Gollum is a fictional character from
J. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's
legendariumThe phrase Tolkien's legendarium is used in the literary discipline of Tolkien studiesto refer to the part of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy fiction being concerned with his Elven legends; that is, historic events that have become legendary from the perspective of the characters of The Lord of the...
. He was introduced in the author's
fantasyJuvenile fantasy is children's literature with fantasy elements: fantasy intended for readers not yet adult.The protagonists are usually children or teens who have unique abilities, gifts, possessions or even allies that allow them to face powerful adversaries...
novel
The HobbitThe Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, and became an important supporting character in its sequel,
The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
.
Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the River-folk, who lived near the
Gladden FieldsThe Gladden Fields is a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. In his works, the Gladden Fields are located where the Gladden river joins the Anduin....
. Originally known as
Sméagol, he was later named Gollum after his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat". His life was extended far beyond its natural limits by the effects of possessing the
One RingThe One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
, which he called "my precious" and "my birthday present"; it enslaved him to the point that he pursued it for the rest of his life after losing it to
Bilbo BagginsBilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R...
.
During his centuries under the Ring's influence, he developed a kind of
split personalityDissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....
: "Sméagol" still vaguely remembered things like friendship and love, while "Gollum" was a slave to the Ring who knew only treachery and violence. In
The Two TowersThe Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King.-Title:...
,
Samwise GamgeeSamwise Gamgee, later known as Samwise Gardner and commonly as Sam, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. Samwise is one of the chief characters in Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, in which he fills an archetypical role as the sidekick of the protagonist, Frodo...
named the good personality "Slinker", and the bad personality "Stinker". The two personalities had a love/hate relationship, and often quarreled when Gollum talked to himself (as Tolkien puts it in
The Hobbit, "through never having anyone else to speak to").
The Hobbit
Gollum first appears in
The Hobbit, when the protagonist
Bilbo BagginsBilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R...
stumbled upon Gollum's lair and found the Ring which Gollum had lost in the network of caves leading to the lake.
Gollum had dwelled under the
Misty MountainsIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, the Misty Mountains is a mountain range, running for 795 miles from north to south, between Eriador and the valley of the Great River, Anduin, and...
for 500 years, living on a small island in the centre of a lake at the roots of a mountain. He survived on cave fish, which he caught from his small boat, and small
goblinsIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Orcs or Orks are a race of creatures who are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings — Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman...
who strayed too far from the stronghold of the Great Goblin. Over the years, his eyes adapted to the dark and became 'lamp-like', shining with a sickly pale light in the dark.
After the famous Riddle Game, he pretended to want to show Bilbo the way out as promised, but actually planned to kill and eat the hobbit. When he went to get his "birthday present", he found it was gone. He suddenly realized the answer to Bilbo's last riddle — "What have I got in my pocket?" — and flew into a rage. Bilbo inadvertently discovered the Ring's power of invisibility as he fled, allowing him to follow Gollum undetected to a back entrance of the cave system. Bilbo at first thought to kill Gollum, but was overcome with pity, and so merely leapt over him. As Bilbo escaped, Gollum cried out, "Thief! Thief, Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!!"
In the first edition of
The Hobbit, Gollum did not appear quite as wretched or murderous, and indeed showed Bilbo the way out after losing the riddle-game. Tolkien changed his characterization in the second edition, to fit the concept of the ruling Ring which he had developed during the writing of
The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien then explained that the version given in the first edition was a lie that Bilbo made up to justify to the
DwarvesIn the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting the world of Arda, a fictional prehistoric Earth which includes the continent Middle-earth....
and
GandalfGandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
his possession of the Ring.
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the RingThe Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place in the fictional universe Middle-earth. It was originally published on July 29, 1954 in the United Kingdom...
