In Defence of Gollum

Story Downloaded from Open Scrolls Archive (https://www.openscrolls.net)

Title: In Defence of Gollum (#1901)
Author: Marta
Chapters: 2

Archive: Tolkien
Category: Reality Bytes
Description: A short essay investigating the character of Gollum. Was he really completely evil, or did he have a seed of goodness buried deep inside?
Published: 19 May 2005
Updated: 19 May 2005
Warnings: n/a
Type: General
Characters: Gollum

Chapter 1 - In Defence of Gollum

(Thanks to Gwynnyd, Tanaqui, and Lyllyn for their help.)

Gollum. In a story about Frodo's and Sam's journey toward Mount Doom after they leave the Fellowship, he is quite possibly the antagonist. This is understandable; after all, it's Gollum who betrays them to Shelob, who tries to murder Sam outside her lair (possibly resulting in Frodo's capture), and who in the end seizes the Ring from Frodo at the Sammath Naur.

Sam does not think very highly of Gollum, and as Frodo falls more and more under the Ring's influence, the Red Book becomes a recollection of Sam's experience. So it isn't very surprising that we don't see Gollum in a positive light during the trek across Mordor, when Gollum does his worst deeds.

Physical Traits

Gollum appears in only one chapter of The Hobbit: the fifth chapter, "Riddles in the Dark". Here Tolkien gives us this description of Gollum:

###"Deep down here by the water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don't know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum -- a dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. [...] He paddled [his boat] with large feet dangling over the side, but never a ripple did he make. Not he. He was looking out of his pale lamp-like eyes for blind fish, which he grabbed with his long fingers as quick as thinking. He liked meat too. Goblin he thought good, when he could get it; but he took care they never found him out."###

On a first reading, Gollum may seem like the kind of monster that populates every B-rated horror films. But let us look a little closer:

Physically, Gollum is described small and slimy. However, we should remember that he has been living in an underground lake for nearly five hundred years. Anyone who has spent so much as an afternoon swimming in an above-ground lake will tell you that your skin comes out feeling slimy. Millions of microscopic aquatic life find their way into every nook and cranny of your body. Now, imagine that you could not take a hot shower to rinse off all this muck but instead had to live in it for centuries. It is not surprising that Bilbo thinks Gollum looks slimy. (Gollum's rock is also described as slimy, but no one would think this abnormal for a rock in the middle of a lake.)

Tolkien also writes of him, "[he was] dark as darkness except for two big round pale eyes". This may seem a little eerie, but it is actually quite natural for a subterranean or nocturnal animal to have large eyes. If there is not much light availble, evolution will favor creatures with larger eyes, since such eyes can capture more of what little light is available. (For example, see this picture of a lemur.) Even within a single individual, eyes can dilate to take in more light if they are in a dark area for even a few hours. Think of how bright the lights may seem after you come out of a dark cinema. This is because your eyes have adjusted to the dark by dilating, and must re-adjust to the brighter light.

Sneaking

In the passage quoted above, Gollum is also described as secretive: "He paddled [his boat] with large feet dangling over the side, but never a ripple did he make. Not he. [...] Goblin he thought good, when he could get it; but he took care they never found him out." However, anyone would be careful when they live in a goblin-den, and Gollum has the ability to be more quiet than most. His people are related to the Stoors, a type of hobbit (more on this below), and in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings Tolkien writes,

###"Though they [hobbits] are inclined to be fat and do not hurry unnecessarily, they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements."###

In "Roast Mutton" Tolkien states that hobbits are more stealthy than dwarves, even though dwarves could also move very quietly:

###"But at any rate hobbits can move quietly in woods, absolutely quietly. They take a pride in it, and Bilbo had sniffed more than once at what he called 'all this dwarvish racket', as they went along, though I don't suppose you or I would notice anything at all on a windy night, not if the whole cavalcade had passed two feet off. As for Bilbo walking primly towards the red light, I don't suppose even a weasel would have stirred a whisker at it."###

The Ring may also have helped Gollum be more secretive:

###"[I]f he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eyes of the dark power that rules the Rings." ("The Shadow of the Ring", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

I don't think Tolkien intended Gollum to have faded entirely. After all, he is still visible, and at one point Tolkien states explicitly that a corner of Gollum's mind was still not possessed by the Ring. However, it is possible that his long possession of the Ring enables him to blend in more with the shadows. There are several natural explanations for Gollum's ability to "sneak" that do not call for him to be an evil creature allied to the Dark Lord.

