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I just read that passage last night; re-reading the story with my son. Gollum used to wear it at first, till it tired him; and then he kept it in a pouch next his skin, till it galled him; and now usually 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, when he could not bear to be ...

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 ...

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 ...

The ring was capable of taking indirect action on its own. The Ring also caused those who possessed it to become obsessed with it, so much so that they might kill anyone who showed too much interest in it or attempted to touch the Ring. With an evil will of its own, the Ring would make attempts to return to its Master. It could "call out" subliminally to ...

I don't remember for sure in the movies, but in the book, Gandalf tells Frodo a great deal of the tale of Smeagol while Frodo is still in the Shire. (He does this in the context of telling him about the Ring and its history, and why Frodo will have to leave for Rivendell or somewhere else.) Additionally, Gandalf tells the full story to the Council of Elrond ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. Remember ...

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, ...

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 ...

From this answer: if [a mortal] often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings. So wearing the ring can wear you out.

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 ...

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 ...

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; ...

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 ...

It is simply stated in various JRR Tolkien books that the ring has a will of its own and manipulates and betrays the ring bearer when it's most convenient for the ring, effectively choosing a new bearer from time to time.

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 ...

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 ...

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 - ...