General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumswas Gollum a Hobbit ?
before he turned into what he was and was Smeagol ?
or a people that were related or close to the Hobbits but not the same as Bilbo, Frodo etc ?
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)Gollum, originally known as Sméagol (or Trahald), was at first a Stoor, one of the three early hobbit-types.
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Gollum
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Stoor
ancianita
(36,158 posts)and thus his body.
tblue37
(65,495 posts)him live a very long time, and over that time he degenerated to the condition Bilbo found him in as a result of the ring's evil influence.
ancianita
(36,158 posts)TeeYiYi
(8,028 posts)I couldn't be absolutely positive. It's been 40 years since I read The Hobbit.
TYY
TexasProgresive
(12,159 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)I have often wondered if they were brothers.
opiate69
(10,129 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Perhaps I should read it again. I love J.R.R. Tolkein's works.
TeeYiYi
(8,028 posts)He struggled with his obsession with the 'Precious' for almost 500 years before Bilbo found the ring. Gollum hated Bilbo.
If they were once friends, I've forgotten it. I don't think Bilbo was as old as Smeagol; not by a long shot.
TYY
ancianita
(36,158 posts)Mike Daniels
(5,842 posts)per "The Annotated Hobbit". So he definitely would not have been a contemporary of Smeagol/Gollum.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Gollum/Smeagol didn't have the hairy feet or short stature.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)from the 1978 Tolkien calendar my uncle gave me when I was a kid, Gollum did indeed have hairy feet.
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Feral Child
(2,086 posts)cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Folks of similar stature wuth a river culture, IIRC
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)One of the River-folk. He lived near the Gladden Fields.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)Occasionally they would get together several hundred, to dry-gulch some lone human farmer. The big folk, they called biggers.
riqster
(13,986 posts)Of the rings, at least.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Iggo
(47,577 posts)Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)It's been a couple years since I last read The Trilogy or The Hobbit. I cannot remember distinctly exactly how he came upon the ring. But I do remember that he was normal before he found the ring. As with Bilbo, possessing the ring gave Smeagol a uniquely long life that, combined with his seclusion in the caves, sort of helped turn him into the sickly looking monstrosity he is in the books.
The Ring turned him over time and he lived an extraordinary amount of time because of it. That's how the Ring worked.
It's also why Bilbo celebrated his 111st birthday and didn't really look a day older than when he found the Ring. Hobbits have extreme will in the books, and that is why Bilbo and Frodo were able to resist the desire of the Ring. Smeagol had it in his possession for over 900 years, per the books (I'm going off of the appendices in mine).
It's also why all of the ring bearers went to the West for the Gray Havens. They get "stretched". Gandalf went, as did both Elrond and Galadriel. Even Samwise ends up going because he bore it for a time at the very end.
TeeYiYi
(8,028 posts)...but I could be wrong.
TYY
Xolodno
(6,406 posts)Tom Bombadil. Granted he had it for less than a minute and laughed when he put it on. But as Ghandalf put it...and going from memory..."he doesn't have power over the ring, rather the ring has no power over him".
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Gandalf had stated that Bombadil would be the last to fall in middle earth against Sauron. He wasn't Maiar or Valar. He was something else unaccounted for.
Tolkein himself mentioned that Bombadil was a kind of enigma, but wouldn't go any father to explain him. The idea for Bombadil actually came from one of Tolkein's children's toy dolls.
riqster
(13,986 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)See wiki's footnote:
1. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980), Christopher Tolkien, ed., Unfinished Tales, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Part Three, IV. "The Hunt for the Ring", p 353, note 9, ISBN 0-395-29917-9. In a letter quoted by Christopher Tolkien, Tolkien refers to Déagol and Sméagol as Stoors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gollum#cite_note-1
Demonaut
(8,931 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Created originally by Sauron.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Sauron was just Morgoth's lieutenant and one of the most mighty of the Maiar. Morgoth was one of the powers of Arda: one of the Valar. He didn't have the power to create since that alone comes from Illuvartar so the best that Morgoth could do was to mock Illuvarar's works by twisting captured elves into orcs.
riqster
(13,986 posts)I obviously need to read the Silmarillion, Friend Daneel.
dionysus
(26,467 posts)of the tolkeinverse...
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)after acquiring the ring of trickle down became a Reagan Democrat and finally the hideous form you see him now
a Republican.
eridani
(51,907 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)he'll know
johnnypneumatic
(599 posts)but degenerated into gollum as a result of turning evil and psychotic after 500 years of being a republican
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Or so Gandalf thought, at any rate.
And he lived centuries before the Hobbits moved over the mountains into Eriador.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)They claimed he was...
But I think they were wrong..
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,603 posts)Like Santa and Jesus?
Iggo
(47,577 posts)....but in one very obvious way, he's just like Santa and Jesus.
MineralMan
(146,338 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Wizards actually exist: no one who has seen Buddy Guy in concert will dispute that.
MineralMan
(146,338 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)riqster
(13,986 posts)Arkana
(24,347 posts)They were like hobbits, yes.
TBF
(32,111 posts)as you typically see in a socialist society
reflection
(6,286 posts)I don't have an opinion.
Harumph.
riqster
(13,986 posts)So Megyn can stand down.