#by all accounts he was a (mostly) average hobbit with the prospect of a good life ruined by incomprehensible evil out of his control
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gollum is a little freak but I genuinely get so upset thinking about him because we know that was still a lil freaky even before he and deagól found the ring but he very well would've had the opportunity to have a good live and BE good if they hadn't. and no matter what happened afterward, he couldn't go back home. even if he confessed to his crime he very likely would've still been kicked out of his community, or at the very least socially shunned to the point where he might as well just leave anyway. the ring would've consumed him no matter what, and for no fault of his own (or at the least, no faults that would ever warrant some cosmic punishment amounting to what the ring Did to him). by the time Bilbo found him he was far, FAR past the normal lifespan of a Hobbit. After the Ring was destroyed Bilbo began deteriorating at 130, and he had only beaten the current record for the longest Hobbit lifespan by a single year. Gollum was at LEAST 3x older than that. Very likely more. No matter what happened—even if Sam was a little kinder, Faramir was a little gentler, or Frodo was able to fully reach "Smeagól" in the way he so desperately wanted to, even if he helped destroy the Ring himself, or he didn't fall into the fire—Gollum would've died with the Ring. Even if the Quest FAILED and Gollum successfully claimed the Ring like he wanted, he STILL would've died (because Sauron would have never let him hold on to that thing for hundreds of years again, if his body could've even handled that). There is no reality where Smeagól would have a happy ending, whether he was "redeemed" or not. Yet all of it was such a fundemental factor in the success of the Quest (and even Bilbo's success during the Quest of Erebor). Definition of Doomed by the narrative
#I'm so fucked up about this#gollum is one of the most tragic characters in the entire legendarium#I would argue even MORE so than Frodo#by all accounts he was a (mostly) average hobbit with the prospect of a good life ruined by incomprehensible evil out of his control#his fate was sealed the moment he found the ring and there was next to nothing he could do about it#at least frodo had his family and friends and their wisdom and support and the opportunity to heal in the undying lands#although bittersweet frodo ultimately had a good ending#but smeagól died believing he had no friends or anyone who even saw him as a person#doomed to be forever remembered as the wretch who bit off frodo's finger and destroyed with the ring that destroyed him first#I'm unwell#(also Gollum did NOT actually eat any babies. those were just rumors spread by the Woodmen. like a boogyman story)#(there's no more truth behind them than the rumors in the Shire about Frodo's parents trying to kill eachother)#Gollum was freaky but he wasn't THAT bad#my post#text post#lotr#lord of the rings#the hobbit#smeagól#gollum
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