The morality of Gollum's unwillingness to help Bilbo unless he won a riddle game is an interesting one, but it is not really pertinent to this essay. Even if this one deed of Gollum's was evil, it certainly doesn't mean he is fundamentally evil. At this point Gollum is living among goblins and other creatures that do not help each other. He has every reason not to trust a strange trespasser.

No one would claim that Gondor's law ordering Faramir to "slay all whom I find in this land without the leave of the Lord of Gondor" ("The Window on the West", The Two Towers) is evil. It is possible that this law allowed some Gondorians to kill a stranger where that death might be avoided, but given the danger they live in and the fact that Ithilien is at this point also claimed by Mordor, this law is certainly justifiable. Similarly, Gollum's unwillingness to risk his safety for someone who has never met (and who has just threatened him with his sword!) does not necessarily prove that Gollum was a bad person.

River-people and Hobbitses

In "The Shadow of the Past", when Gandalf is telling Frodo about the history of the Ring, he says:

###"Long after [Isildur lost the Ring], but still very long ago, there lived by the banks of the Great River on the edge of Wilderland a clever-handed and quiet-footed little people. I guess they were of hobbit kind; akin to the fathers of the fathers of the Stoors."###

We learn in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings that the Stoors are one of three strains found in hobbits around the time the Shire was similar to hobbits. Given Gollum's short height and his knowledge of riddles similar to those asked by hobbits,, it is likely that his people lived in one of the many hobbit settlements outside the Shire that Tolkien refers to. (Bree is another such settlement.) At the very least, the River-people are closely related to these hobbits outside the Shire.

Still sceptical? So was Frodo:

###"'I can't believe that Gollum was connected with hobbits, however distantly,' said Frodo with some heat. 'What an abominable notion!'

"'It is true all the same,' said Gandalf. 'About their origins, at any rate, I know more than hobbits do themselves. And even Bilbo's story suggests the kinship. There was a great deal in the background of their minds and memories that was very familiar. They understood one another remarkably well, very much better than a hobbit would understand, say, a Dwarf, or an orc, or even an Elf.'" ("The Shadow of the Past", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

What does this mean for Gollum's character? It means he is one of the free people of Middle-earth. He is not an orc, or a troll, or a warg, or some other creature that has been tortured until it has no choice but to serve evil. In fact, hobbits are especially resilient to such influences, as Gandalf says:

###"Soft as butter they can be, and yet sometimes as tough as old tree-roots. I think it likely that some would resist the Rings far longer than most of the Wise would believe." ("The Shadow of the Past", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

The Same Story

Gollum would be a difficult-to-like character even without the movie's influence. However, as with many elements of the books, Peter Jackson's treatments of the scene on the stairs to Cirith Ungol has led many people to view Gollum in a way that is not in keeping with what Tolkien wrote. This scene is in my opinion the crucial key to understanding Gollum's humanity.

The scene in question begins when Sam and Frodo stop to rest, and they realise that Gollum has disappeared. Sam thinks he has snuck off to find some orcs; Frodo believes Gollum only left to hunt for food. (In fact, Gollum is meeting with Shelob.) The two hobbits go on to talk about how they will be remembered after the Quest. After their conversation, Frodo falls asleep and Sam says he will stay awake to keep watch. Unfortunately, Sam also falls asleep and wakes up just in time to see Gollum "pawing" at his master.

But back up a second. What exactly is Gollum doing, in the books?

###"Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grye, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee -- but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved and pitiable thing.

But at that touch Frodo stirred and cried out softly in his sleep, and immediately Sam was wide awake. The first thing he saw was Gollum -- 'pawing at master,' as he thought." ("The Stairs of Cirith Ungol", The Two Towers)###

Gollum here nearly repents of his evil deeds. Perhaps if Sam had not been so harsh with him when the former awoke, Gollum might have told them about Shelob. Or perhaps not; the point is, Gollum feels remorse. There is a part of him that regrets doing what he is about to do. Some part of him is not controlled completely by evil, and so he cannot be considered unredeemable in the same way that many of Sauron's servants are.

