Smeagol and Gollum

[Amidala]

Intriguing little fellow isn't he?
I wonder what the thought or the inspiration behind him was?
What do you think he represented if anything?
and if Sam hadn't have been there to push Frodo on would Frodo have ended up the same as him?

[Foxbat]

Gollum, for me, is probably the most well rounded, the most three-dimensional character in LOTR. Why? because he is torn by internal conflict, wracked by indecision, embittered by shattered dreams and avarice. He is too weak in heart and limb to carry out his desires and, deep inside, he knows his desires are wrong.

What does he represent? Probably those dark little parts of ourselves that we pretend do not exist.

It's funny how the most inhuman of characters can carry the most recognisable of human qualities.

[SDNess]

He is a wonderful character.

What does he represent? Probably those dark little parts of ourselves that we pretend do not exist.

I agree. It might have been a general perspective of humanity's "dark little parts" or possibly even Tolkien's personal "dark little parts".

and if Sam hadn't have been there to push Frodo on would Frodo have ended up the same as him?

I think he would have failed the quest and died. He was resistant to the Ring's power so he wouldn't have become like Gollum, but lacked the push factor that Sam had.


EDIT: He was also too compassionate.

[X Q mano]

I think Frodo would have been overcome by the power of the ring without Sam...

[Foxbat]

I think Frodo would have been overcome by the power of the ring without Sam

I sometimes felt that Sam and Frodo were two halves of a whole - Sam being the grit and determination, Frodo being the heart and head.

[nemogbr]

From what I feel the whole book revolves around friendship and trust.

Gollum ended up alone after murdering his....I suppose... best friend. Merry, Pippin and Samwise have seen the ring but are not tempted into wresting it from Frodo. Wellllll I suppose Merry would have worn it just to see what would happen..

Frodo needed someone to guide him into the right path and a partner to ensure the darkness doesn't claim him. Smeagol/Gollum is unfortunately our desires that makes us greedy for more and more. Whether for more sweets or temporal power and wealth.

[jerchar]

I think Gollum represents these ugly thoughts, actions, feelings we are all frightened of and that are all lurking in our head/hearth. I think the dilemna Gollum was torn by was really well brought through by Tolkien and by Jackson. If someone was really annoying me it was Frodo but luckily Sam pulled the whole thing.

[knivesout]

Not only are we all capable of evil, sometimes evil is capable of unwitting good. It was Gollum, after all, who finally plunged with the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, albeit while attempting to steal it. Tolkien's work has been seen as being very black and white morality play material, but he always shows darkness in the midst of light and perhaps the lost potential for good in the heart of darkness. Gandalf could have been Sarurman - and vice versa. I think the character of Golum/Smeagol underlines this overlooked sense of moral mutability in the series.


Feh, that looked like an answer I'd write for an Eng Lit paper. I hope it made sense anyway.

[jerchar]

So true; when I got the LOTR on DVD I watched it little by little with Charlotte (my daughter) in order to avoid too much fright, Charlotte (8 years old) was frightened when Galadriel was tempted to accept the ring from Frodo, in the movie she just grew immense and was all sort of shades of grey and she had the power voice (a little like in Dune), my daughter was not scared by the orcs but by Galadriel. Funny how children see things. But you are right it is a very good thing that good cannot exist or be achieved without evil, ying and yang, or when I bake a cake I put a little salt in the dough although it is something sweet.I just like the fact that everything is related someway and if something good/evil happens it can have the opposite effect that was hoped for but in the end it comes to a result that matches the goal one had at the start, however after many detours.
In my head this is very clear....

[I, Brian]

Funny - I never even thought of Gollum representing all that.

[dwndrgn]

This is a little off-topic but I was a little disapointed by the way that Jackson portrayed the Smeagol back-story in the film. I know he didn't have a lot of time to devote to it but it still didn't seem right for some reason. Maybe I just felt bad for poor Smeagol. Turned into a 'monster' on his birthday.

[littlemissattitude]

This is a bit off-topic as well, but I had a thought while I was at my friend's watching "The Two Towers" Saturday. I knew all through that and "Return of the King" both that Gollum was reminding me of someone or something. And then it came to me. Does anyone here remember "Lost in Space"? (For those who don't, it was a rather campy science fiction series on American television in the mid-1960s. It looked fine before "Star Trek", but awful afterward. I think they've re-run episodes on SciFi, on cable, in the past few years.) Anyway...Gollum, I realized, reminds me of Dr. Smith, who was one of the regular charaters on that show. He was a stow-away on the Robinson family's spaceship; he was scared of everything and quite the drama queen. And it seemed to me that Gollum had some of those same characteristics.

This resemblance may just be my weird perspective.

[dwndrgn]

Ha! Now that you mention it I do recognize the resemblance...They have similar speech patterns (except for the stutter Dr. Smith acquires when he is afraid) and they just seem like they could be brothers...

[BlueSkelton]

The interesting thing bout that little wascal gollum is that he is actually the

hero of the whole story. If not for Gollum the ring would have gone back to

Sauron. There is no doubt that Frodo would succumb to the will of the ring

because that is exactly what he does at the end of the story. He claims the

ring for his own and puts it on. It was Gollum who destroyed the ring (albeit

accidentally). It shows that even Black hearted little evil characters have

a part to play in history even if they are just small and malevolent.

[kyektulu]

The influence for smegal and gollum, maybe tolkin was like me and talked to himself so he incorperated aspects of his own charecter into his novels? I know I do it in my own writings.
Personally I dont think frodo would of accomplished his mission without sam, he would of ended uo like smegal im sure!
xxxkyexxx