, the first volume of
The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, explains that Gollum's real name was Sméagol, and he had once been a member of the secluded branch of the early Stoorish Hobbits. He spent the early years of his life with his extended family under a matriarch, his grandmother. On Sméagol's birthday, he and his relative
DéagolDéagol is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. His story is related in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three volumes comprising Tolkien's most famous novel, The Lord of the Rings, in the chapter "The Shadow of the Past"....
went fishing in the
Gladden FieldsThe Gladden Fields is a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. In his works, the Gladden Fields are located where the Gladden river joins the Anduin....
north of Lothlórien. There, Déagol found the Ring after being pulled into the water by a fish. Sméagol fell immediately under the Ring's spell and demanded it as a birthday present, strangling Déagol when the latter refused him. Sméagol accordingly used the Ring for thieving, spying and antagonizing his friends and relatives, who nicknamed him "Gollum" and banished him. Under the influence of the Ring, he retreated to a deep cavern in the
Misty MountainsIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, the Misty Mountains is a mountain range, running for 795 miles from north to south, between Eriador and the valley of the Great River, Anduin, and...
. The Ring's malignant influence twisted his body and mind, and prolonged his life well beyond its natural limits.
Gollum left his cave in pursuit of Bilbo a few years after losing the Ring, but the trail was cold. He made his way to the edge of
MordorIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Mordor or Morhdorh was the dwelling place of Sauron, in the southeast of northwestern Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. Orodruin, a volcano in Mordor, was the destination of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to...
, where he met the monstrous spider
ShelobShelob is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She appears at the end of the fourth book, second volume , of The Lord of the Rings.-Literature:...
and became her spy, worshipping her and bringing her food. He was eventually captured by
Sauron'sSauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
forces and
tortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d, revealing to Sauron the names of "Baggins" and "the
ShireThe Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth. It is located in the northwest of the continent, in...
". His testimony alerted the Dark Lord of Mordor to the existence and significance of Hobbits in general and the Baggins family in particular. He was freed, but was soon caught by Gandalf and
AragornAragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...
, who interrogated him about the Ring and placed him in the care of the
Wood ElvesSilvan Elves are an ethnic group of Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, mainly the Elves of Mirkwood and Lothlórien.In the First Age the Elves of Ossiriand, or Laiquendi, were also referred to as wood-elves....
of
MirkwoodMirkwood is a name used for two distinct fictional forests in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. In the First Age, the highlands of Dorthonion north of Beleriand were known as Mirkwood after falling under Morgoth's control. During the Third Age, the large forest in Rhovanion, east of the Anduin in ...
. He escaped custody and descended into
MoriaIn the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria was the name given by the Eldar to an enormous underground complex in north-western Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or 'mansions', that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains...
.
Gollum began following the Fellowship of the Ring in Moria, and was spotted or heard by
Frodo BagginsFrodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.He is the main protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He was a hobbit of the Shire who inherited Sauron's Ring from Bilbo Baggins and undertook the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom...
(younger cousin and heir of Bilbo, as well as the Bearer of the Ring), Gandalf, and Aragorn on several occasions. Gollum continued trailing the Fellowship to the edge of Lórien. Gollum began following them again as they left and followed them all the way to Rauros, then pursued Frodo and Sam across the Emyn Muil when they struck out on their own towards Mordor.
The Two Towers
In
The Two TowersThe Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King.-Title:...
, the Hobbits confronted Gollum in Emyn Muil; he nearly strangled Sam, but Frodo subdued him with his
ElvishIn J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
sword, Sting, which had once belonged to Bilbo. Frodo tied an Elvish rope around Gollum's ankle as a leash, but the mere touch of the rope pained him. Taking pity on the wretched creature, just as Bilbo once had, Frodo made Gollum swear to help them. Agreeing to the oath, Gollum swore by the "precious" itself, and Frodo released him. The unlikely company, guided by Gollum, made their way to the Black Gate, the main entrance to Mordor.
Frodo's kindness brought out Gollum's better nature, and he made at least some effort to keep his promise. Sam, however, despised Gollum upon sight, and often warned Frodo of the creature's deception and slipperiness.