What about in the movies? The first part of this scene is rendered fairly faithfully at the end of The Two Towers, just before Gollum decides he will take the hobbits to "Her". The second part, however, is very different. On the stairs to Cirith Ungol, Gollum steals the last of the hobbits' lembas, spreads some crumbs over Sam, and discards the rest. Sam then awakes and accuses Gollum of "sneaking". In the books, Sam asks the same question, but in the movies it's actually the truth: Gollum has been sneaking, trying to blame Sam for the missing lembas.

Furthermore, by separating it from the earlier conversation about stories, this scene is not connected to hopes and wishes. When a book reader sees Gollum described as "an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years" they are reminded of Sam's and Frodo's speech just a few paragraphs earlier. Gollum also becomes a hobbit who had hopes for the future at one point, but whose future was taken away by the ring. This is not to say that Gollum is wholly good, but neither is he wholly evil. In the movies, he is just framing one of our noble heroes, with no redeeming characteristics. It isn't surprising that an audience more familiar with the movies might see Gollum as a monster. In Tolkien's story, however, this simply isn't true.

Concerning D�agol

One of the biggest criticisms of Gollum's character is how quickly he succumbs to the Ring. Bilbo and Frodo both wear it for years before they fall to its power. Sam only takes it reluctantly. Gandalf and Galadriel both refuse it (though after some struggle on the latter's part), as do all of the Fellowship members except for Boromir. And even Boromir travelled with the Ring for months before he tried to take it.

It is easy to forget how little time Boromir probably spent just with Frodo. In Rivendell and Lothl�rien he probably spent most of his time with the other hobbits; on the road all of the Fellowship probably did not wander too far from the group, in case they were attacked. Amon Hen may have been the first time Boromir was able to talk to Frodo alone.

It is easier to do something as part of a group than as an individual. History is full of examples where people do things as part of a mob that they never would have done individually. Consider for example Nazi Germany. If you had asked an average German in 1937 whether they would kill millions of Jews in the gruesome style the Nazis later used in the death camps, most of them would have said no. Even if they would not be prosecuted by their government or shunned by their neighbours. Similar examples could be found in communist North Korea, the KKK in the American South, or any number of attrocities. People simply find it easier to do evil as part of a group than to do the same thing individually.

I would also argue that it is easier to do good as part of a group. Boromir was able to resist the allure of the Ring for so long because he was surrounded by people who he presumably respected, who also were resisting the lure of the Ring. Gollum did not have this advantage; he was alone with D�agol when the Ring was found.

We don't know precisely how D�agol died. Here is Tolkien's account of the incident:

###"Sm�agol got out and went nosing about the banks but D�agol sat in the boat and fished. Suddenly a great fish took his hook, and before he knew where he was, he was dragged out and down into the water, to the bottom. Then he let go of his line, for he thought he saw something shining in the river-bed; and holding his breath he grabbed at it.

"Then he came spluttering, with weeds in his hair and a handful of mud; and he swam to the bank. And behold! when he washed the mud away, there in his hand lay a beautiful golden ring; and it shone and glittered in the sun, so that his heart was glad. But Sm�agol had been watching him from behind a tree, and as D�agol gloated over the ring, Sm�agol came softly up behind.

"'Give us that, D�agol, my love, said Sm�agol, over his friend's shoulder.

"'Why?' said D�agol.

"'Because it's my birthday, my love, and I wants it,' said Sm�agol.

"'I don't care,' said D�agol. 'I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I'm going to keep it.'

"'Oh, are you indeed, my love,' said Sm�agol; and he caught D�agol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful. Then he put the ring on his finger.

"No one ever found out what had become of D�agol; he was murdered far from home, and his body was cunningly hidden." ("The Shadow of the Past", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

We don't know much about D�agol's death besides the fact that Gandalf termed it a "murder". D�agol might have fought back. The murder does not appear to be premeditated, and it's likely that Sm�agol was so intent on claiming the ring that he ceased to consider what was right and wrong. There might have been extenuating circumstances that Tolkien simply did not include because Sm�agol's innocence is not a real issue at this point. (For what it's worth, in the movie scene it appears that Sm�agol and D�agol are both trying to kill each other.)

I'm not trying to excuse the murder of D�agol. The killing of anyone, especially of a friend, is a heinous act. However, remember that even basically good people can do evil things occasionally. It's entirely possible that Gollum was so tempted by the Ring that his desire overwhelmed everything else in his character that would have tempered his actions.

Sm�agol was in a fairly unique position. Bilbo found the Ring, and Frodo inherited it. Isildur claimed it as weregild for his father's death; to our knowledge no one else in the immediate area did the same. Sm�agol, on the other hand, saw D�agol with the Ring and had a chance to take that Ring by killing him. The murder was certainly wrong, but it does not necessarily taint his whole character.

But Don't Ask Me...

If this were a late night info-mercial, this would be the part where I would bring out the "satisfied customers", so you could see it's not just my opinion that you should buy the product I'm trying to sale. And while I won't tell you how "Gollum changed my life" ;) I do think it's important to consider what other characters in The Lord of the Rings thought of him.

The Hobbits
Bilbo did not seem to particularly like him, but he also did not kill him when he would have been justified to do so. Sam hated him quite intensely, and so did Frodo at the beginning. However, through the course of the Quest Frodo came to sympathize with Gollum, admonishing Sam for calling him Slinker/Stinker. He vouches for Gollum to Faramir, and even does not seem overly concerned when Gollum disappears on the border of Mordor.

Aragorn
Aragorn is less sympathetic; he does not seem to like Gollum at all:

###"Along the skirts of the Dead Marshes I followed it, and then I had him. Lurking by a stagnant mere, peering in the water as the dark eve fell, I caught him, Gollum. He was covered with green slime. He will never love me, I fear; for he bit me, and I was not gentle. Nothing more did I ever get from his mouth than the marks of his teeth. I deemed it the worst part of all my journey, the road back, watching him day and night, making him walk before me with a halter on his neck, gagged, until he was tamed by lack of drink and food, driving him ever towards Mirkwood. [...] For my part I hope never to look upon him again." ("The Council of Elrond", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

Neither Aragorn nor Gollum likes the other, and they both have good reason. Aragorn had to search for Gollum for months, at a time when he did not have the time to spare. Gollum was gagged, not given adequate food and water, forced to go where he did not want to go by a person he did not know just after having escaped Mordor. Their animosity is very understandable.

The Elves of Mirkwood
From the report Legolas gives at the council of Elrond, it seems that the Mirkwood elves are very humane toward Gollum:

###"'Alas! alas!' cried Legolas, and in his fair elvish face there was great distress. 'The tidings that I was sent to bring must now be told. They are not good, but only here have I learned how evil they may seem to this company. Smeagol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped.'

"'Escaped?' cried Aragorn. 'That is ill news indeed. We shall all rue it bitterly, I fear. How came the folk of Thranduil to fail in their trust?'

"'Not through lack of watchfulness,' said Legolas; 'but perhaps through over-kindliness. [...] We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf's bidding, much though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black thought.'

"'You were less tender to me,' said Gl�in with a flash of his eyes as old memories were stirred of his imprisonment in the deep places of the Elven-king's halls." ("The Council of Elrond", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

It seems that the Wood-elves treated Gollum better than they did Thorin's dwarves (who were not themselves treated that cruelly). And it should be noted that the Woodelves of all people had a right to be angry with Gollum, as Gollum had stolen their babies:

###"Through Mirkwood and back again [Gollum's trail] led them, though they never caught him. The wood was full of the rumor of him, dreadful tales even among beasts and birds. The Woodmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find the young; it slipped through windows to find cradles." ("The Shadow of the Past", The Fellowship of the Ring)###

Mirkwood is hardly free from evil creatures, so it is possible that something beside Gollum was doing this. However, the fact that these doings are talked about suggests they weren't always done. Either Gollum or some other creature that passed through at roughly the same time did these things. Whether Gollum was innocent or not, the Wood-elves probably suspected him, and so they had every right to be angry. Yet they treated him with mercy.

