#smeagol

1) make everybody call him Smeagol not Gollum because Gollum was always a mean nickname made up by people who hated him :(((((

2) not make people dislike Andy Serkis's performance but making them understand the nuances, pitfalls, and strengths it holds.

3) HOWEVER when people think of Smeagol they must forever think of this thing (Cor Blok's illustrations for the LOTR books)

^CUTEEEEE

INCORRECT QUOTES 9/? | PREVIOUS | NEXT

frodo: we can’t just leave him, don’t you feel bad for him?

gollum:

You can say: evil always defeats itself. The ring destroyed Smeagol, and Gollum destroyed the ring.

You can say: it’s divine providence. Fallible mortals cannot attain grace by their own power. No matter how they try, they will fail unless providence lifts them up. But providence will lift them up. Very Romans 9:16. It depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy.

You can say: actions have unpredictable consequences, and here, a series of unrewarded acts of compassion finally gained their reward. There is such a thing as fate, and it is, in its own way, fair. Multiple characters had the chance to kill Gollum, and a good reason to do it too, since he tried to kill them first, and was still a threat. But Bilbo chose to spare him, Frodo chose to spare him, (during the Council of Elrond it’s briefly mentioned that Aragorn and Gandalf and a serious number of elves chose to spare him), and a few minutes before he attacked Frodo, Sam very reluctantly chose to spare him for a final time. If any of them had chosen to kill Gollum, even in reasonable self-defence, he could not have played his part in destroying the ring. But in the decisive moment, the world showed compassion to Frodo as a reflection of the compassion he had shown.

You can say what LeGuin said: Frodo and Gollum are essentially two halves of the same person. Of course the hero can only complete his goal after a violent struggle with himself, only it’s the good half of him that fails, and the evil half that in the end achieves the quest.

You can say: the last time Frodo and Gollum met, Frodo forbade him from ever laying a hand on him, and cursed him to fall into the flames if he tries. The power of the ring, or the power of Frodo wearing the ring, actually caused this to come true. (See this post about Frodo laying a geas.)