When they reached the Black Gate and found it well-guarded, Gollum offered to lead them toward an alternate entrance into Mordor. Along the way, Frodo and Sam were seized by
FaramirIn J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Faramir is a fictional character appearing in The Lord of the Rings. He is introduced as the younger brother of Boromir of the Fellowship of the Ring and second son of Denethor II, the Steward of the realm of Gondor...
, and Gollum slipped away uncaught (but not unseen) and followed them. When Frodo allowed Faramir to briefly take Gollum prisoner in order to spare his life, Gollum felt betrayed, and began plotting against his new "master". Faramir found out that Gollum was taking them to Cirith Ungol, and warned Frodo and Sam of the evil of that place, as well as the treachery he sensed in Gollum.
Frodo, Sam, and Gollum left Faramir and began climbing the stairs to Cirith Ungol in the border-mountains of the Ephel Dúath. Gollum slipped away and visited Shelob, planning to feed the Hobbits to her and then get the Ring for himself when she was done. When he returned, he found the Hobbits asleep, and the sight of Frodo sleeping nearly moved Gollum to repent. However, Sam woke up and spoke harshly to him, and the opportunity for redemption was lost. Gollum followed through with his plan and led Frodo and Sam into Shelob's Lair. There, Frodo was stung by the giant spider, taken prisoner by Orcs, and hauled to the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
The Return of the King
In
The Return of the KingThe Return of the King is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.-Title:...
, Sam singlehandedly rescues Frodo from Cirith Ungol and, dressed in scavenged Orc-armour, the two began to make their way across the plateau of Gorgoroth. They finally arrived, against all odds, at
Mount DoomMount Doom is a volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. It is located in the heart of the black land of Mordor and close to Barad-dûr, it is approximately high. Alternative names, in Tolkien's invented language of Sindarin, include Orodruin and Amon Amarth...
, the only place where the Ring could be destroyed. However, Gollum had secretly followed them all the way, seeking a chance to surprise them and take the Ring. When Frodo and Sam had almost reached their destination, Gollum attacked them, but Frodo threw him down. Sam faced Gollum on his own, letting Frodo continue up the mountain to finish their mission. Like Bilbo and Frodo before him, Sam spared Gollum's life out of pity, and turned his back on the beaten (but still wily) creature and followed Frodo.
Moments later, Frodo stood on the edge of the Crack of Doom, but was unwilling to destroy the Ring, claiming it for himself and putting it on. Gollum struck again, and struggled with the invisible Frodo. Finally, Gollum bit off Frodo's finger and seized the Ring. He gloated over his prize, dancing madly, but stepped over the edge and fell into the lava, taking the Ring with him with a last cry of "Precious!" Thus, the Ring was destroyed and Sauron defeated. Sam cursed Gollum after his death, but Frodo urged his friend to forgive him, as without him the quest would have failed and the
warIn the fictional high fantasy-world of J. R. R. Tolkien, the War of the Ring was fought between Sauron and the free peoples of Middle-earth for control of the One Ring and dominion over the continent. The War of the Ring took place at the end of the Third Age. Together with the Quest of Mount Doom,...
would have been lost.
Physical appearance and characteristics
In the first edition of
The Hobbit Tolkien made no reference to Gollum's size, leading several illustrators to portray him as being very large. Tolkien realized the omission, and clarified in later editions that he was of average Hobbit size.
The Lord of the Rings characterizes him as slightly larger than Sam.
Tolkien describes Gollum as either dark, bone-white or sallow (pale yellow); at one point the
MenThe race of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, refers to humanity and does not denote gender...
of
IthilienIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Ithilien is a region and fiefdom of Gondor.Ithilien, or "Moon-land," is the easternmost province of Gondor, the only part of Gondor across the Great River Anduin lying between the river and the Mountains of Shadow , subdivided by the stream of...
mistake his silhouette (seen from a distance) for a tailless black squirrel. In a manuscript written to guide illustrators to the appearance of his characters, Tolkien explained this by saying that Gollum had pale skin, but wore dark clothes and was often seen in poor light.
