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ROTK - No mentions of him being addressed as Gollum (I searched entire book). As per @poke's comment, he was referred to as "Sméagol" instead.
Fellowship - obviously no, as we don't see anyone talking to Gollum yet.
The Two Towers - Yes. Here are a all the instances I found:
But Frodo sprang up, and drew Sting from its sheath. With his left hand he drew ...
answered Feb 22 '13 at 14:51
DVK-on-Ahch-To
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Gollum knows what's common knowledge among the servants of Sauron
In the book The Two Towers, Sam asks Gollum more or less the same question as you're asking, in a typically suspicious manner:
‘No, no indeed,’ said Gollum. ‘Hobbits must see, must try to understand. He does not expect attack that way. His Eye is all round, but it attends more to some places ...
answered Sep 1 '19 at 20:05
40
This is all we know.
It seems clear that pursued both by Elves and Orcs Gollum crossed the Anduin, probably by swimming, and so eluded the hunt of Sauron; but being still hunted by Elves, and not yet daring to pass near Lŏrien (only the lure of the Ring itself made him dare to do this afterwards), he hid himself in Moria.10 That was probably in the autumn ...
38
The Stoors lived in Eriador before Smeagol's people moved to the Gladden.
Firstly, the Hobbits had began to learn letters and languages long before Smeagol was even born, let alone before he left society. Moving on from that, it is suggested in the appendices that the Stoors had lived in Eriador before some returned to the Wilderlands.
In Appendix A we're ...
36
There are a few times where Gollum is described as white or pale (emphasis mine):
Frodo was just yielding to the temptation to lie down again when a dark shape, hardly visible, floated close to one of the moored boats. A long whitish hand could be dimly seen as it shot out and grabbed the gunwale; two pale lamplike eyes shone coldly as they peered inside, ...
answered Apr 1 '17 at 16:48
Jason Baker
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35
It's not especially clear in the book since we don't actually see his death. He's obviously delighted to have the ring back, but he doesn't seem happy about falling, nor the fact that he's landed in painful lava.
But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as if verily it was wrought of ...
answered Jun 24 '17 at 12:19
Valorum
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35
The primary reason would be that Gollum resented the Ring, and to an extent hated it.
Gollum used to wear it at first, till it tired him; and then he kept it in a pouch next to his skin, till it galled him; and now he hid it in a hole in the rock on his island, and was always going back to look at it. And still sometimes he put it on.
The Hobbit, Chapter V: ...
answered Jun 27 '20 at 13:21
Edlothiad
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33
The short answer is we don't know, because Jackson doesn't show us and Tolkien doesn't tell us.
We never read or see Gollum wearing the Ring in The Hobbit. And by the time of LotR, he's long lost it.
I am sure that Frodo is enjoined to never wear the Ring because by that time it's known already that Sauron is back and looking for it. No such injunction was ...
29
I can only find one reference to Gollum's mode of speech in the Letters.
I believe there is only one error remaining in the text from which the Puffin was printed: like for likes (6th imp. p. 85 line 1; Puffin p. 76, line 23). This crept in in the 6th imp. I think. Not that Gollum would miss the chance of a sibilant!
The Letters of JRR Tolkien Letter 236 (...
24
He's been hiding under a mountain for years, and when he wasn't hiding under a mountain, he was stalking the Fellowship. The point is that his activities would not put him in contact with people who would know Sauron's plans.
Bilbo was only 50 when he left on his quest. He turns 51 while riding in the barrel, so he's 51 when he arrives in Esgaroth, on Long ...
22
Aragorn (as Strider) speaking of the Black Riders
For the black horses can see, and the Riders can use men and other
creatures as spies, as we found at Bree. They themselves do not see
the world of light as we do, but our shapes cast shadows in their
minds, which only the noon sun destroys; and in the dark they perceive
many signs and forms that ...
18
This isn't entirely accurate, but it is true that Sméagol/Gollum tends to use descriptors over proper names. The reasons why are varied, and depend largely on context; many of them, however, are related to Gollum's extreme mental unbalance:
"My love" is used to refer to his cousin Déagol, and Sméagol is clearly buttering him up:
'"Give us that, Déagol, ...
answered Feb 12 '16 at 7:06
Jason Baker
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Two points:
First, how could anyone in southern Middle-Earth be unaware of this? Sauron had been stepping up his pressure on Gondor for years, and armies being gathered in to Mordor could only mean one thing. And Gollum had an established pattern of spying and listening.
Second, Gollum had previously been Sauron's captive and was tortured. Sauron had an ...
