| “ | My precious… | „ |
| ~ Sméagol/Gollum's most famous quote (about his doomed obsession with the One Ring) and also one of the most famous quotes in cinema history. |
Sméagol, also known as Gollum is a major antagonist in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium and Peter Jackson's Middle-earth film series. In the film series, he serves as a major antagonist in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, being a minor antagonist in The Fellowship of the Ring, a major character in The Two Towers, and one of the three secondary antagonists of The Return of the King (along with the Witch-King of Angmar and Denethor). He also appears as a supporting antagonist in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
He was a hobbit of the branch of the Forts born near the Gladius Fields. He lived for about 589 years thanks to the power of the One Ring, which disfigured him physically and mentally. They called him "Gollum" in reference to the noise he made with his throat, the orcs of Cirith Ungol called him "Snooper" for his services to She-Laraña. Samsagacious Gamyi called him Flatterer and Rascal. And he called himself My Tresaure.
In Peter Jackson's adaptations of The Lord of the Ringsand The Hobbit, he was portrayed in motion capture by Andy Serkis, who also played King Kong in the titular 2005 film of the same name, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise, and Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin.
Biography[]
Sméagol lived her first years of life with his family near the Gladius Fields under the matriarchal regime of his grandmother. Around the year 2463 his cousin Deagol found the Ring while he was fishing, and Sméagol murdered it to take it from him. He soon became hateful to his family and was kicked out of the community.
The Hobbit[]
He hid in the Misty Mountains, falling more and more under the control of the Ring transforming it into the creature Gollum, until 2941, when he lost it. After being kicked out of his family, Gollum took refuge in the Misty Mountains for a long time. After several years, he loses the Ring and another hobbit named Bilbo Baggins arrives, who finds the ring and prompts him to play riddles with a deal: if Bilbo wins, Gollum shows him the way out to escape the Misty Mountains, but if Gollum wins, he eats Bilbo. In the end, Gollum discovered that the hobbit had stolen his ring, after which Bilbo put on the ring and escaped from Gollum. From that moment on, Gollum went out to look for his ring (leaving the cave where he lived alone), since the need to find the ring overcame his fear of the sun, the moon and other creatures. A few years later, he was captured by Sauron and tortured in order to discover who had the Ring. In 3017 he was released, but was again captured this time by Aragorn II, who handed him over to Gandalf. Gandalf, discovering what he wanted to know about the Ring, placed him in the custody of the Elves of the Forest Kingdom. In June 3018 he escaped during an orc attack to search again for the ring.
In the War of the Ring[]
He caught up with Frodo Baggins and the Company of the Ring near the west gate of Khazad-dûm and followed them through Moria and Lórien. He later he would be captured by Frodo and Sam in the Emyn Muil.
He led them to Mordor via Cirith Ungol out of fear of the Ring-bearer and fear that Sauron would catch him again. There he set a trap for them, leaving them at the mercy of She-Spider in the hope of retrieving the Ring when She-Spider has left the hobbits' clothes thrown away.
When his plan failed, he followed the hobbits until Orodruin. There he also ambushed them but failed, however when Frodo claimed the Ring as his own on the edge of the volcano he attacked it again.. Gollum obtained the Ring]] by removing his finger from Frodo, since he had become invisible when he put it on. But when he obtained it, he fell into the lava that was inside the volcano, killing him and destroying the Ring.
Representation in adaptations:[]
The Hobbit (1966)[]
Gollum first appeared on screen in an 11-minute short by Gene Deitch.
The Lord of the Rings (1978)[]
In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation, Gollum's voice is voiced by Peter Woodthorpe.
The Hobbit (1977) and The Return of the King (1980)[]
In Ralph Bakshi's 1977 and 1980 animated films, Gollum was played by comedian Brother Theodore and the character design was very different from what he had in 1978.
LOTR Trilogy and The Hobbit by Peter Jackson[]
Smeagol is played by Andy Serkis, who also plays him as the original Sméagol in the beginning of Return of the King. Sméagol's scene before he was Gollum was going to appear in the two towers. But it was changed because it was thought that the audience should meet the original Sméagol when they were already familiar with Gollum. The appearance of the character is of a miserable being with large eyes and long fingers, very skinny, and almost malnourished.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- His death in the film is slightly changed from the novel. In the novel, he is so ecstatic upon regaining the Ring that in his reverie, he loses his footing and falls into the lava below. Whereas, the film added the final struggle between Frodo and Gollum, to make it a more dramatic end, as well as escalate the already strong control the Ring already had on Frodo, leading to his near-death, which he almost considered allowing due to loss of the Ring, before Sam managed to convince him to keep living.
- The novel also doesn't describe Gollum's fall, but in the film, it showed that even as he was being consumed by molten rock, he attempted to raise the Ring above to protect it.