The Hobbit states he has pockets, in which he keeps a tooth-sharpening-rock,
goblinIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Orcs or Orks are a race of creatures who are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings — Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman...
teeth, wet shells, and a scrap of bat wing.
The Hobbit describes him as thin, with only six teeth sharpened into points. Comparing him to Shelob, one of the Orcs describes him as "rather like a spider himself, or perhaps like a starved frog."
Gollum is described as "a small slimy creature" (in
The Hobbit), and emaciated and gaunt, but possessing a vicious, wiry strength. In
The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn states "his malice gives him a strength hardly to be imagined." In
The Two Towers, Gollum's grip is described as "soft, but horribly strong" as he wrestles with Sam.
Besides his appearance, in personality Gollum is described by Tolkien in the chapter "The Taming of Sméagol", after he has been captured by Sam and Frodo:
Gollum speaks in an unusual manner, usually speaking in the
first person pluralGrammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
when referring to himself and using the singular form of verbs. He also uses his own versions of words similar to the original words. He usually adds -es to the end of a plural, resulting in words such as "hobbitses" instead of hobbits or "birdses" instead of birds.
Age
Due to the influence of the One Ring, Gollum's life was extended far beyond that of other members of his clan. There is a gap of 556 years between the finding of the Ring in and its destruction in , making Gollum between 570 and 600 years old.
Film and stage
In the
Rankin/BassRankin/Bass Productions, Inc. , also known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by Classic Media,while the post-1974 library is...
adaptations of
The Hobbit (1977) and
The Return of the KingThe Return of the King, also known as The Return of the King: A Story of the Hobbits, is a 1980 animated television special created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. The film is an adaptation of the third volume in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R...
(1980), Gollum appears as a frog-like creature with big eyes. His voice is provided by
Brother TheodoreBrother Theodore , born Theodore Gottlieb, was a German-American monologuist and comedian known for rambling, stream-of-consciousness dialogues which he called "stand-up tragedy".-Early years:...
. Despite Tolkien's description, Gollum is portrayed as almost naked, save for a loin-cloth.
In
Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
's animated film of
The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
(1978), the voice of Gollum was supplied by
Peter WoodthorpePeter Woodthorpe was an English film, television and voice actor who is best known for supplying the voice of Gollum in the 1978 Bakshi version of The Lord of the Rings and BBC's 1981 radio serial...
, who also reprised the role in the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's 1981
radio serialIn 1981 the UK radio station BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo instalments...
.
In
Peter JacksonSir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's
The Lord of the Rings film trilogyThe Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
and also the upcoming film version of
The Hobbit, Gollum is a
CGIComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
character voiced and performed by actor
Andy SerkisAndrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
. He is smaller than both Frodo and Sam. Barely glimpsed in
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he becomes a central character in
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and a main
antagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
(2003). The CGI character was built around Serkis' facial features, voice and acting choices. Andy Serkis based his voice on sounds made by his cat. Using a digital puppet created by Jason Schleifer and
Bay RaittBay Leaf Raitt is a digital modeler and animator. While working for Weta Digital in New Zealand, he was responsible for creating the computer-generated face for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. In video games, he is a modeler, animator, and level designer for the videogame Squeezils...
at
Weta DigitalWeta Digital is a digital visual effects company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. In 2007 Weta Digital’s Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Joe Letteri, was...
, animators created Gollum's performance using a mixture of
motion captureMotion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
data recorded from Serkis and the traditional animation process of
Key frameA key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition. They are called "frames" because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film...
, along with the laborious process of digitally rotoscoping Serkis' image and replacing it with the digital Gollum's in a technique coined
rotoanimation. This work required a large number of digital artists.
