In many ways, Gollum is the lynchpin that brings the entire Lord of the Rings together. If the gangly creature — or rather his friend Deagol — hadn’t found the One Ring in the River Anduin, then the mystical object would never have found its way into Bilbo’s possession, ultimately leading to the events of the trilogy.
Gollum was also integral to Frodo’s quest to destroy the Ring, guiding him and Sam Gamgee to the very opening of Mount Doom. The antagonist then grappled with the Hobbits to reclaim the One Ring, and in doing so fell into the lava pit with his precious, destroying Sauron.
Gandalf once claimed that there was a reason Bilbo didn’t kill Gollum, that the pity of Bilbo would one day end up ruling the fate of many. That turned out to be the case in those final moments. With Frodo finally succumbing to the temptation of the Ring and Sauron learning of its presence, the armies of the West would’ve lost the Battle of the Black Gate if Smeagol hadn’t shown up to play his part.
No one can deny that Gollum is an important character. Perhaps that’s even why Daedalic Entertainment decided to make a whole video game centering around his exploits before the events of The Lord of the Rings. That game may have released to some extremely negative reviews — and it certainly isn’t worth spending $50 on — but it has compelled a lot of Middle-earth enthusiasts over the past few days to wonder about what Gollum got up to in those years preceding The Lord of the Rings and the formation of the Fellowship.
Well, we’ve leafed through the written accounts of Gollum’s life both in The Lord of the Rings and The History of Middle-earth, and we’re going to break it down for you in this article.
What did Gollum do in The Lord of the Rings timeline?
Smeagol was born in the 2430th year of the Third Age, some 600 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. He was a Hobbit of Stoorish descent and lived in the Vales of Anduin. On his 33rd birthday, he and his friend Deagol went fishing in the river, where they came upon the One Ring. Smeagol suggested that Deagol should make a gift of the Ring to him for his birthday, but when Deagol resisted, his friend — already far into the grip of its magical temptation — choked him to death.
Smeagol was further corrupted by the Ring’s influence, and thus cast out of the village by his Hobbit kin. He went to the Misty Mountains then and lived there for over four hundred years. It’s not clear if it was guilt or the Ring’s own addiction that pushed him down a life of misery and indulgence, but the magical object prolonged his life and slowly twisted his Hobbit body. The fact that he was living off of raw fish and other living creatures didn’t help his disfigurement, either, until a time came when nothing remained of the former Smeagol in terms of looks.
It was sometime in that long period that he also developed dissociative identity disorder, splitting his psyche into two beings; Smeagol and Gollum. Smeagol tried to cling unto his previous personality — his old life among the Hobbits — as much as he could, while Gollum pushed him to evil almost incessantly, and the two personalities began a mental war of sorts inside his mind.
In the 2941st year of the Third Age — during the quest for Erebor — Bilbo accidentally came upon Gollum’s cave, where the famous “Riddles in the Dark” encounter took place. The One Ring had a will of its own, so it abandoned Gollum and found a new master in the form of Bilbo Baggins.
Gollum chased after Bilbo for a few years, but the trail went cold. He went to Mordor at a time when Sauron was still amassing his strength, and it was in that same period that he discovered the secret passage to Cirith Ungol. Years later, he would use that passage to guide Frodo and Sam toward their destination. Smeagol also encountered Shelob the spider, but somehow managed to escape her trap.
Ultimately, Sauron’s servants captured Smeagol and took him to Barad-Dur, where he was tortured relentlessly to give up the location of the Ring. The Shadow learned of the Shire and the name Baggins, and the Nine set out to find the new Ringbearer. As for Gollum, he made his way back West, to learn that he had two new pursuers in Aragorn – the Dunedain Ranger and Gandalf the Grey.
Aragorn captured Gollum in the wilderness and brought him to Mirkwood, whereupon Gandalf interrogated him. The wizard left Smeagol there, under the watch of Thranduil’s elves, but he escaped captivity and went on the Fellowship’s trail, in the hope of reuniting with the One Ring, his precious.
All of these took decades to unfold in the books. When Gandalf leaves the Shire to search for Gollum, Frodo is 33. When he returns with new tidings about the Ring and Gollum, it has been almost 17 years, and Frodo begins the quest for Rivendell in his 50th year.
Gollum was first heard and spotted by Frodo several times as the Fellowship tried to make its way through the mines of Moria. When Gandalf fell in his fight with the Balrog of Morgoth, Smeagol somehow managed to cross the broken bridge and continue to tail the Fellowship through Lorien. When Frodo and Sam separated from the rest of the team, Smeagol hunted their scent and followed them from the shadows.
Eventually, Frodo learned of his presence again and decided to confront him. He and Sam captured Smeagol and compelled him to obey them, and the three started their journey toward Mordor.
Of course, you know how the rest of Gollum’s story unfolds thanks to the movies, but it’s worth noting that his presence is much stronger in the books — especially The Fellowship of the Ring — than the films. So if you’re curious to learn more about Smeagol and his backstory, this might be a great time to dive back into The Lord of the Rings books again.
