HOW DID TOLKIEN THINK UP GOLLUM?

When Gollum is on the scene, hes the focus of our attention. As sickening as an Orc and much more annoying, he has slick skin and webbed feet that bring to mind a large toad. Sometimes its hard to remember he was once an ordinary hobbit. Yet, for all our disgust, we cant help fascinating. Which side of it will triumph? Will Gollum help Frodo and Sam, or harm them? Its difficult to know, because its hard to see just what makes him tick. SLIPPERY WHEN WET

pitying him, because we know he is a victim of the Ring. And his dangerous, split personality is

after his best friend finds it, he murders the friend to take it. For almost five hundred years a lot of that time in a wet cave he lives with the Ring, becoming less and less like a hobbit. He is a slave to the Rings power. Then, as told in The Hobbit and a mind of its own. It may have enlarged itself to slip from Gollums finger.) Gollum is determined to take back the Ring. When he goes after Bilbo, he is captured and taken to Sauron. Thats how Sauron learns the Ring is with the hobbits, and why he sends the Black Riders to the Shire. Norse mythology was the first inspiration for many of these facts about Gollums life and personality. In those old legends appears in a fairy tale that Tolkien later said was one of his favourites as a child, follows: the prologue to the LOTR , disaster strikes. He loses the Ring, and Bilbo Baggins finds it. (We learn in LOTR that the Ring has

Gollums past is as ugly as he is. He is corrupted almost as soon as he sees the Ring. Moments

there is a famous story of another small, greedy cave-dwelling character with a special ring and a desire for revenge. It The Story of Sigurd, retold in Andrew Langs The Red Fairy Book. The story goes as Andvari was King of the Dwarves, guardian of a magical ring and the treasure that the ring produced. He kept the treasure in an underground cave. The god Loki, asked to steal the treasure, ventured into the cave and caught Andvari. The dwarf
The name Gollum comes from the awful swallowing sound the poor creature makes.

gave up all the treasure except the magic ring, knowing the ring would replace what had been lost. But Loki demanded the ring too. Andvari was furious. He cursed the treasure and the ring so that it would bring misfortune and death to anyone who kept it.

Loki warned the king for whom he had stolen the treasure of Andvaris curse: even was not frightened: This glittering gold I shall keep as long as I live, and without fear of your threats. Go away! The king would have been less sure of himself. The threats proved true. As Andrew fatal golden ring.

Gollums original hobbit name, Smagol, is Old English for burrower or digger a fitting name for a creature that takes to an extreme the hobbit habit of living in a hole.

heroes unborn meaning future generations would be doomed. But the king

Lang tells the story, even the hero Sigurd could not put a stop to the curse of this Doesnt the dwarf king Andvari sound a lot like Gollum? And heres a final clue.

Smagols best friends name is Dagol, the Old English word for secret. That makes sense. His murder is Gollumss secret.

Tolkien reminds us again and again in LOTR that Gollum is hungry for fishes. In the legend of Andvari, the dwarf didnt just live in any cave; he lived in one with a waterfall and a pond full of fish. He often used magic to take the form of a large fish himself, so he could catch the smaller ones to eat.

David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of the Lord of the Rings: A Treasury of

Myths, Legends and Fascinating Facts (London: Puffin Books, 2002), 57-60.

WHY ARE TOLKIENS ELVES TALL? If your first experience of Tolkien was a LOTR film, you might have wondered why the Elves are so tall. Theyre even taller than humans. But shouldnt they be smaller than hobbits? We creatures of LOTR: great in size and wisdom, admired by nearly every why would Tolkien call his characters Elves? as little folk, like fairies: small creatures who live in a magical world. They

think of elves

arent like the other race. So

As it happens, Tolkien was following a tradition from long ago. Before lot like the Elves of Middle-earth.

fairies became the little creatures we know from story books, they were

elves

thought to be a

and

Tolkiens Elves follow the tradition of Norse legends. As one writer says, Norse elves are inferior to the gods, but still possessed of great power. Some are exceedingly fair, more brilliant than the sun.

MORE BRILLIANT THAN THE SUN

Celtic mythology, which may have been based on those Norse legends, also influenced Tolkien. His Elves are similar to

the Tuatha D Danaan (People of the Goddess Danu), said to have arrived in Ireland before humans. The descendants of the Tuatha D Danaan, known as the Sidhe, are also like Tolkiens noble creatures. Both of these Celtic races, like the Norse elves, play a role that appears in many religions: creatures that are more gifted than humans, but not quite gods. However, they fell out of favour as a new religion arrived.
Tolkien says that over time the bodies of Elves come to reflect their magnificent qualities. Thats why Elves sometimes seem to glow.

As Europe became primarily Christian, people stopped believing that any

HONEY, I SHRUNK THE ELVES!

creatures stand between humankind and God. Stories of powerful elves and in the 1300s, a character says with regret:

fairies were pushed aside. In Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales, written

In our world, the word elf comes from the Latin word albus meaning white. Tolkien made up his own origin. He says the name comes from el, meaning star, because the Elves were found under the stars by one of the Valar, soon after the God of Middle-earth created them.

In the old days of King Arthur Of which Britons speak with honour All this land was filled with fairies The elf-queen, with her jolly company Danced often in many a green meadows... I speak of many hundreds of years ago. Now because of the great charity and prayers Of the holy friars, there are no elves to be seen. However, the idea of magical creatures didnt disappear completely. In time,

puzzling, but not nearly important enough for God. They became house spirits: creatures to blame if a plate was mysteriously broken, or to be thanked for a run of good luck.

elves and fairies came to be associated with smaller concerns matters that were

Thats how elves were being described in the late 1500s, when the work of a particular writer made sure those folk tales would last.

Tolkien forever blamed William Shakespeare for making silly elves and fairies a part of literature.

THE HOBGOBLINS OF LITTLE MINDS

Shakespeare was not the first person to write about tiny fairies. But Shakespeare did it often, and he did it so well that

To be fair,

the idea struck. The best example is his play A Midsummer Nights Dream, set in an enchanted forest. The friendly hobgoblin Puck describes tiny elves that are easily frightened, and creep into acorn-cups and hide. Small fairies also appear in many other Shakespeare plays. Tolkien, who lovfed the idea of magnificent Elves, hated Shakespeares elves and fairies. He told one reader that what Shakespeare did was with C. Tolkien, 185). unforgivable (The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien edited by H.

Carpenter

Tolkien worried that he could not change our ideas about tiny he tried. He gave his creatures many special qualities. They highly refined humans. They are intelligent and sensitive, and years have gradually acquired great knowledge. Just as in the

THE AIR UP THERE

they are superior to humans. And though both races look the

they are first created, over time the Elves come to be shaped by Toliken, edited by C. Tolkien, 121). Thats how they grew so David Colbert, The Magical Worlds

greater wisdom, and skill, and beauty (The Silmarillion by

Edmund Spensers The Faerie Queen, one of the last great works about majestic elves and fairies, appeared about the time of Shakespeares plays. In this tale, the Greek god Prometheus creates the first Elfe, who then meets a great fairy. From them, a mighty people soon grew, and powerful kings (Book II, canto 9).

elves. are over

Still, like the

old legends, their

same when J.R.R.

tall.

of the Lord of the Rings: A Treasury of Myths, Legends and Fascinating Facts (London: Puffin Books, 2002), 2932.