In
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
, Serkis himself appears in a
flashbackFlashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
scene as Sméagol before his degeneration into Gollum. This scene was originally earmarked for
The Two Towers, but was held back because the screenwriters felt audiences would relate better to the original Sméagol once they were more familiar with who he became. The decision to include this scene meant that Raitt and Jamie Beswarick had to redesign Gollum's face for the second and third movies so that it would more closely resemble Serkis'. The brief glimpses in
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring are of an earlier model of Gollum.
Gollum's split personality is emphasized in Jackson's films; screenwriters
Fran WalshFrances "Fran" Walsh, Lady Jackson, MNZM is a screenwriter, film producer and occasional musician. She is the spouse of filmmaker Peter Jackson. They have two children: Billy and Katie....
and
Philippa BoyensPhilippa Boyens, MNZM, is a New Zealand screenwriter who co-wrote the screenplay for Peter Jackson's film series The Lord of the Rings with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, for which the trio won an Oscar at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004. Boyens worked with the same collaborators on the screenplay...
included scenes in
The Two Towers and
The Return of the King in which "Gollum" and "Sméagol" argue, with Serkis slightly altering his voice and body language to play the two as separate entities.
Serkis and Gollum appeared on the 2003
MTV Movie AwardsThe MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
, when Gollum won "Best Virtual Performance" and went on to deliver an obscenity-laden acceptance speech in character. This clip can be found as an
easter eggImage:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
in
The Two Towers DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
Wizard MagazineWizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...
rated Jackson's Gollum as the 62nd greatest villain of all time, from among 100 villains from film, television, comics and video games. In addition, Serkis as Gollum was placed thirteenth on
Empire'sEmpire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
"100 Greatest Movie Characters of all Time".
Serkis has confirmed that he will once again play Gollum in Jackson's film adaptation of
The Hobbit, set to be released in 2012.
Gollum also appears in the independently-produced 2009 prequel to the Jackson film
The Hunt for GollumThe Hunt for Gollum is a 2009 British fantasy fan film directed by Chris Bouchard and based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The plot of the film is set in Middle-earth, when the wizard Gandalf the Grey fears that Gollum may reveal information about the One Ring to...
, directed by Chris Bouchard. Bouchard's CGI Gollum is directly inspired by and very similar to Gollum in the Jackson films.
These film adaptations have varied in how they depicted Gollum visually. In Bakshi's film, Gollum is dark, bald and gangly. The Jackson films depicted Gollum similarly, though pale. In contrast, in the Rankin/Bass adaptations, he is a pale green, frog-like creature with huge, pupil-less eyes.
In
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Gollum was portrayed by
Michael TherriaultMichael Therriault is a Canadian actor. He attended Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Sheridan College in Oakville, and was a member of the inaugural season of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training in Stratford, Ontario.After spending seven seasons at the Stratford...
in the three-hour stage production of
The Lord of the Rings, which opened in 2006 in
TorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Gollum also appears in a three-part comic book adaptation of
The Hobbit, scripted by Chuck Dixon and Sean Deming and illustrated by David Wenzel. It was first published by
Eclipse ComicsEclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
in 1989. A reprint collected in one volume was released by Unwin Paperbacks in 1990 and by
Del Rey BooksDel Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
in 2001.
In other media
In
Sierra EntertainmentSierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
's
The Lord of the Rings: War of the RingThe Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring is a 2003 real-time strategy game developed by Liquid Entertainment, the makers of the previous Battle Realms and its expansion, Winter of the Wolf, and published by Sierra Entertainment. Set in J. R. R...
, a real-time strategy game based solely on the book, Gollum is a playable hero unit for the Minions of Sauron.
LegolasLegolas is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. He is an Elf of the Woodland Realm and one of nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring.- Literature :...
and a guard of archers track him through
MirkwoodMirkwood is a name used for two distinct fictional forests in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. In the First Age, the highlands of Dorthonion north of Beleriand were known as Mirkwood after falling under Morgoth's control. During the Third Age, the large forest in Rhovanion, east of the Anduin in ...
