The character of Gollum is one of the most interesting of all Tolkien’s works. He is a rara avis among character archetypes since his ambiguity, the result of his relationship with the One Ring, makes him someone who generates sympathy, pity, and rejection at the same time.
Gollum’s origins date back to sometime in the third millennium of the Third Age (TE in its acronym) when he was still known as Sméagol and was a hobbit of the branch of the Strong Ones. The years passed, and Sméagol did so with an extended family of matriarchal hierarchy. His life was quiet and uneventful.
Sometime around 2463, TE Sméagol obtained the One Ring, the same one that Sauron had lost after his defeat in the War of the Last Alliance (when Isildur cut off the finger on which Sauron wore the Ring).
On the day of his birthday, Sméagol went with his cousin Déagol to fish north of Lothlórien, specifically in the Gladios fields. In the river Anduin, Déagol found the One Ring after an incident with a fish he was trying to catch.
Sméagol was immediately attracted to the object and coveted it. In a short time, he became aware of the powers of the jewel and was quickly corrupted. He took advantage of the context to claim the Ring as a gift for his birthday, a request his cousin refused. They quarreled, and Sméagol killed Déagol, keeping the Ring for himself and returning to his village.
Cast out by his people after committing terrible acts, Sméagol took refuge in a cave in the Misty Mountains, a place that eventually became his home.
Sméagol was consumed and enslaved by the One Ring, isolated in his solitude, which unnaturally lengthened his life. At the same time, he waited for the opportunity to continue searching for his master Sauron (the Ring was always searching for him because as long as it existed, it meant that the Dark Lord continued to live).
And so it was that for more than 400 years, Sméagol’s body and mind became deformed and destroyed, centuries in which he fed on raw fish and small goblins that got lost in the cavern. He began to develop a schizoid personality disorder in which his identity split in two.
On one side, Sméagol, his kind personality that still remembered his hobbit years and friendship or love. On the other side, his dark side, his evil personality embodied in the creature Gollum, who was enslaved entirely to the Ring and would kill anyone who tried to take it away from him.
Both personalities dialogued with each other, for Gollum/Sméagol had no one to talk to. Their relationship was love-hate, directly reflecting Gollum’s opinion of himself and the Ring.
In this state of absolute psychic toxicity, Gollum spent a long time, so much so that the Ring’s personality took over his body, leaving Sméagol in a corner. That was how the hobbit Bilbo Baggins met him at the end of the Third Age when he accidentally fell into the subway lake in which the creature lived.
After a dangerous game of riddles, Gollum discovered that the hobbit had his treasure (that’s what he called the Ring) and pursued him with the furious intention of killing him. That chance encounter was seized upon by the Ring (which had a will of its own), which had slipped out of Gollum’s pocket hours earlier to be found by Bilbo. However, Bilbo used the Ring’s power and invisibility to escape from the cavern and Gollum.
From that moment on, Gollum went on a grueling quest to find Bilbo and retrieve the Ring. He wandered for years searching for a trace of his treasure, to no avail. His emaciated body barely survived, but he did not die because his vitality had been bound to the Ring. Consumed by the extra years he had lived, he had become a horrifying creature who hated sunlight and any living thing that could not be eaten.
No one knows which Middle-earth regions he explored in search of the Ring. Still, eventually, Gollum ended up in Mordor (perhaps drawn by the power of Sauron, who had returned to those lands), where he was captured and tortured to confess everything he knew about the Ring and its whereabouts. He revealed the name of Baggins and the Shire (a region he had eventually discovered but had never encountered).
Gollum was released, undone after so much suffering, and resumed his painful quest. There he was held captive for years until he managed to escape, heading to Moria to hide, thanks to the presence of orcs in the caverns. He returned to the north, where he was found by Aragorn to be handed over to the Elves who lived in the kingdom of the Black Forest (under the rule of Thranduil, Legolas’ father).
It was there that Gollum had a bit of luck when he found the Fellowship of the Ring crossing Moria. He pursued them because he instinctively knew that one of the hobbits was carrying the Ring. Frodo himself heard him, for, among bearers, some intuition caused them to notice his presence.
After the events of Moria, Gollum managed to follow the Fellowship to Lórien, though he did not enter their lands, not wanting to be captured by the Elves. He had managed to pass unnoticed again, and no one was suspected of following him.
After what happened in the Emyn Muil, he followed Frodo and Sam (who had separated from the Fellowship) on their way to Mordor. One night he tried to steal the Ring from Frodo’s neck, but he was discovered and tied with an elven rope around his neck. The rubbing of the elvish object burned Gollum’s neck, so Frodo eventually took pity on him and released him after swearing on the treasure that he would not harm the two hobbits.
Gollum became the group’s guide and led them to the Black Gate of Mordor. During the journey, Frodo’s likable character and humanity awakened Sméagol's personality within Gollum, which was dormant for a long time. A relationship of mutual recognition was established between the two. On the one hand, Gollum recognized him as a fellow creature for being the bearer of the Ring, while Frodo saw in that creature his possible future and felt the need to save him from being able to save himself.
They ceased entering through the Black Gate. Gollum feared they would be captured by Sauron and thus lose the opportunity to recover the Ring. His oath was a sham, and he only looked for the best chance to get his treasure back. So he told Frodo and Sam that he knew of another, the more hidden and secret entrance to Mordor.
However, they were captured by Faramir. Gollum slipped away and followed them but was betrayed by Frodo when he allowed himself to be captured. That betrayal buried Sméagol again, and Gollum took complete control of the creature.
Faramir set the trio free and Gollum, now determined to finish Frodo and Sam, led them to the pass of Cirith Ungol to enter the cave of She-Spider, a vile creature that Gollum hoped to take advantage of once he had killed the hobbits, he would leak in and retrieve the Ring.
However, the plan went awry, and the hobbits escaped the trap, arriving after several days at the gates of Orodruin (Mount Doom), where the Ring would finally be destroyed.
After a failed attack, Gollum finally confronted Frodo in the very crevice of the mountain, at the foot of the cliff that led to the volcano’s lava. Both fought even though Frodo wore the Ring and was invisible, but Gollum was so linked to him that he felt the presence without needing to see. The two fought hand-to-hand, and Gollum bit the finger on which Frodo wore the Ring, tearing it off with his teeth.
With the Ring back in his possession, Gollum had a moment of epiphany. He remembered that Frodo was the only person who had been good to him in a very long time. In that hesitation, the creature stumbled and fell into the lava, melting him, the Ring, and Frodo’s finger.
Gollum’s name referred to the regurgitating sound the creature made from time to time with its throat. His character is one of the most interesting in The Lord of the Rings and can even be compared to cases of mental disorders and the power of addiction that drugs exert on certain people.