Timeline Event
Sméagol, now called Gollum, corrupted by the One Ring
Event Type: Artifacts
Age: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Years: 2463 ~ 2470
Description:
Déagol the Stoor... is murdered by Sméagol.
The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age
'No one ever found out what had become of Déagol.... But Sméagol returned alone; and he found that none of his family could see him, when he was wearing the ring. He was very pleased with his discovery and he concealed it; and he used it to find out secrets, and he put his knowledge to crooked and malicious uses. He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful. The ring had given him power according to his stature. It is not to be wondered at that he became very unpopular and was shunned (when visible) by all his relations. They kicked him, and he bit their feet. He took to thieving, and going about muttering to himself, and gurgling in his throat. So they called him Gollum, and cursed him, and told him to go far away; and his grandmother, desiring peace, expelled him from the family and turned him out of her hole.
'He wandered in loneliness, weeping a little for the hardness of the world....'
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 2, The Shadow of the Past
'Gollum!' cried Frodo. 'Gollum? Do you mean that this is the very Gollum-creature that Bilbo met? How loathsome!'
'I think it is a sad story,' said the wizard, 'and it might have happened to others, even to some hobbits that I have known.'
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 2, The Shadow of the Past
'What I have told you is what Gollum was willing to tell — though not... in the way I have reported it. Gollum is a liar, and you have to sift his words. For instance, he called the Ring his "birthday present", and he stuck to that. He said it came from his grandmother, who had lots of beautiful things of that kind. A ridiculous story. I have no doubt that Sméagol's grandmother was a matriarch, a great person in her way, but to talk of her possessing many Elven-rings was absurd, and as for giving them away, it was a lie. But a lie with a grain of truth.
'The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defence, repeating it to his "precious" over and over again, as he gnawed bones in the dark, until he almost believed it. It was his birthday. Déagol ought to have given the ring to him. It had previously turned up just so as to be a present. It was his birthday present, and so on, and on.
'I endured him as long as I could, but the truth was desperately important, and in the end I had to be harsh. I put the fear of fire on him, and wrung the true story out of him, bit by bit, together with much snivelling and snarling. He thought he was misunderstood and ill-used.'
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 2, The Shadow of the Past
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 25Jul06
