50 Fun Facts About Gollum

Which Tolkien scholar calls Gollum Tolkien's 'central monster-figure'?

She sees him as Grendel and the Beowulf dragon combined in one figure.

To which branch of hobbits did Gollum originally belong?

His River-folk lived near the Gladden Fields on the Anduin.

Tolkien presents Smeagol as a 'translation' of which Middle-earth name, meaning 'burrowing'?

It is rendered with a name based on the Old English verb smeagan, 'to scrutinize'; Deagol translates Nahald.

How did the name Gollum arise?

His relatives coined it before his grandmother disowned him.

Whom did Smeagol murder to get the Ring?

The victim had been pulled into the Anduin by a fish and found the Ring in the riverbed.

On what occasion did Smeagol demand the Ring as a 'present'?

He strangled his companion when the gift was refused.

Which relative disowned Smeagol after his thieving and spying with the Ring?

She was the matriarch of the extended family he grew up in.

Where does Gollum live when Bilbo meets him?

It lies at the roots of the Misty Mountains, below the Great Goblin's stronghold.

What does Gollum eat in his cave?

He fishes from a small boat; his eyes have become lamp-like in the dark.

What contest do Bilbo and Gollum play in the dark?

The prize is to be shown the way out of the mountains.

What was Bilbo's final, unanswerable 'riddle'?

Gollum realises the answer only when he finds the Ring missing.

In the first edition of The Hobbit, what did Gollum offer Bilbo as a prize for winning?

Tolkien rewrote the chapter once the Ring became the ruling Ring, and the old story became Bilbo's lie.

Why does Bilbo not kill Gollum as he escapes the cave?

He leaps over him instead; Frodo and Sam later make the same choice.

Which monstrous spider did Gollum serve as a spy, bringing her food?

He later tries to feed Frodo and Sam to her.

Which two words did Gollum reveal to Sauron under torture?

That is how the Nazgul knew where to ride.

Who captured Gollum and handed him to the Wood Elves of Mirkwood?

Gandalf interrogated him there before he escaped with help from Sauron's orcs.

Where does Gollum begin trailing the Fellowship?

Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn all notice him.

How does Gollum follow the Fellowship's boats down the Anduin?

Sam notices his paddle-feet, 'like a swan's almost'.

In which hills do Frodo and Sam finally confront Gollum?

He nearly strangles Sam before Frodo subdues him with Sting.

What does Sam tie around Gollum's ankle as a leash?

The mere touch of the Elven-made rope causes him pain.

On what does Gollum swear his oath to help Frodo?

Frodo warns him the Precious will hold him to it.

Which two nicknames does Sam give Gollum's two personalities?

A green glint in the eyes signals the switch between them.

Who ruins Gollum's moment of near-repentance on the stairs up to the pass?

Tolkien called it the story's most tragic moment.

Which pass does Gollum lead the hobbits to as his 'other way' into Mordor?

Faramir warns Frodo of the evil of the place and of Gollum's treachery.

What is Gollum's final word as he falls into the Crack of Doom?

Frodo later urges Sam to forgive him, since the quest would have failed without him.

What does Gollum bite off Frodo at Mount Doom?

Frodo had just claimed the Ring and put it on.

Roughly how old was Gollum when the Ring was destroyed?

556 years separated his finding of the Ring from its destruction.

Which Old Norse word, meaning 'gold' or 'treasure', may be the source of the name Gollum?

Its dative form is gollum; another theory points to the golem of Jewish folklore.

Which illustrator drew Gollum as very large because the first edition never gave his size?

Tolkien later added that he was 'a small slimy creature'.

What do the rangers of Ithilien wonder Gollum might be?

An orc later compares him to a spider or a starved frog.

Which Elvish food can Gollum not bring himself to eat?

He also rejects cooked rabbit in favour of raw meat or fish.

What suffix does Gollum habitually add to plurals, as in 'hobbitses'?

He also says 'we hates it', stretching the third-person -s to every subject.

What does Frodo take it to mean when Gollum says 'I' instead of 'we'?

Most of the time he refers to himself in the third person or plural.

Which Genesis story do scholars say the Smeagol-Deagol murder echoes?

Like Cain, Smeagol ends up a restless exile.

Which Beowulf monster do scholars most often compare Gollum to?

Both love water, live apart from society and are described as beasts.

Gollum has been compared to Gagool, a hag in which 1885 novel?

Tolkien acknowledged Rider Haggard as a major influence.

Which H. G. Wells creatures have been suggested as a source for Gollum?

They too are pale, large-eyed and shaped by generations underground.

A 2004 British Medical Journal paper argued Gollum meets criteria for which diagnosis?

He met seven of the nine diagnostic criteria, the students found.

Gollum is most often read as a Jungian 'shadow figure' for which character?

Other proposed pairings include Saruman for Gandalf and Shelob for Galadriel.

Who voiced Gollum in the Rankin/Bass cartoons of 1977 and 1980?

His Gollum was distinctly froglike.

Who voiced Gollum in both Ralph Bakshi's film and the 1981 BBC radio serial?

Bakshi's prologue rendered his transformation as shadows against a red canvas.

Who performed Gollum through motion capture in Peter Jackson's films?

The digital character was built around his face, voice and acting choices.

What inspired Serkis's throat noise for the name 'gollum'?

The sound became the character's signature.

What term was coined for digitally replacing Serkis's image with the CGI character?

It combined motion capture, key-frame animation and frame-by-frame rotoscoping.

In which film does Serkis appear in the flesh as Smeagol before his degeneration?

The flashback was held back from the second film so audiences would know Gollum first.

The celebrated 'Gollum and Smeagol' argument scene appears in which film?

It uses shot/reverse-shot cutting between two 'characters' who are one creature.

What prize did Gollum's obscene 2003 MTV speech go on to win?

It took Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

What was stuck to the head of the Russian Gollum in the 1991 teleplay Khraniteli?

The production was rediscovered in 2021; Variety also noted his orange eye-shadow.

Which rock band mentions Gollum and Mordor in their 1969 song 'Ramble On'?

Robert Plant was a devoted Tolkien reader.

Which studio released the 2023 video game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum?

It came out for Windows, PlayStation and Xbox.