The Hobbits and the Ring

[Andorinha]

I was just counting up all those who ever touched the One Ring (as it becomes in LOTR): Sauron, Isildur, Deagol, Smeagol, Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Sam. Of these 5 are hobbits, and they come as two separate pairs mediated by the singular Bilbo.

Deagol - Smeagol

Bilbo

Frodo - Sam

In the cases of the pairs of "friends," was Tolkien trying to show us the ranges of hobbit chacter traits? Deagol - Smeagol transmit the Ring from one friend to the other with an act of muder; Frodo - Sam, involved in a "deeper, truer" (?) relationship, also transmit the Ring from one to the other, and finally back again to Frodo, with some display of high angst and emotion, but it does not lead to murder...

Hmm, I have some thoughts on this that I'll mull over a bit.

[Stormrider]

Good Topic, Andorinha:

I wonder how close the friendship between Deagol and Smeagol was. I know they went fishing together a lot. It seems to me, Smeagol was jealous of Deagol -- of course, over the Ring -- but perhaps in other things. Did they compete with each other over other things? Did they love each other as friends?

Bilbo and Gollum had no relationship other than being of different breed of Hobbit. The Riddle Game was the only thing that linked them in order to be able to play the game. It stirred up the long supressed memories of Gollum when he was Smeagol. It was a game of survival on Bilbo's part not to reveal that he had the Ring but it was almost as if they came "close" while playing the game.

Bilbo giving up the Ring to Frodo, must have been very astonishing to Gandalf. I don't think Gandalf even thought Bilbo would do it. I wonder what would have happened if Gandalf had forced Bilbo to give it up. I think that would have snapped Bilbo and then he would have been more like Gollum. It was wise that Gandalf waited patiently and hopefully for Bilbo to give it up.

Frodo and Sam were master and gardener but had a close relationship from that. As they travelled with the Ring, I think they became much closer as companions and friends. When they were alone in their last stretch, they had to trust and rely on each other even more, especially as Gollum entered into the picture. Their friendship developed into love.

But Frodo and Gollum became close having both been owners of the Ring. As Frodo came closer to Mt Doom and his mission, he could understand and feel for Gollum's desire of the Ring. Frodo and Gollum's understanding and tie came between Frodo and Sam (perhaps until Sam had to take possession of the Ring).

Luckily, Sam and Frodo still loved each other enough to make the final challenge on Mt Doom and still come out closer than ever, even if Frodo did suffer from all of his wounds from having taken on the mission to destroy the Ring.

[Stormrider]

It is as if the Ring was making its "traits" known by affecting Smeagol so much that he had to kill his friend, Smeagol, to win it for himself. The Ring "knew" Smeagol would have been a good owner for a while destroying Smeagol's credibility with his family and friends and driving him into hiding and aloneness in the roots of the mountains. However, the Ring would have preferred that Gollum fall into the hands of Sauron's Nazgul or servants and bring it to him rather than go into hiding.

Bilbo could have fallen into an evil pattern once he had gained the Ring for himself, but he was "good" enough to stay his hand and feel pity for Gollum. It seems that the Ring sort of kept a low profile while in Bilbo's hands. It did not influence Bilbo to do anything wrong or have any desire for power. Perhaps that was why Bilbo was able to let it go to Frodo's care.

Once the Black Riders started following Frodo and the Hobbits, the Ring began to influence Frodo into putting it on while near the Black Riders so he was revealed to them. Once that happened, it began to take hold of Frodo more, especially as he moved further south to Mordor with it.

Then on Mt Doom, Gollum and Frodo both wanted it so bad, that they fought over it, and neither of them wanted to destroy it. But the act of Frodo claiming it as Master, grabbed Sauron's attention!

[Andorinha]

RE Stormrider's: "I wonder how close the friendship between Deagol and Smeagol was. I know they went fishing together a lot. It seems to me, Smeagol was jealous of Deagol -- of course, over the Ring -- but perhaps in other things. Did they compete with each other over other things? Did they love each other as friends?"

Yeah, great ponderings here -- how close were Deagol and Smeagol? JRRT does not really give us much background for these two. Were they only "fishing buddies," or were they as deeply paired as Frodo and Sam? Whatever the relationship of Deagol/ Smeagol, the Ring was certainly very potent, provoking an act of murder simply when Smeagol first saw it. I don't recall the Ring having that powerful an attraction for any others who merely saw it (maybe, to a lesser extent Boromir?). Was it Pippin or Merry who saw Bilbo use the Ring to vanish from the SBs? Whichever hobbit, it created a curiosity in his mind to see it more closely, but certainly did not produce anything like Smeagol's instantaneous, murderous obsession.

Perhaps the Shire folk were less volatile than the river-dwelling hobbits of old? Or was Smeagol really quite a creep (for a hobbit) right from the beginning -- so that the Ring had an exaggerated influence on his already viciously inclined mind? I know Gandalf thought Bilbo and Frodo to be "the best" among the hobbits, so maybe, had the Ring been picked up by Otho, Lobelia, or Lotho of the SBs, or by a Ted Sandyman type, things would have become nasty right away. Smeagol, a less "noble-minded" personality among the hobbit-kind, soon used the Ring to cause discord and tribal strife, to the point of his being banished. But Bilbo and Frodo can hold the Ring for quite some time in the Shire without It corrupting them to the point of raising a call for their being exiled.

Seems like there was a great personality gulf between Bilbo-Frodo-Sam on one hand, and their distant, ancient cousin Smeagol.

RE Stormrider's: "It is as if the Ring was making its 'traits' known by affecting Smeagol so much that he had to kill his friend, Smeagol, to win it for himself. The Ring 'knew' Smeagol would have been a good owner for a while destroying Smeagol's credibility with his family and friends and driving him into hiding and aloneness in the roots of the mountains. However, the Ring would have preferred that Gollum fall into the hands of Sauron's Nazgul or servants and bring it to him rather than go into hiding."

Yeah, that makes good sense, the Ring calls out to the kind of personality It finds most useful in helping It get back to Sauron. Maybe Deagol was too "goody" to be of much use to It? But Smeagol, who coveted the Ring's power at once, could be more readily absorbed, controlled and used. It (The Ring) must have been surprised, as Gandalf stated, that even a corrupt hobbit proved more resistant to It's influence than would a Man, Dwarf, Orc, or maybe even an Elf? Others should have faded completely to wraith-like Ring-slave status quite soon after possessing The One, but Gollum-Smeagol was still going strong after 500 years...

[Stormrider]

Well, it seems in any race, there are different levels of goodness/badness in its people. But Gandalf chose the Hobbit race for a reason. He knew that the small people could be the mightiest in the long run! Yeah, even Smeagol/Gollum was able to hang on to the Ring and keep hidden from Sauron. But he was also pretty wiley when nearing Mordor. Gollum knew where Frodo and Sam were headed and didn't want Sauron especiallly to get his hands on the Ring again.