, fighting giant spiders along the way.
In
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2002 cross-platform video game developed based on the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. WXP developed the game for Xbox, while Surreal developed the PC and PlayStation 2 version, and Pocket Studios delevoped the game for...
video game by
Surreal SoftwareSurreal Software is a video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington, USA, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Surreal Software, best known for The Suffering and Drakan series, employed over 130 designers, artists and programmers. Surreal was acquired by Warner Bros....
, also based only on the book, Gollum appears in a cutscene when the Fellowship of the Ring is within Moria, and is shown half hidden behind debris muttering to himself. He also appears during the final level at Amon Hen; when the user is playing as Aragorn, Gollum appears on a cliff edge muttering to himself and walks away, and then does the same on another cliff edge. Then the player heads to a small island and a cutscene can be shown with a conversation between Aragorn and Gollum, in which Gollum throws a fish at him; it becomes his weapon for the final mission, as well as the most powerful weapon in the game.
He also appears in
Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
' games based on the Jackson films. In the real-time strategy game
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earthThe Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a PC real-time strategy game developed by EA Los Angeles. It is based on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in turn based on J. R. R. Tolkien's original novel. The game uses short video clips from the movies and a number of the...
, Gollum is a playable hero unit for Mordor. In its sequel,
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth IIThe Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, abbreviated BFMEII, is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is based on the fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and its live-action film trilogy adaptation...
, which is also based on the film series, he is not playable. Instead, he walks around the map cloaked, carrying the Ring. When killed, he drops the Ring for a player to claim. When the Ring is returned to the player's fortress, they may summon a special "Ring Hero" —
GaladrielGaladriel is a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien, appearing in his Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales....
for good factions and Sauron for evil. He also appears in the action game based on
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, accompanying Frodo and the player as the game progresses, but at Mount Doom becomes the final boss, whom the player must throw into the lava below. In the
Game BoyThe , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
version of
The Return of the King, he is a playable bonus
character.
In the
Big Bang TheoryThe Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
episode, "The Precious Fragmentation", Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Raj find the
One RingThe One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
at a garage sale. They hold a contest to see who will keep the ring, the rules being that the last person to hold the ring gets to keep it. Leonard drops out early to be with Penny, and Sheldon, Howard and Raj continue the contest only to fall asleep. Whilst they are sleeping, Sheldon has a dream in which he won. He then goes into the bathroom, and realizes he has turned into Gollum. He then wakes up to find that the ring was gone. Leonard claims that he sent the ring back to Peter Jackson, but in reality kept the ring to himself.
The third verse of the
Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
song "
Ramble On-Cover versions:Train did a cover of the song in early 2001 and released it as a single. Producer Brendan O'Brien heard Train's version and agreed to produce their second album, Drops of Jupiter...
" makes multiple references to
The Lord of the Rings and specifically Gollum:
- "Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear.
- How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air.
- T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair.
- But Gollum, and the evil one, crept up and slipped away with her, her, her....yeah."
In the
FuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
spinoff film
Bender's GameFuturama: Bender's Game is the third of the four direct-to-DVD Futurama films that make up the show's fifth season. It was released on November 4, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray....
, Fry comes into possession of the dodecahedron (a powerful item that ends up transporting them to a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired world). Most of the storyline there is inspired by
Lord of the Rings. The possession of it eventually reduces him to a Gollum-like state, where he refers to it as "my dodeca-licious".
In the
Total Drama World Tour final episode
Hawaii Punch, Ezekiel fighting Heather (or against Chris Mclean, whichever is deemed the alternate ending) to steal the briefcase with a million dollars. He then falls into the volcano of Hawaii and is destroyed by the money to be delivered as a prize to the winner. This character has been degenerating by ambition throughout the third season of this series, starring in various cameos in which he looked more and more deformed, ending with a great physical resemblance to
Gollum .
External links
- Gollum at the Thain's Book
- Gollum at the Encyclopedia of Arda