Gollum Allegory

When most people think of J.R.R. Tolkien, they often think of his great imagination and his world of great dragons, warriors, orcs, hobbits, wizards, dwarves and elves. But most people forget about the deeper meaning behind his stories and his controversy towards society. Tolkien was a British, fantasy, writer during the mid-1900s. Through his love of languages, religion, and country, J.R.R Tolkien’s works of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are controversial but masterpieces because Tolkien represents “good” as a fuller, more imaginative reality than evil.

By putting his life in danger Bilbo shows a true example of heroism. Though the dwarves were still skeptical of his abilities, they were starting to take into consideration of what Gandalf had said about this little hobbit. Continuing their adventure the group is attacked by goblins where they are eventually saved by Gandalf. Throughout the turmoil of the attacking goblins Bilbo gets lost in the caves and finds himself alone in the darkness. It is in this event when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring. Gollum was a sickly looking creature that had been dwelling in the caves for many years. Bilbo used his wits to outsmart the creature by playing a riddle game with him and eventually made it to safety. Having Bilbo win the riddle game shows that his smart and witty mind aids him in becoming the hero. Bilbo wasn’t some tough strong stereotypical super hero, he used his smarts to outwit his foes and to triumph over evil. Though Bilbo at the time did not know the power of the ring that he had retrieved from Gollum’s lair (the power of invisibility), it was his heroic fate that he found it as it assist him in becoming the hero of the story. Fate has it that Bilbo will become a hero, but Bilbo also has the courage on top of his fate to get the dwarves out of life threatening situations.

The idea of the character Smaug was one passed down by characters. First it was the dragon, and soon after Thorin. Bilbo confronted both of these obstacles with solutions. From Thorin, he burgled the Arkenstone: “The heart of the mountain.” Yet, from Smaug, he used pure bravery, and went to face him alone, in attempt to help the dwarves recover the mountain. Bilbo takes his titles here of “the friend of bears,” “the guest of eagles,” “ring winner,” “ and barrel-rider.”(205) He truly believes in himself, and this is what pushes him it be able to do what all thought he could not perhaps possibly Gandalf. Once again, he uses his brains to overcome a challenge most would’ve tried to overcome with strength, or for beating Smaug in other manners. Especially Thorin didn’t realize Bilbo’s worth, until the end. Although, then Thorin truly felt bad for Bilbo, and says to him in his last moments, “There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” This sums up how most now believe of Bilbo, and how Bilbo really is. A good, daring

Tolkien creates the ring as the epitome of evilness to give it a mind of its own. With this symbolism, the ring is able to maneuver itself and corrupt whom it pleases. It takes on the evilness of the beholder and enhances their evil thoughts to the point in which evilness is the only thought that consumes them. As described by another hobbit, Frodo, the ring has “an unwholesome power that sets to work on its keeper at once.” In Sméagol’s instance, the ring is able to take a strong hold of his soul with just a look at “the bright and beautiful” gold that it entails. Such evilness is personified by Tolkien because Tolkien sees it as something that takes action, not something that is acted upon. The power that the ring possesses eats away at him until he is an entire different creature. The ring destroys Sméagol and creates Gollum, an outcast and a murderer. The theme of temptation displayed by Tolkien coincides with the temptation that evilness

“I am glad you are here with me, here at the end of all things, Sam.” Frodo reaches out his hand over the flaming mouth of Mount Doom. The ring slips from his fingers and into the flames. The world returns to where it was before the evil eye had taken over. The Lord of the Rings chronicles the journey of Frodo Baggins to destroy the ring. It follows his transformation from a weak young hobbit to a hero who saves Middle Earth. Frodo is an archetypal hero because he follows the hero’s journey.

From the first snippet of getting to be mindful of Frodo's way of life as the new carrier of the Ring, Gollum's only objective involves following him, to the point of transforming into his shadow and of being seen by an extensive number of readers as representing some obscure element in Frodo's own character. The quality of the bond between the two, and additionally the inconceivable possibility of doubtlessly putting Gollum among the evil characters in the story, rises with specific clarity from the absence of any feeling of triumph emanating after death. Unlike all the evils that must be destroyed for good to win, Gollum remains in such an individual association with the legend that his exit is the result of an unpleasant individual battle and an annihilation of a foe as well as a part of the hero`s own inclination. The loss of his finger

In The Hobbit chapter five, the passage that speak to me was “Not far away his island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, and there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful. He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring.” from this passage, the particular character that I thought would exemplify something about High fantasy is Gollum, who is a strange small slimy creature who lives deep down by the dark water on a slimy island of rock in the middle of the lake. They were dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. After Gollum meets Bilbo Baggins. Gollum’s decided to play a riddle game with him, where Bilbo has no choice, but agree to play with him to get out of the mountains. After they start