Gandalf
Gandalf is probably the most generous toward Gollum of any character. At Bag End he tells Frodo that Gollum is related to hobbits, and that Frodo might come to pity him eventually. (Gandalf was right in this matter, as he was in most things.) He also insists that, while Gollum might deserve death, Bilbo was not wrong to let him live. Later, it is he who insists that the Woodelves do what they can to rehabilitate. him.

Conclusion

Gollum was certainly not perfect. He murdered D�agol, stole from and blackmailed his family members, and was expelled from his grandmother's hole, all soon after he took the Ring. But we should be careful not to label him as a monster. He made mistakes, some small and others much more significant, and I am not trying to ignore these. However, it is important to remember that he was not fundamentally evil in the same sense that Sauron or one of the creatures he had twisted to serve him were.

Chapter 2 - Appendix

The scene between Frodo, Sam, and Gollum on the stairs to Cirith Ungol, as told by Tolkien.

In a dark crevice between two great piers of rock they sat down: Frodo and Sam a little way within, and Gollum crouched upon the ground near the opening. There the hobbits took what they expected would be their last meal before they went down into the Nameless Land, maybe the last meal they would ever eat together. Some of the food of Gondor they ate, and wafers of the waybread of the Elves. And they drank a little. But most of their water they were sparing and took only enough to moisten their dry mouths.

"I wonder when we'll find water again?" said Sam. "But I suppose even over there they drink? Orcs drink, don't they?"

"Yes, they drink," said Frodo. "But do not let us speak of that. Such drink is not for us."

"Then all the more need to fill our bottles," said Sam. "But there isn't any water up here: not a sound or a trickle have I heard. And anyway Faramir said we were not to drink any water in Morgul."

"No water flowing out of Imlad Morgul, were his words," said Frodo. "We are not in that valley now, and if we came on a spring it would be flowing into and not out of it."

"I wouldn't trust it," said Sam, "not till I was dying of thirst. There's a wicked feeling about this place." He sniffed. "And a smell, I fancy. Do you notice it? A queer kind of smell, stuffy. I don't like it."

"I don't like anything here at all," said Frodo, "step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid."

"Yes, that's so," said Sam. "And we shouldn't be here at all, if he'd known more about it before we started. But I suppose it's often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they are exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually -- their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on -- and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same -- like old Mr Bilbo. But those aren't always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we've fallen into?"

"I wonder," said Frodo. "But I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale. Take any one that you're fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don't know. And you don't want them to."

"No, sir, of course not. Beren now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it -- and the Silmaril went on and came to E�rendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got -- you've got some of the light of it in the star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?"

"No, they never end as tales," said Frodo. "But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later -- or sooner."

"And then we can have some rest and some sleep," said Sam. He laughed grimly. "And I mean just that, Mr. Frodo. I mean plain ordinary rest, and sleep, and waking up to a morning's work in the garden. I'm afraid that's all I'm hoping for all the time. All the big important plans are not for my sort. Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring!' And they'll say: 'Yes, that's one of my favourite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn't he, dad?' 'Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that's saying a lot.'"

"It's saying a lot too much," said Frodo, and he laughed, a long clear laugh from his heart. Such a laugh had not been heard in those places since Sauron came to Middle-earth. To Sam suddenly it seemed as if all the stones were listening and the tall rocks leaning over them. But Frodo did not heed them; he laughed again. "Why, Sam," he said, "to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you've left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stout-hearted. 'I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn't they put in more of his talk, dad? That's what I like, it makes me laugh. And frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam, would he, dad?'"

"Now, Mr. Frodo," said Sam, "you shouldn't make fun. I was serious."

"So was I," said Frodo, "and so I am. We're going on a bit too fast. You and I, Sam, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: 'Shut the book now, dad; we don't want to read any more.'"

"Maybe," said Sam, "but I wouldn't be one to say that. Things done and over and made into part of the great tales are different. Why, even Gollum might be good in a tale, better than he is to have by you, anyway. And he used to like tales himself once, by his own account. I wonder if he thinks he's the hero or the villain?

"Gollum!" he called. "Would you like to be the hero -- now where's he got to again?"

There was no sign of him at the mouth of their shelter nor in the shadows near. He had refused their food, though he had, as usual, accepted a mouthful of water; and then he had seemed to curl up for a sleep: They had supposed that one at any rate of his objects in his long absence the day before had been to hunt for food to his own liking; and now he had evidently slipped off again while they talked. But what for this time?

"I don't like his sneaking off without saying," said Sam. "And least of all now. He can't be looking for food up here, not unless there's some kind of rock he fancies. Why, there isn't even a bit of moss!"

"It's no good worrying about him now," said Frodo. "We couldn't have got so far, not even within sight of the pass, without him, and so we'll have to put up with his ways. If he's false, he's false."

"All the same, I'd rather have him under my eye," said Sam. "All the more so, if he's false. Do you remember he never would say if this pass was guarded or no? And now we see a tower there -- and it may be deserted, and it may not. Do you think he's gone to fetch them, Orcs or whatever they are?"

"No, I don't think so," answered Frodo. "Even if he's up to some wickedness, and I suppose that's not unlikely, I don't think it's that: not to fetch Orcs, or any servants of the Enemy. Why wait till now, and go through all the labour of the climb, and come so near the land he fears? He could probably have betrayed us to Orcs many times since we met him. No, if it's anything, it will be some little private trick of his own -- that he thinks is quite secret."

"Well, I suppose you're right, Mr. Frodo," said Sam. "Not that it comforts me mightily. I don't make no mistake: I don't doubt he'd hand me over to Orcs as gladly as kiss his hand. But I was forgetting -- his Precious. No, I suppose the whole time it's been The Precious for poor Sm�agol. That's the one idea in all his little schemes, if he has any. But how bringing us up here will help him in that is more than I can guess."

"Very likely he can't guess himself," said Frodo. "And I don't think he's got just one plain scheme in his muddled head. I think he really is in part trying to save the Precious from the Enemy, as long as he can. For that would be the last disaster for himself too, if the Enemy got it. And in the other part, perhaps, he's just biding his time and waiting on chance."

"Yes, Slinker and Stinker, as I've said before," said Sam. "But the nearer they get to the Enemy's land the more like Stinker Slinker will get. Mark my words: if ever we get to the pass, he won't let us really take the precious thing over the border without making some kind of trouble."

"We haven't got there yet," said Frodo.

"No, but we'd better keep our eyes skinned till we do. If we're caught napping, Stinker will come out on top pretty quick. Not but what it would be safe for you to have a wink now, master. Safe, if you lay close to me. I'd be dearly glad to see you have a sleep. I'd keep watch over you; and anyway, if you lay near, with my arm round you, no one could come pawing you without your Sam knowing it."

"Sleep!" said Frodo and sighed, as if out of a desert he had seen a mirage of cool green. "Yes, even here I could sleep."

"Sleep, then, master! Lay your head in my lap."

_ _

And so Gollum found them hours later, when he returned, crawling and creeping down the path out of the gloom ahead. Sam sat propped against the stone, his head dropping sideways and his breathing heavy. In his lap lay Frodo's head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam's brown hands, and the other lay softly upon his master's breast. Peace was in both their faces.

Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shanking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee-- but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing.

But at that touch Frodo stirred and cried out softly in his sleep, and immediately Sam was wide awake. The first thing he saw was Gollum -- "pawing at master", as he thought.

"Hey you!" he said roughly. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing, nothing," said Gollum softly. "Nice Master!"

"I daresay," said Sam. "But where have you been to -- sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain?"

Gollum withdrew himself, and a green glint flickered under his heavy lids. Almost spider-like he looked now, crouched back on his bent limbs, with his protruding eyes. The fleeting moment had passed, beyond recall. "Sneaking, sneaking!" he hissed. "Hobbits always so polite, yes. O nice hobbits! Sm�agol brings them up secret ways that nobody else could find. Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak, sneak. Very nice friends, O yes my precious, very nice."

Sam felt a bit remorseful, though not more trustful. "Sorry," he said. "I'm sorry, but you startled me out of my sleep. And I shouldn't have been sleeping, and that made me a bit sharp. But Mr. Frodo, he's that tired, I asked him to have a wink; and well, that's how it is. Sorry. But where have you been to?"

"Sneaking," said Gollum, and the green glint did not leave his eyes.

"O very well," said Sam, "have it your own way! I don't suppose it's so far from the truth. And now we'd better all be sneaking along together. What's the time? Is it today or tomorrow?"

