Only in later editions is he described as “small”. He fell to his death with the Ring at the Cracks of Doom.Īnalysis: In The Hobbit as first published, there are no indications that Gollum is physically like Bilbo, and some early illustrators assumed he was more monstrous, and large enough to eat Bilbo at a sitting, as the text implies. He journeyed from there to Moria, whence he followed the Fellowship on their quest to destroy the Ring, eventually serving as Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee’s guide to Mordor. Gollum escaped the Elves when they were attacked by Orcs. He was quickly re-captured by Aragorn, who was seeking him for Gandalf to question, and held by the Wood-elves in Mirkwood. Gollum’s screams of hatred are the last readers hear of him in that book.Īfter a few years, Gollum left the Misty Mountains to search for Bilbo and the Ring, but following more than 30 years of journeying he was captured near Mordor and tortured by Sauron, who released him almost 40 years later.

Bilbo won, Gollum tried to renege on their agreement, but Bilbo, having found the Ring without at first knowing its nature, was able to use it to escape. This encounter is the subject of just one chapter in The Hobbit, in which Bilbo, lost in the caves after escaping the Goblins, wagered his life against guidance out of the depths in a riddle-game with Gollum. His family expelled him from their dwellings, and he made his way into the Misty Mountains, where he lived by a subterranean lake for more than 400 years, until he met Bilbo Baggins. The Ring amplified his evil tendencies and he took to spying and stealing. He is believed to have been in his early twenties when he murdered Déagol (presumably a relative, though this is never stated) to get the Ring, which Déagol had found in the Anduin. He was born near the banks of the Great River, Anduin, and raised by his grandmother. Gollum lived for nearly 600 years due to the effects of possessing the Ring.

Lord of the ring gollum quotes