![]() In A Tolkien Compass, edited by Jared Lobdell. "Gollum's Character Transformation in The Hobbit". He does cite some sources that might be of interest to anyone wanting to delve into this more, including:Ĭhristensen, Bonniejean. I am not familiar with either Buchan or Haggard so can't say much other than relating what Drout wrote. in Tolkien's own writings a figure somewhat similar (small, slimy creature with shining eyes, hiding in dark caves, and eating fish) is found in an early poem entitled "The Glip", written around 1928 as part of the series "Tales and Songs of Bimble Bay" it might be an interesting coincidence that "golden rings" also appear in this poem. In the same sentence, implying a connection Drout writes: ĭrout also points out some other possible influences on Gollum's creation, such as the character Gagool in H. Both of which have strong parallels to the Dúnedain/Rangers, Aragorn, secret lines of descent involving a ring passed down generation after generation to one who finally "fulfills the destiny of his family". He also mentions as likely influences (for Aragorn and the Rangers, not Gollum per se) Buchan's historical novel The Blanket of the Dark (1933) and his "sequence of novellas" The Path of the King (1923). Tolkien Encyclopedia says that Tolkien admired and was highly influenced by the author John Buchan, especially his "little-known historical novels", of which "the most strikingly Tolkienian is Midwinter: Certain Travellers in Old England (1923)."ĭrout says this book has "obvious parallels with the Ring, the Sammath Naur, Gollum, and even Gollum's way of speaking." He also says the book has "characters strongly reminiscent of Bill Ferny and Tom Bombadil", and points out there's "a volunteer corps of 'Rangers'." The unreliable narrator retcon also ramps up the menace factor for both Gollum (who now come off as jealous and treacherous, not just feral) and the Ring (whose hold now seems to have induced our kindly gentle-Hobbit hero to spin a lie to his companions in order to better justify his claim to it), while also introducing the theme of Bilbo's pity for Gollum leading him to spare Gollum rather than killing him during the escape. We know from his plot notes that he'd decided quite early that Gollum would be shadowing the Fellowship and would eventually be fighting for control of the Ring on the slopes of Mount Doom, which doesn't fit well with handing off the Ring of his own accord. I understand why Tolkien abandoned this, though. Instead, he concocted a set of circumstances that committed himself to hand the Ring off to someone else: Gollum to Bilbo because the Ring was Gollum's stake in the Riddle Game, and Bilbo to Frodo because it was part of Bilbo's estate he was bequeathing to Frodo. It was quite a clever parallel of Bilbo's decision to leave the Ring to Frodo: like Bilbo, Gollum had become weary of the Ring's corruption, but its lure had too strong a hold to allow him to simply abandon it. There are other Tolkien-themed subreddits out there! Say hello to our friends in the following places: We're looking at starting a wiki for these common ones. Try searching before posting a new thread: odds are we've already covered some of the "classic" questions ("Who is Tom Bombadil?", "What happened to the Blue Wizards?", "Why couldn't the Eagles just take the Ring?" etc). Most bots are unwelcome, and content should not be simply copy-pasted from old posts or elsewhere, unless it is a quote with credit given. Please make use of r/TolkienBooks and r/TolkienArt for these. Posts/comments centring entirely on promotion will be removed. You can share your content, but in a discussion-based format. ![]() Links are allowed, so long as they contribute to the discussion. No posts that are simply links or title-only. (Some more obscure topics we will allow.) There are other spaces on Reddit to discuss the movies, games, fanfiction, AI-generated content, etc. ![]() This sub is intended primarily for serious posts, although humour in discussion is still welcome.ĭon’t discuss topics that stray too far away from having the centre of attention on Tolkien and his works. Stick to the topic instead of commenting on others. No insults, and no aggressive or passive-aggressive comments. For the full descriptions of the rules, follow this link.Īlways keep in mind that we are all human beings, so treat others how you would like to be treated. ![]() Multi-reddit of ALL Tolkien Themed Subreddits!īelow are our general rules.Wondering what books there are to read? See /u/ebneter's great postįull list of All Past Reading Discussions and Other Posts of Note Please see our frequently asked questions. Welcome to r/tolkienfans! This subreddit is a space for the Tolkien nerds of reddit to debate and discuss the whole Tolkien mythos.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |