Gollum's Entire Backstory Explained

Right out of the gate, it's important to point out that a good portion of Gollum's story is largely speculative, even when you take the facts right out of the original source material. This is because a lot of Gollum's backstory comes from a series of patchwork guesses that are made by none other than Gandalf the Grey. To muddle things up even further, much of Gandalf's information is based on conversations that he had with Gollum himself.

This means the bulk of Gollum's history is dependent on facts that he, himself, reported and then Gandalf assembled into something like a recognizable narrative. Of course, when Gandalf speculates about something, you can bet your bottom dollar that it's pretty darn near the truth, but still, it's important to remember that a good portion of the following information is technically never directly confirmed in a greater, narrative sense. With that said, something is better than nothing, so let's dive in.

While talking with Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf explains, "There was among [Gollum's people] a family of high repute ... ruled by a grandmother of the folk," adding that, "The most inquisitive and curious-minded of that family was called Sméagol."

In other words, going off of the speculation of Gandalf, Gollum — or really, Sméagol at this point — comes from what basically equates to hobbit aristocracy. Not only is his family rich and powerful, but his grandmother is literally referred to at one point as a matriarch.

For most people, growing up with wealth and power leads to an arrogant, "nose held high" kind of attitude — but not for Sméagol. In fact, he's specifically described, even at this early stage in life, as always looking downward. Sméagol's curious mind, combined with his gravitationally directed interests, lead him to obsess over things like diving into deep pools and tunneling and burrowing into the earth.

It doesn't take long for Sméagol to realize that his new ring makes him invisible. He keeps it secret and quickly decides to use his new ability for some not-so-savory activities. Over time, this turns into an addiction to hurting other people in one way or another. He discovers secrets about them and then uses his stolen knowledge to cause all sorts of crooked and evil mischief. He also takes to a life of thievery.

Naturally, this evil growth in his behavior has negative side effects on his relatives. They become increasingly annoyed and bitter towards their petty, mean-spirited family member. In fact, Gandalf recounts that they literally kick him in their frustration ... and he bites their feet in response. Talk about petty.

Throughout this time of increasing isolation, Sméagol begins talking more and more to himself. He also begins to adopt what can be boiled down to a glorified nervous tick: He gurgles in his throat. Hearing the strange sound, his relations begin to call him Gollum.

Interestingly, part of Gollum's initial motivation in heading "underhill" isn't simply to escape the light or find a new home. He also hopes to discover new, interesting things at the roots of the great mountain range. However, his adventurous spirit is quickly dashed as he realizes that there's nothing worth discovering in the damp, dark caves.

There, deep underground, Gollum remains for hundreds of years. He spends his time fishing, eating, and resenting everything about his past life. He also indulges in a good deal of self-loathing. He even hates the Ring that has led him to such a miserable existence, regardless of the fact that, due to its enchanting power, he could never part with it even if he wanted to. In fact, he begins to call it his "precious" and his "birthday present," and he assuages his murderous guilt by convincing himself over and over again that Déagol should have given the Ring to him when he found it.

Over the years the Ring extends Gollum's life, keeping him alive but not well. His mind and body are steadily corrupted by its power, and he becomes warped and twisted as he spends year after year in his deep, dank underground lair.

Gollum spends the next year or two nursing a massive grudge against "Baggins," as he refers to Bilbo. However, initially, he's too afraid to leave his lake in pursuit. After a while, though, the incapacitating power of the now-gone Ring begins to weaken, and he begins to feel some inner strength again. Before long, he leaves the Misty Mountains once and for all in a desperate pursuit of his "precious."

Out and about again, Gollum finds that access to fresh air and better food helps his physical body grow stronger. By this time, though, Bilbo's trail has gone quite cold, and Gollum begins to wander eastward across Middle-earth into the dark forest of Mirkwood, in a vague pursuit of his prey. There, he establishes a reputation among the locals as a blood-drinking ghost and a monster that steals their young out of nests and cradles. Whether these rumors are true or not, eventually he makes his way all the way to the region of the Lonely Mountain, where he learns how Bilbo's adventures ended.