Evil. This portrayal represents the battle Gollum has between his good and evil self. Moments we see Gollum battling through the decision whether or not to take the ring from Frodo. We see a more darker side of him speaking to take “precious” back. “ Kill them both! And then we take the precious… And we be the master!” States Gollum. (Jackson, LOTR) The way he is consumed over the ring brings his evil self out. Gollum has to chose in the end what he wants more, the ring or being loyal to master. Other than portraying his evil self, we also see Gollum being true Smeagol, helping and showing the destination to Mordor. Smeagol once being a hobbit knows that the ring is very dangerous and can change personalities. When he comes to his senses he try's to do the good part in telling Gollum to get out of his head. “Leave now, and never come back!” ( Jackson, LOTR) Smeagol showed his strength to overcome the temptation to take the ring back for

While many characters in The Hobbit represent purposeful meanings, three main archetypes help develop the journey. Throughout the Hobbit’s journey, he encounters many characters. Some characters help him while others harm him. Even though Bilbo faced many challenges in his journey, he still came out alive. Bilbo, of course, represents the hero, and Gandalf represents the mentor. At long last, the ‘shadow’ comes into play-Smaug. Overall, Bilbo, Gandalf, and Smaug represent the hero, mentor, and shadow of the journey.

The ring makes him invisible, but he doesn’t know that yet. He then comes across a little shriveled up hobbit named Gollum. He knows the way out of the cave so he made a bet with Bilbo. If you can beat me in a game of riddles I will show you the way out, but if I win I get to eat you. Bilbo bravely accepts his challenge. Bilbo then wins the challenge by pure luck. “What have I got in my pocket?” (Tolkein, 78) That was his last riddle that Gollum didn’t get. Gollum gets mad and thinks Bilbo is trying to trick him. He then puts on the ring. Gollum then goes to the exit of the cave unknowingly followed by Bilbo. Bilbo then jumps over Gollum and out the door. He was very brave to face Gollum.

evil. An example of when Gollum was evil is found on page 105. The text say’s “and still sometimes he put it on … when he was very, very, hungry, and tired of fish. Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins.” You can see in this quote that Gollum uses the rings power for evil. Gollum hides in the shadows until he finds a right target to capture and eat. This also shows that Gollum is very sly. Another example of when Gollum was evil is found on page 96. The text say’s “He was anxious to appear friendly, at any rate for the moment, and until he found out more about the sword and the hobbit, whether he was quite alone really, whether he was good to eat ...” Gollum thought. You can tell by the tone of Gollum’s thought that he was trying to be sly, and evil. Gollum was trying to get to know more information about Bilbo, so then perhaps he can eat Bilbo. One more example of Gollum portraying evil and greed can be seen on page 108. The text say’s “Bilbo could not guess what had maddened the wretched creäture, but he saw that all was up, and that Gollum meant to murder him (Bilbo) at any rate.” You can see by the tone and mood of the atmosphere and the narrator that Gollum was so attached to his precious ring, that he got so angry and; wanted to kill Bilbo. As he thought that Bilbo had his ring in his

In addition to representing Bilbo’s greatest fears and desires, Smaug also has many villain-like characteristics. Through many descriptions given by the author, it can be seen that Smaug has many

Gollum, previously known as Smeagol, is one of the first bearers of the ring of power, and when he comes into the ring’s presence for the first time, the power makes him so corrupt that to get his hands on it he kills his friend Deagol. “‘ Smeagol had been watching him from behind a tree, and as Deagol gloated over the ring, Smeagol came softly up behind. “Give us that, Deagol, my love,” said Smeagol, over his friend’s shoulder. “Why?” said Deagol. “ Because it’s my birthday, my love, and I wants it,” said Smeagol. “I don’t care,” said Deagol. “I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I’m going to keep it.” “Oh, are you indeed, my love,” said Smeagol; and he caught Deagol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful. Then he put the ring on his finger’” (Tolkein Pg. 52). This text shows that Gollum, or Smeagol, is corrupt due to the rings power only by being around it. The need for the ring was so great that it pushed him to kill, a devastating act on its own, but he kills his own friend. This proves that with the power of the ring Gollum becomes immensely corrupt. After Gollum first obtains the ring he grows to feel a great hatred

Gollum in lord of the rings represents Id. He lives in the decrepit abyss below Sauron's army. He centers his whole existence around the ring. He calls it his "precious". He is addicted to it. His Id is in overdrive every time he's near it. He doesn't let anyone touch it and is super controlling over it. It runs his life.

They describe hobbits as homely, addicted to consistency and with a great distaste for change. These small beings live in luxury, their pantries full to the brim with food and their smoking pipes finding no shortage of use. Hobbits are so uninterested in adventure that they seem to replace all hobbies with extra meals. Bilbo is hardly an exception to this norm. He expresses a deep mistrust of adventurous situations during his first conversation with Gandalf, and admits that he will not find any candidates for his expedition while in Bag End. “We are plain and quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them,” (Tolkien 18). A very clear message, indeed, but what most don’t see is how this attitude is intended to emulate real people. Nobody would like to admit it, but many have grown comfy and complacent in their lives. They take on the position of Bilbo, and every other Hobbit of Bag End. Afraid of danger or change, there is no need to move or attempt new and dangerous activities. Don’t bother with adventure, just have a seat and eat some cakes, it’s time for second breakfast! This cowardly nature is twice presented in the citizens of Lake-Town, of whom are so terrified by the dragon Smaug that they refuse to do anything about the monster. The residents believe the beast is