13
Maybe
I have heard three hypotheses about the name of Gollum:
It is from Old Norse
In The Annotated Hobbit with annotations by Douglas Anderson, Anderson claims that Gollum is from the Old Norse gull meaning Gold, and an inflected form of this is gollum meaning; gold, treasure or something precious.
The compound word fingr-gull means finger ring, so gull in ...
12
It's a word made to represent an inarticulate sound of gurgling. From LotR:
He took to thieving, and going about muttering to himself, and gurgling in his throat. So they [his relatives] called him Gollum, and cursed him, and told him to go far away.
And from The Hobbit:
"Bless us and splash us, my precioussss! I guess it's a choice feast; at least a ...
12
One of the footnotes in LotR (I think it's in Return of the King) states that Gollum's long association with the ring made him unable to bear the touch or feel of things that were Elvish and/or unfallen Valar craftwork.
As you will recall from reading the narrative, he also could not bear the light of the Yellow Face (his term for the Sun) and he was not ...
11
Cross-country
I think, just this once, we can believe Gollum. He says he wants to avoid the road that goes from Minas Morgul to Osgiliath because he is afraid of being caught the the "cruel people" who travel it.
The alternative would be to avoid the road and travel cross-country through the foothills of Ephel Duath until they reach the stair. ...
10
Sauron learned that Gollum had possessed the One Ring when Gollum was captured by the forces of the Dark Lord. We know that Gollum's obsession with the Ring eventually led him down a path to Mordor, home of the Ring's maker; as Gandalf says in book 1, chapter 2:
I am afraid there is no possible doubt: he had made his slow, sneaking way, step by step, ...
9
Bilbo was apparently quite famous in certain parts of the world, in connection with the murder of Smaug. Merely listening for the name of a famous hobbit adventurer named Bilbo Baggins (in Dale) was enough to point Gollum in the right direction, and presumably to remind him of Bilbo's name.
'That is a sample of his talk. I don't suppose you want any more. ...
answered Jul 14 '17 at 23:15
Valorum
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First of all, Gollum could not have decided to "gain power and glory by defeating the Dark Lord," because Sauron had minimal power at the time, and was thought to be defeated. When Gollum found the Ring, Sauron was still slowly recovering after his defeat at the end of the Second Age. Sauron' regrowth at Dol Guldur hadn't even been discovered by the White ...
8
He would have found an unguarded entrance
There is no reason to believe that Gollum entered Moria by the main east entrance (over the bridge that the Fellowship uses to leave Moria). As mentioned in the question, that would be very difficult, even for the stealthy Gollum, if the orcs kept any sort of watch on it.
Systems of caves and tunnels as large as ...
7
When the One Ring was forged, Sauron imparted it with a piece of his power and will to rule.
Now the Elves made many rings; but Sauron made One Ring to rule All the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last. And much of the srength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring; ...
7
Honestly I think the only inspiration is that he is using 'incorrect grammar' like 'we hates it' to show that his mind has collapsed to the point where he no longer constructs sentences properly in his native language, indicating that he has lost his mind or that his mind has fragmented into different selves. He probably just had the idea listening to ...
7
Here is the exact quote from The Two Towers: Shelob's Lair:
Already, years before, Gollum had beheld her, Smeagol who pried into all dark holes, and in past days he had bowed and worshipped her, and the darkness of her evil will walked through all the ways of his weariness beside him, cutting him off from light and from regret. And he had promised to bring ...
6
Bilbo tells him
If you don't mind an answer from the book that is...
'What's he got in his handses?' said Gollum, looking at the sword, which he did not quite like.
'A sword, a blade which came out of Gondolin!'
'Sssss,' said Gollum, and became quite polite. 'Praps ye sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my preciousss.'
The Hobbit - Chapter 5 - Riddles in ...
5
It's never been said what that first present was, as far as I've been able to tell. The closest bit I've found is a discussion concerning whether or not it actually was Smeagol's birthday, which goes into some of the customs of hobbit gift giving.
As noted in the bit you quoted, the gift was expensive from the perspective of a young hobbit, probably ...
4
Frodo did not kill Sauron
Sauron did not die. It was said he put most of his power into the Ring, and thus when it perished, he was vanquished, but he did not actually die.
He concentrated within the Ring a great part of his own fëa (soul). In this way, Sauron's fate became bound to that of the One Ring. If it were damaged or destroyed, so too would be ...
4
He is described by the orcs outside Shelob's tunnel as a:
You must have seen him: little thin black fellow; like a spider himself, or perhaps more like a starved frog.
The Two Towers - Book IV, Chapter 10: The Choices of Master Samwise
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