While he does get to breathe the free air outside of Mordor for a little bit, Gollum's freedom is only short-lived. He hardly makes it to the Dead Marshes — the ghost-ridden swamp that he, Frodo, and Sam cross in The Two Towers — before he's found and caught by Aragorn the Ranger. By this time, Aragorn has been hunting Gollum as a favor for his friend Gandalf for quite a while, and he'd actually given up the search and was heading back home when he accidentally stumbled on the slimy creature's trail. He manages to capture his prey — although only after Gollum bites him in self-defense — and then Aragorn roughly leads the miserable wretch back to Mirkwood.

The Ranger of the North stays awake day and night to watch his captive, and he even has to resort to using a halter and a gag to make sure he doesn't lose his treacherous captive. He deprives Gollum of food and water until the creature is broken by hunger and thirst. Not surprisingly, after this point, Aragorn remains one of Gollum's most hated enemies. When Frodo brings up the Ranger during a conversation in The Two Towers, it says that "an evil light came into [Gollum's] eyes at the naming of Aragorn." When the reluctant pair arrive back in Mirkwood, Aragorn is happy to leave his quarry with the wood-elves.

After this second round of interrogations by Gandalf, Gollum finds himself back in long-term captivity. However, his elvish guards take pity on the poor soul, partly thanks to a suggestion by Gandalf himself that Gollum still might be cured of his evil ways. So they allow him to spend time outdoors under a watchful guard. During this time, he becomes a master tree climber, learning to grab and swing from the branches with both his hands and his feet. He also finds a large, isolated tree that he particularly loves to climb.

One day, Gollum clambers up into this tree and then refuses to come down. Rather than climb up and try to dislodge the master arboreal acrobat, the guards remain at the foot of the tree and wait. Then, completely out of the blue (as far as they can tell), a group of orcs shows up out of nowhere and attacks the guards, freeing Gollum in the process and leaving the surviving elves convinced that it was a planned jailbreak.

It's thanks to these events that Legolas is sent to Rivendell to report on the escape of their prisoner. In fact, his presence at the Council of Elrond and his further involvement in the Fellowship of the Ring would've been very unlikely if he hadn't already been there reporting about Gollum's escape in the first place. So, yeah, thanks for that, Gollum.

Alright, we've covered Gollum's origin story from its encouraging start to his ultimate demise. One question that still lingers, though, is how this story varies between the books and the movies. We'll keep the comparison to Tolkien's original material and Peter Jackson's iconic films. However, there are several other versions of the character that have been adapted for both film and radio. These all have their changes, too.

Naturally, the first thing to point out is that the written version of the character is much more complex than what we get on the silver screen. There, we get a rapid-fire rundown of Sméagol's transformation into Gollum at the beginning of Jackson's "The Return of the King" film. This gives us a snapshot idea of the evolution, but most of the information about his unsavory beginnings lie in long conversations found in the original text.

So, where do these two accounts differ? In a few different areas, actually. First off, Gollum never gains Frodo's trust in the books in the same way that he does in the films. As evidence, we point to the scene in "The Return of the King" when Gollum casually frames Sam for wasting food. The scene ends with Frodo literally sending Sam home and continuing on with Gollum — which is complete rubbish. The two Hobbits never part ways, and while Frodo pities Gollum, he never ever would choose the gangly villain over his trusty gardener.

Another change that we have to point out about Gollum's evolution has to do with how Tolkien adjusted the character right in the books themselves. Before Andy Serkis ever donned his motion-sensing garb, Tolkien was busy rewriting his slimy creation to better fit his growing tale.

In the original version of "The Hobbit," Gollum was little more than a nasty creature who lived in the subterranean darkness. He was hungry and still liked to eat people, but he wasn't much worse than anything else that Bilbo faces on his epic adventure. In fact, in the original version, Gollum proposes a Riddle Game where he eats Bilbo if he wins, but — get this — he gives Bilbo a magic ring that he has if the Hobbit wins.

However, when Tolkien was asked to write a sequel to the book, he chose the One Ring as the connection point between "The Hobbit" and the then-unwritten "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. This development of Bilbo's magic ring into the Ring of Power made it much more nefarious — and once that was decided, it only made sense that Gollum's long-term possession of the bauble should have more of a negative impact on the character. Tolkien rewrote Gollum's actions and words to reflect a more sinister tone, which set up the evil Gollum that we all know and love.

