Gollum as a Mirror to Man

Any of us who have either read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit or watched the movie adaptations (a poor substitute for the brilliant books, most especially in the latter case) are familiar with the small, crouching, creeping, and somewhat pathetic figure of Gollum--Gollum, who once led a happy life on the banks of a river, who had friends, and enjoyed fishing. We, like Gollum, all have special things we enjoy doing, whether it be reading, sports, or painting; but, also like Gollum, none of our lives are perfect, and many lives, like his, may spiral all too swiftly into a perilous depression and ruination.

  Gollum was once known as Smeagol. He lived by the water with his family, but one day while boating with his friend Deagol, a Ring came into his possession. Came into his possession? Not quite. Rather, when Smeagol saw Deagol with the Ring his friend had found on the lakebottom, Smeagol was enslaved, body and soul, causing him to kill his friend for the Ring, afterwards isolating himself from his family and running off to hide in the caves under the Misty Mountains. A violent beginning, but nonetheless true. As writer Joseph Pearce says, “The thing possessed possesses the possessor.” Gollum, the possessor of the Ring, was in turn possessed by the Ring. He was no longer the owner, but the owned.

  This scenario of losing control over a possession in this way presents itself in many other areas besides Lord of the Rings. A very obvious case is addiction, which is as much a disease of the soul as it is of the body. Like Gollum, the addict knows he is in some way afflicted, longs to get away from it, even denies it; but deep in his mind, is still conscious of there being a deeply-rooted problem. Hate and rejection of self begins to set in, and also rejection of offers of help from family and friends. This is exactly what happened to Gollum. Hidden away, curled up in his little dark cave under the Mountain, he slowly withered under the burden of the knowledge that the Ring had enslaved him, and that he could do absolutely nothing to help himself. When the Ring was found by the most unlikely of people, (a hobbit by the name of Baggins) and taken from him, he pursued it through his life, right to Mount Doom, where he gained it back--thinking that his dearest wish. But even there, when he had the Ring safe in his hand and all seemed right, his desire for the evil of the Ring was shown to be so bad as to be punishable by death. And so Gollum, clutching his evil lovingly close, went with it into the burning flames of Mount Doom.

  It does not always have to be this way. As seen in the case of Bilbo, it is possible to escape from the evil and in the end, sail away into the Undying Lands, or, in our case, die happily. Remember the story of Gollum next time you see yourself forming a bad habit. Remember where that habit can take you. Don’t fall into Mount Doom with sin!

Maura Tuffy