#trahald

Thinking about the injuries that the WETA people decided to add to the design of Gollum / Sméagol and imagining what would be the story behind them 🤔

Among the numerous scrapes, he has that big red scar on the back of his head. He’s also missing his left ear lobe! By this point in his life he would only have met other Stoors and some goblins. Mordor, Elven King’s halls, chasing the fellowship all came later.

In all that time under the misty mountains he must have had some accidents on the dangerous terrain. Or maybe he tried to attack some goblins that fought back too strongly. Poor little guy just trying to survive.

Maybe we’ll see some flashbacks to this time in the new movie? As much as I love the previous movies I really hope this one will be Gollum centric and not another hero story where he is just a side character. I can’t get me enough Gollum content!

* Young Sméagol was near sighted. I like to imagine it this way, based on what Tolkien wrote. 1, he said Déagol was sharper eyed. 2, he said Sméagol spent a lot of time looking at and exploring the things he could reach. I imagine this would make it so his eyes were more adapted to seeing close up things.

* Young Sméagol was allergic to certain flowers/plants. I imagine this is another reason why he didn't care to watch them opening up on the trees. 1, because they were difficult for him to see, what with his near-sightedness, and 2, because he's allergic to them and so doesn't like them anyway.

* Sméagol is attracted to other males. He and Déagol were romantically involved, and it's why he refers to him as "my love". Tolkien also referred to Frodo as Sméagol's "new love". His love for Frodo had him arguing with Gollum over whether or not to take the Ring back. Huge.

* The Gollum in Sméagol is inspired by Sméagol's Grandmother. Gollum, I believe, is the darkness that already existed in Sméagol, but pulled to the surface and strengthened. I imagine his darkness was learned behavior. Rich Grandmother, loving her treasures, scolding Sméagol, trying to keep him under control with cruel words and, also, Stoors were known to whip their kin with sticks when they misbehaved. So Gollum I imagine is like Sméagol's abusive and greedy Grandmother. I imagine she's where he learned the phrase "My precious".

Some ideas I've already posted about but I can say them again:

* Sméagol is touch-starved, needs to touch to feel connected

* He has PTSD/Dissociative Identity Disorder

* Sméagol is Autistic (wouldn't be called that in Middle-Earth but either way, I believe he has what people now a days would call high functioning autism)

The cruelty this little guy goes through just breaks my heart 🖤

When you feel sad for Gollum because he had the precious stolen, just remember he had a whole goblin to eat when he got back to his island 😋. It’s like the LOTR equivalent of crying into a tub of ice cream after a break up.

Gollum spent a long time in the south, in the areas in and around Mordor.

Sauron had declared himself openly in Mordor (TA:2951) and began drawing all evil things there. The ring had left it's mark and left him open to the summons. Pulling him away from his search for Bilbo.

He snuck around the borders of Mordor, spying and learning. He discovered the secret stair near Minas Morgul and met Shelob (TA:2980), becoming her spy for a while and bringing her food.

After many years, Gollum ventured into Mordor and was captured by agents of Sauron. Officially this is only recorded as sometime in the 8 years after TA:3009. Although the “Lord of the Rings: Gollum” game specifically states that he was captured in TA:3012.

He remained in Mordor until his release in TA:3017. 66 years there in total.

The storyline of the games are set sometime during this period. After meeting Shelob but before being captured by Sauron. Note also that in the games Gollum was already roaming around inside Mordor (specifically Udûn) for a while before his capture.

SHADOW OF MORDOR

Gollum encounters the ranger Talion and the wraith Celebrimbor in Udûn. He recognises Celebrimbor from his dreams and knows of his connection to the One Ring. Gollum agrees to help them find items that will help him to recover his memory in the hopes of being led to the ring. Eventually he gets frustrated and attempts to kill Talion and is sent away.

SHADOW OF WAR

Gollum is sent by Shelob to assist Talion and Celebrimbor in a quest to kill one of Sauron’s orc assassins.

Bonus picture of Gollum smashing an orcs head in with a rock!