Gollum is a loner. He spends most of his time hiding underneath a mountain or wandering by himself. When he runs into someone else, his first thought is usually whether or not he can eat them. The guy just isn't good at building long-term relationships.

And, of course, the one time he does forge a connection that lasts, it's just about as messed up as it gets. We're talking about Gollum's servile connection with Shelob. That's right. The devious creature doesn't just take Frodo and Sam up through the mountains because he knows there's a monster up there. He's closely connected to Shelob.

In fact, at one point in "The Two Towers," an Orc that patrols that region refers to Gollum as Shelob's "Sneak" and adds that they've seen him visit Shelob multiple times and that he "seems to have some understanding with Her Ladyship." Earlier in the book, Tolkien himself explains that Gollum "had bowed and worshipped her," adding that "the darkness of her evil will walked through all the ways of his weariness beside him, cutting him off from light and from regret." It also says that Gollum "had promised to bring her food."

The kicker to it all? Even though Gollum gets caught in this twisted relationship with a more powerful being, he still hopes to get his revenge. As he dreams of delivering the Hobbits to Shelob, he hopes that when she's done eating, he'll get the Ring ... and then he'll be able to pay her back, along with everyone else who had ruined his pathetic existence.

For anyone who watches "The Lord of the Rings," it's easy to come away with the idea that Gollum loves the One Ring. The poor wretch is enchanted by the shiny bauble from the instant his friend comes up spluttering out of a river with it in his hand. Gollum is so excited about the trinket that he chooses it over everything else.

All things considered, it seems like one could say with confidence that Gollum loves the Ring. But it turns out that those words are only half correct. The self-loathing creature both loves and hates the Ring. And that isn't just us playing armchair psychologist. Gandalf comes to the same conclusion in "The Fellowship of the Ring." When the wizard explains Gollum's situation to Frodo, he says, "He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all." When Frodo challenges this notion, Gandalf clarifies that, "He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter."

The wizard's explanation reveals a critical part of the Gollum/Ring relationship. Gollum isn't the driving force in possessing the Ring. On the contrary, he had no choice in the decision. The Ring chose him as a "holding cell" as it waited for its master and then abandoned him when the time came. The worst part of it all? Gollum knew it.

One question that just kind of hangs out there, unanswered, is why Gollum is still visible after owning the One Ring for so long. After all, the Black Riders wore their Rings of Power for centuries and they turned permanently invisible. And this jives with a line that Gandalf says in "The Fellowship of the Ring," when he tells Frodo that if a ring bearer "often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings."

If this is the case, the natural follow-up is why Gollum is still visible five centuries after finding the One Ring. However, the key phrase here is "often uses." Gollum loves the Ring. He can't bear to be parted from it. When he loses it, he chases it down half a world away. And yet, the truth is, he doesn't always wear it.

On the contrary, in "The Hobbit," we see that he doesn't even realize that it's missing until he goes back to his little island to get it and discovers that it's lost. Rather than wearing it all the time, he keeps it close but unworn for most of his days. This doesn't appear to impact the anti-aging effects of the Ring, either. When Bilbo and Frodo possess the Ring, it extends their lives, whether they use it or not. This means the Ring is still able to consume Gollum and take control of his destiny without physically making him fade over time.

At this point, we're bleeding into the most well-known parts of Gollum's story. The creature is ultimately caught by Frodo and Sam as they attempt to travel to Mordor on their own. Frodo tames Gollum, bringing a hint of the old Sméagol out of him for a time. However, it doesn't take long before the evil side regains control again. When that happens, Gollum treacherously leads his two hobbit companions into a trap within Shelob's lair in the mountains surrounding Mordor.

While his plan backfires spectacularly thanks to the heroics of Sam, Gollum continues to follow the hobbits as they work their way through Mordor and inch closer to Mount Doom. Ultimately, the creature attacks his former master right at the Cracks of Doom, biting off his finger and reclaiming the One Ring, just in time to slip, fall to a long overdue death, and inadvertently destroy the Ring in the fiery depths below.

While Gollum generally plays the part of a villain throughout The Lord of the Rings, there's no doubt that his waffling personalities, not to mention his final actions, have an enormous effect on the way that the story plays out. In fact, without his involvement, a very good argument could be made that the protagonists of the story would've never been able to achieve a final and complete victory over Sauron.