Evan Powell
Professor Lawson
World Mythology
October 21st, 2015
Analysis of Gollum
Smeagol/Gollum is a trickster by the very definition and is one who is widely known in our culture today. He fits into the characteristics very well because he has a hunger for The One Ring that drives his ambition. Although many people may be a little tuned off by his non-traditional appearance, they are fascinated by the processes that turned the beloved river folk Smeagol into the vile and cunning Gollum. Gollum is a modern day trickster because he uses lying, deceit, hunger, and ambiguity to trick Frodo and Sam into situations where he might be able to take The One Ring away from them.
Gollum, perhaps more than any other character, has the ambiguity that Hynes was alluding to. He often shows both sides of his mind where one is in favor of helping Sam and Frodo and one only has the ring in mind. This double interpretation of this character shows that he can trick the hobbits into believing him that he truly wants to help them because one half of him actually does. Gollum appeals to our culture because of his ambiguity because it is hard for most people to stay angry at someone who has also shown a very caring and helpful side. This is one character in movies or books that has an effect like no other on people where most don’t know whether he is good or evil until closer to the end.
Gollum plays the role of a deceiver multiple times throughout the movies. In “The Two Towers” Gollum deceives the the hobbits by gaining their trust. At first he tries to kill Frodo but then Sam defends him and they put him on a rope leash. Gollum puts on a show that he is just a very miserable creature and Frodo begins to argue with Sam about how cruel he is to Gollum. This is a very slight area of deception that occurs where its nothing truly evil quite yet. The point of no return for Gollum occurs when Frodo leads him into Faramir’s trap and Gollum loses all trust that he once had in Frodo. Once outside Osgiliath, Gollum flees the hobbits for a short time so that he can devise a plan in which the hobbits end up dead. Shortly after that he decides he should take them to the giant spider Shelob so that he doesn’t have to kill them himself. While headed up the staircase to get to Shelob, Gollum crumbles up the remaining food and throws it off the cliff after leaving some crumbs on Sam’s jacket. Gollum deceived Frodo to the point that he sent his best friend away. He took all the little things that upset Frodo during the long travel about Sam and used them to his advantage to turn Frodo against Sam. In addition to Gollum’s role in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he also appears in The Hobbit. There is a scene where he and Bilbo go back and forth giving each other riddles to see whether or not he eats Bilbo or he has to show Bilbo the way out. This is deception in itself because he never truly wants to let Bilbo leave even if he wins so in reality it is like Loki and the Giant trying to build the wall. There was never intended to be a prize because Loki and Gollum never expected their adversary to be competent enough to complete the task.
Gollum has another side to him that we see on several occasions. Smeagol is his caring side that is innocent and doesn’t want to hurt the hobbits but Gollum is driven by the hunger for the ring. This is his shape shifting in my mind because it is a constant back and forth between the two and you never know which one is going to be showing. He shows whichever side of himself he thinks will help him achieve what he wants at the current time.
Hynes three characteristics help to describe Gollum’s situation as a trickster but perhaps the role of predator and prey helps to show this better. There is nothing more iconic in the Lord of the Rings trilogy than Gollum saying “My Precious” because of how spine chilling and effective it is. This is Gollum’s hunger. The ring poisoned his mind to the point that all he wants is for the ring to be in his possession again. He hungers for this above all other things in his life so once he finds Frodo he is happier than he had been in a long time just knowing he was in its presence. He does not really attempt to take the spot of the prey which in this case is Frodo but instead plays the role of predator. He attacks Frodo on a few occasions showing that will do whatever it takes to get the one thing he really wants in life. In The Two Towers, Gollum is speaking to himself and getting angry over how the hobbits stole the ring from him that is his precious and Smeagol continues to defend them by saying they look after them. Gollum using deceit and poisonous thoughts to try and persuade Smeagol that they are cheating him and that they don’t actually care at all. Eventually, Smeagol wins the argument until Frodo betrays his trust by allowing Faramir to capture him thus reviving the hunger for the ring.
Like Hermes, Gollum uses lies to appear innocent when confronted by the higher power. Sam would accuse Gollum of sneaking or plotting to kill Frodo but Gollum would always weasel his way out of it by appearing to know nothing of what Sam is talking about. Hermes used this strategy in front of Zeus by saying that he did not take the cattle of the sun home with him. He technically didn’t but he did still steal them so he is using lies to get out of punishment. He is also helpful to the hobbits like Loki is to humans when he gives them fire. Gollum allows the hobbits to find a path into Mordor and without him they would have stood no chance. Loki gave the humans a mean in which to cook foods, stay warm, and ultimately survive which is relatively similar to Gollum giving the hobbits the hope that they can actually make it into Mordor.
Gollum illustrates many of the characteristics that Hynes discusses about tricksters. He is for the most part neither good nor completely evil although he does use deception and shape shifting to strategize through his struggles. For these reasons, Gollum is the perfect modern day trickster and is one of the most beloved “villains” in movies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB5asCOdrms
Hum 115: World Mythology 
I might be bias since this is one of my favorite tricksters but you did an outstanding job. Gollum is also interesting because he doesn’t really see himself as a trickster. I just rewatched the trilogy and he usually thinks the hobbits are tricking him since they took the ring. He is very oblivious to how tricky he really is, which is one of the reasons why I like him the most, is because he is completely oblivious to the things he does. I also liked that you mentioned he isn’t good nor evil. He really was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and now is a trickster for it. Your description of him is spot on and you put a lot of detail in your post and chose great videos to show off your trickster. Good job!
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I completely agree with @kpetroff I think that Gollum doesn’t even realize that he is trickster. Most tricksters know and understand their nature but I think the ring has blurred Gollum’s line of good and bad. He clearly has 2 separate personalities, an innocent one that makes you trust him and want to help him and the evil personality that the ring has manipulated past the point of his own control or recovery.
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Gollum was a great choice for this assignment. I think it is very interesting that he himself doesn’t know if he is good or bad. He is just very aware of what his hunger is and who or what is preventing him from getting to it. I think he also has more than one hunger. His “precious” is certainly one of them and definitely the biggest. But his tricks are also motivated by more than just the ring. Sometimes his hunger seems to be finding where he can fit in. I mean, he is constantly trying to get approval of the people that are around him. Be they good or bad, he desires some companionship it seems like. Great analysis! Wish I could read the whole thing!
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