The story contained within J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is as broadly known, among the general populace, as Star Wars, after decades of weaving itself into our cultural consciousness.
Characters from the classic story — reimagined several times over but never so successfully as in Peter Jackson’s films — are pop culture figures all their own, with iconic lines from the series and easily identifiable character traits frequently cropping up on bar blackboards and trivia answer sheets. Among the most iconic lines from the series — as recognizable as “I am your father,” by my estimation — is Gollum’s oft-repeated prayer to his single, treasured possession: his precious.
Gollum is as synonymous with Lord of the Rings as Frodo himself — perhaps more so. While there are likely plenty of poor, ignorant youths who might mistake Elijah Wood’s Frodo with a sweet-faced, youthful Daniel Radcliffe, few laymen would fail to recognize Gollum’s sparse locks and washed-out skin. The character is utterly iconic, and the release of his own dedicated game is reminding readers, viewers, and fans everywhere of just how interconnected his story is with Lord of the Rings.
Without Gollum, there is no Lord of the Rings, but without Sméagol, there is no Gollum. The character’s tragic, wrought backstory is absolutely vital to everything that happens over the course of many of Tolkien’s branching works, and his transformation from Sméagol to Gollum was the first catalyst.
Who is Sméagol?
Anyone who’s made it this far into this article probably has a basic idea of the Lord of the Rings story, but I’ll give you a quick refresher just in case. The story revolves around a vital, powerful ring that contains within it the power to break worlds.
The One Ring, as it’s called, ever seeks to return to its creator, Sauron, and warps the mind and body of anyone who wields it for too long. Over its long life, only a few people have ever held the One Ring, and all of them came to tragedy in one form or another.
The person who bore the One Ring longest, apart from its master, is Sméagol. Long before he was corrupted by the all-consuming power of the One Ring, the young Sméagol (or, more accurately, his friend Déagol) stumbled across a simple, shiny bit of jewelry while enjoying a relaxed day out. That jewelry — the One Ring, lost to memory — instantly sunk its teeth into Sméagol and refused to let go. It corrupted his mind in an instant, urging him to violence against the only person who stood between it and its goal: Déagol.
Within minutes of finding the One Ring, Sméagol commits his first murder and begins his transformation into Gollum. He carried that first name, the one he held in his innocent early years, for a while after his transformation started, but Sméagol left his former life behind the moment that all-corrupting Ring set its sights on him.
How did Sméagol become Gollum?
Sméagol’s transformation from a youthful, naive Stoor to the twisted, broken wreck he becomes started long before the story in The Lord of the Rings begins. After stumbling across the One Ring and subsequently murdering his best friend for it, Sméagol was exiled from his home. Murder isn’t accepted much of anywhere, and it turns out even Hobbits are pretty strict in their upholding of those “no murder” policies, which left the warped Sméagol with nowhere to go.
So he retreated, far from his own kind, into the darkness that beckoned him more and more the longer he held the corrupting One Ring. The trinket’s attempts to return to its master failed, for decades, due to Sméagol’s seclusion, as he slowly transformed from a carefree Stoor into the hacking, miserable Gollum. The One Ring’s corruption of Sméagol’s mind is entirely behind his transformation, as is that first violent act it compelled him to commit. Wracked by guilt and turned aside from any form of civilized safety, Gollum made a wretched life for himself away from any kind of human — or Elf, or Hobbit, or otherwise — connection, and this isolation gave the One Ring complete power over him.
With that power, it warped him into the creature that we know from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. That creature has his own name, separate from Sméagol’s innocent roots, and his own malicious personality. He goes by Gollum, and separated himself from any semblance of “human” desire a long time ago. He has but one goal, and that goal drives every single action Gollum undertakes. His precious is the only motivation Gollum has left, once he’s left Sméagol behind, and it ultimately makes every decision for him — all the way up to his death.