sandyman for Sam Gamgee, the Barrow-wight for Tom Bombadil, and Shelob for Galadriel, but the Gollum/Frodo pairing is by far the most widely accepted. We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever! [12][T 4], Much later, Bilbo blunders into Gollum's cave and finds the Ring by accident; he holds off Gollum with his sword, and escapes by winning a peaceful battle, a riddle contest; Siegfried is led by Mime to the dragon's den, kills Fafner to save himself from being eaten; and takes the ring as a bird's voice suggests it. [43] Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, "File:The Hobbit (1966 film) - Gollum.jpg", "Middle-earth's Weirdest Movie: Rankin-Bass' Animated The Return of the King", "Tolkienin taruista on tehty tv-sarja: Hobitien ilme syntyi jo Ryhmäteatterin Suomenlinnan tulkinnassa", "Andy Serkis plays dual roles for 'The Hobbit, "Review: Lord of the Rings Fan Film The Hunt for Gollum is an Impressive Achievement", "Lord of the Rings doomed to epic defeat". He usually adds -es to the end of a plural, resulting in words such as "hobbitses" instead of hobbits or "birdses" instead of birds. [35], Gollum is the eponymous character in The Hunt for Gollum, an independently produced 2009 prequel to the Jackson films directed by Chris Bouchard. The same element appears in Gollum’s real name, Sméagol .” To this, I would add that Tolkien had already addressed this point in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings , where he wrote: (a question at first not meant as a riddle, but as a self-asked one)—and flew into a rage. The decision to include this scene meant that Raitt and Jamie Beswarick had to redesign Gollum's face for the second and third films so that it would more closely resemble Serkis'. Along the way, it was revealed that Gollum, having lived in a cave for hundreds of years, feared both the sun and the moon, calling them the 'Yellow Face' and the 'White Face' respectively. He warned Frodo and Sam of the evil of that place, as well as the treachery he sensed in Gollum. [T 3] In The Two Towers, rangers of Ithilien wonder if he is a tailless black squirrel. The name Gollum was derived from the sound of his disgusting gurgling, choking cough. See more ideas about the hobbit, lord of the rings, lotr. [13], McGregor further compares Déagol's delight in the ring with the Rhinemaidens' innocent rejoicing in their gold: "And behold! History Gollum was born over 500 years ago, and was given the name of Sméagol. Titles His skin color was also redesigned from a dark bluish-gray to a lighter, more pale color (The brief glimpses in The Fellowship of the Ring are of an older portrayal of Gollum.). When forming the present tense of verbs, he frequently extends the third person singular ending -s to other persons and numbers, resulting in constructions like "we hates it" (by analogy with "he hates it"). Additionally, he can run extremely fast, strangely on all fours. 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. He wandered in the wilderness for a few years until he finally retreated to a deep cavern in the Misty Mountains. Gagool is described as seeming to be[18], a withered-up monkey [that] crept on all fours ... a most extraordinary and weird countenance. In both Ralph Bakshi's animated film of The Lord of the Rings (1978) and the BBC's 1981 radio serial, the voice of Gollum is supplied by Peter Woodthorpe. Sméagol obtained the Ring by murdering his relative Déagol, who found it in the River Anduin. When he went to get his "birthday present," however, he found that it was gone. He escaped them (with the help of Sauron's Orcs) and descended into Moria. Déagol is an Old English translation of the "original" Westron name 'Nahald'. Agreeing to the oath, Gollum swore by the Ring itself, and Frodo released him. It was then that he discovered the One Ring, half-buried in the river-bed. Physical description He became the third bearer of the One Ring, after Isildur, when he found it in the Gladden river (a tributary to the Anduin) with his cousin Sméagol. that he uses as a riddle to Bilbo and much later sings to Frodo in a longer version. Déagol was born some time between TA 2400 and TA 2430. In 1992, a genus of intertidal sea slugs was named Smeagol in reference to the original name of the Tolkien character. The two fought and finally Gollum bit off Frodo's finger with the ring on it. He is emaciated and gaunt, but possesses a vicious, wiry strength; Aragorn states, "his malice gives him a strength hardly to be imagined." [16] Finally, at the end of the quest inside Mount Doom, Gollum takes the Ring from Frodo, and causes it to be destroyed, completing the quest successfully at the moment that Frodo had announced that he would keep the Ring. It is a form that the Old English word smygel ‘burrow’ might have had, if it had survived. This style was praised by the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey who described the Jackson interpretation as "masterful" and the additional scenes as "especially good". Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring", "Two Rings to Rule Them All: A Comparative Study of Tolkien and Wagner", J.R.R. Discovering the Ring missing, he suddenly realised the answer to Bilbo's last riddle—"What have I got in my pocket?" Andy Serkis portrays Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. In Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, the name Sméagol is said to be a "translation" of the Middle-earth name Trahald (having to do with the idea of "burrowing", and rendered with a name based on Old English smygel of similar meaning). Birthday: 08/01/18 // Adoptiversary: 04/09/19 Smeagol vanishes and the scene changes to one amongst rocks he is grimacing, dirty and ragged. As Gandalf says later, it looks after itself, trying to get back to Sauron. Sam, however, despised Gollum upon sight, and often warned Frodo of the creature's deception and slipperiness. An average hobbit lifespan is over 100 years, but a span of 556 years separates Gollum's finding of the Ring and its destruction, by which time he was almost 600 years old. [5] Tolkien realised the omission, and clarified in later editions that Gollum was "a small slimy creature. 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. [T 6], Tolkien describes Gollum's personality after he had been captured by Frodo and Sam:[T 6], For that moment a change, which lasted for some time, came over him. [41], In 1973, a genus of ground sharks was named Gollum by the taxonomist Leonard Compagno, who noted that the slender smooth-hound "bears some resemblance in form and habits" to the Tolkien character. It was (apparently) that of a woman of great age, so shrunken that in size it was no larger than that of a year-old child, and was made up of a collection of deep yellow wrinkles ... a pair of large black eyes, still full of fire and intelligence, which gleamed and played under the snow-white eyebrows, and the projecting parchment-coloured skull, like jewels in a charnel-house. (1898). Gollum met and started following the Fellowship of the Ring in Moria, and was spotted and heard by Frodo on several occasions. The fact that Gollum managed to forge an alliance with Shelob is also remarkable, as she was otherwise known for devouring and killing everything on sight. Then Gollum attacked the hobbits again. Nelson observes that the names of the friends are similar, hinting that at least figuratively they are "brothers". A Passive Smeagol is recommended for the average player who wants to develop Smeagol to a point where he's a pretty good character, but … [T 4], Gollum left his cave in pursuit of Bilbo a few years after losing the Ring, but the trail was cold. [30] Serkis once again played Gollum in the 2012 prequel film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. He was eventually captured by Sauron's forces and tortured, revealing to Sauron the names of "Baggins" and "the Shire". Something which Frodo is keen to encourage and believe as it gives him hope that the power of the Ring isn't absolute. [17], Eru makes use of every being's choices for good: Callaway gives as example the way that Wormtongue's angry throwing of the palantír, a crystal ball-like stone of seeing, enables Pippin to look in the stone and reveal himself to Sauron; in turn, Sauron jumps to a wrong conclusion about the stone and the hobbit, which assists the Fellowship in completing their quest, destroying the One Ring. Their both the greatest if you ask me! —King Solomon's Mines, 1885[18], They note that Gagool speaks of and rejoices in "blood and death". 0. His chief desire was to possess the Ring that had enslaved him, and he … Had Gollum not lived to play this final part, there was a good chance that Sauron would have regained his Ring, as he knew where Frodo was as soon as he put it on. So if you have any toys, gives it to us! He trailed the Fellowship to the edge of Lothlórien. He was portrayed through motion capture by Andy Serkis in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. [28] Using a digital puppet created by Jason Schleifer and Bay Raitt at Weta Digital, animators created Gollum's performance using a mixture of motion capture data recorded from Serkis and the traditional animation process of key frame, along with the laborious process of digitally rotoscoping Serkis's image and replacing it with the digital Gollum's in a technique coined rotoanimation. He would cackle with laughter and caper if any jest was made, or even if Frodo spoke kindly to him, and weep if Frodo rebuked him. Eyes For the animated being from Jewish folklore, see, "Smeagol" redirects here. Indeed, he made a song about raw fish, which is "The rocks and stones! Initially he adopts a much more helpful and friendly attitude which Sam is suspicious of, justifiably as it turns out, but there are also hints that some of his old personality of Smeagol, a hobbit-like creature, are coming back. Along the way, Frodo and Sam