"It's tomorrow," said Gollum, "or this was tomorrow when hobbits went to sleep. Very foolish, very dangerous -- if poor Sm�agol wasn't sneaking about to watch."

The parallel scenes from the movies, courtesy of StupidRing.com.

(Gollum crawls past, followed by Frodo and Sam. They walk through a forest in Ithilien and Osgiliath is visible below in the distance.)

Sam: I wonder if we'll ever be put into songs or tales?

Frodo: (Turning to Sam.) What?

Sam: I wonder if people will ever say, "Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring", and they'll say, "Yes, it's one of my favorite stories!" "Frodo was really courageous, wasn't he Dad." "Yes, my boy, the most famousests of hobbits, and that's sayin' a lot. "

Frodo: (Smiling.) You've left out one of the chief characters... Samwise the Brave! "I want to hear more about Sam." (Frodo stops and turns to Sam.) "Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam."

Sam: Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun. I was bein' serious.

Frodo: So was I. (Frodo walks on.)

Sam: (Hitches up his pack again.) Samwise the Brave. Hm.

(Frodo smiles again.)

Frodo: Smeagol?

Sam: We're not goin' to wait for you. Come on.

******

[The hobbits and Gollum are, perched on rocks just off the stair. Frodo is sleeping. Sam struggles to stay awake but fails. When his eyes close, Gollum's open. Gollum sneaks down and takes the lembas from Sam's pack.]

Gollum: Ugh.

[Gollum crumbles some of the lembas and lets it fall onto Sam. He throws the rest off the cliff face. Sam awakes just as he's dusting crumbs off his hands.]

Sam: What are you up to? Sneaking off, are we?

Gollum: S-sneaking? Sneaking! Fat hobbit is always so polite Smeagol shows them secret ways that nobody else could find, and they say sneak. Sneak? Very nice friend, oh yes my precious, very nice!

[Sam puts on his sword belt.]

Sam: Alright! Alright! You just startled me is all. What were you doing?

Gollum: Sneaking.

Sam. Fine. Have it your own way.

[Sam wakes Frodo]

Sam: Sorry to wake you Mister Frodo. We have to be moving on.

Frodo: It's dark still.

Sam: It's always dark here.

[Sam checks his pack.]

Sam: It's gone! The elven bread!

Frodo: What? That's all we had left.

Sam: [points at Gollum] He took it, he must have.

Gollum: Smeagol? No, no, not poor Smeagol. Smeagol hates nasty Elf bread.

Sam: You're a lying rat! What did you do with it?

Frodo: He doesn't eat it, he can't have taken it.

[Gollum reaches toward Sam.]

Gollum: Look. What's this? Crumbs on his jacketses. [He brushes them off.] He took it! He took it! I've seen him. He's always stuffing his face when Master is not looking.

Sam: That's a filthy lie!

[Sam attacks Gollum and begins punching him.]

Sam: You stinking, two-faced sneak!

Frodo: Sam!

Sam: Call me-

Gollum: Ow!

Frodo: Stop it! Sam! [He pulls Sam away.]

Sam: I'll kill him!

Frodo: Sam, no!

[Frodo sits.]

Sam: Oh my-- I'm sorry! I didn't mean it to go so far. I was just so... so angry. Here, just... let's just rest a bit.

Frodo: I'm all right.

Sam: No, you're not all right. You're exhausted. It's that Gollum, this place. It's that... thing around your neck.

[Frodo looks at him suspiciously.]

Sam: I could help a bit. I could carry it for a while. Share the load. [His words echo.]

Frodo: Get away!

Sam: I don't want to keep it. I just want to help.

Smeagol: See? See? He wants it for himself.

Sam: Shut up you! Go away, get out of here!

Frodo: No Sam, it's you. I'm sorry Sam.

Sam: [crying] But he's a liar! He's poisoned you against me!

Frodo: You can't help me anymore.

Sam: You don't mean that.

Frodo: Go home.

[Sam crouches and weeps. Frodo and Gollum climb the stairs and leave him behind.]
------------------------------------------------------------------

Printed from Open Scrolls Archive (https://www.openscrolls.net) on Sat Nov 14, 2026 8:13 pm