were seized by Faramir, and Gollum slipped away uncaught (but not unseen) and followed them. Smeagol is a sweet girl who wouldn’t hurt a fly! He was also very good at not being seen and was an excellent waterman making use of anything that could float which made it possible for him to follow the Fellowship for so long. [40], The band Led Zeppelin mention Gollum and Mordor in their 1969 song "Ramble On", with the lyrics "Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor / I met a girl so fair / But Gollum, and the evil one crept up / And slipped away with her". March 25, 3019 Gollum is a fictional monstrous character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. His appearance was originally to be bigger and more menacing, like Smaug in The Hobbit trilogy, but were changed to make their "characters".[5]. In the novel, Frodo doesn't attempt to attack Gollum; Gollum instead accidentally falls in when he dances with joy at his reclamation of the Ring. Screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens included scenes in The Two Towers, The Return of the King and An Unexpected Journey in which "Gollum" and "Sméagol" argue, with Serkis slightly altering his voice and body language to play the two as separate entities. Curse it and crush it! Smeagol quotes that will really inspire you. 1.4 meters Despite being such a popular character today, much of the backstory for Legolas remains a mystery. Tolkien realized the omission, and clarified in later editions that he was of average hobbit size and in "The Lord of the Rings", there is a reference to Sam being "little less in height" than he is. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Adaptations. The decision to include this scene meant that Gollum's face had to be redesigned for the second and third movies so that it would more closely resemble Serkis'. He spoke with less hissing and whining, and he spoke to his companions direct, not to his precious self. But Bilbo had it 60 and Frodo 18 before Smeagol dies. In both the 1981 BBC radio adaptation and in the Peter Jackson movies, Sméagol is pronounced as "SMEE-gol", although the placement of the acute accent suggests that the correct pronunciation is "SMAY-uh-gol", IPA ['sme:.agol] The choices we make have led us all down our own paths, some deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains, some to the dungeons of Barad-Dur, some to the Field of Cormallen… but we’re all a part of the same tale. Gender By the time Peter Jackson began filming The Hobbit in 2011, it … If this was Tolkien's intention, then the acute may have been meant to substitute for the macron. We hates it forever! [T 17], Through the influence of the Ring, Gollum's life was extended far beyond that of other members of his clan. Sméagol fell immediately under the Ring's influence and demanded it as a birthday present; when Déagol refused, Sméagol strangled him. Years after Gollum's death, Frodo would forgive him, as Gandalf had told Frodo that Gollum was not actually an evil being deserving death, but was only a poor being, bound to the Ring's will, and that Frodo's fate would be like Gollum's if he kept the Ring. [23] He appeared somewhat froglike. Even in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tolkien never explicitly stated the age of Legolas.. The version of the story given in the first edition became the lie that Bilbo made up to justify his possession of the Ring to the Dwarves and Gandalf. In The Two Towers, Gollum's grip is described as "soft, but horribly strong" as he wrestles with Sam. [22], In the 1977 Rankin/Bass adaptation of The Hobbit and its 1980 The Return of the King, Gollum was voiced by Brother Theodore. [T 16] Rutledge comments that the sad story has happened to everybody, trapped, as Christians believe, in "Sin and Death", and states that[17], The genuinely revolting Gollum is central not only to the surface narrative, ... but also to the underlying theological drama. Alberich had cursed the "thief" who took the ring; Gollum curses Bilbo for taking his Ring. Gollum was a good survivor and was very keen eyed and quick of hand this made him an excellent fisherman. Gollum hates light, and avoids it if possible. Similarly, Callaway argues, Gollum "is being partly manipulated by Eru in this cosmic chess game"[16] citing Gandalf's remark that Gollum "has some part to play yet, for good or ill". His life was extended far beyond its natural limits by the effects of possessing the One Ring. Other names His chief desire was to possess the Ring which had enslaved him, and he pursued it for many years after he lost it. Thief, Baggins! Frodo and Sam and Smeagol, they’re all hobbits, all worthy of love and deserving of mercy. [18] Like Gollum, she is human-like but distorted to a parody; she is shrunken and extremely old; her large eyes and speech are distinctive; and she is wholly materialistic, with a "terrible greediness and self-referencing" and "the insatiable claims of the naked ego".