Post by Stormrider on Jan 24, 2009 18:27:28 GMT -6
From: Lord_Algamesh (Original Message) Sent: 12/4/2002 9:24 PM
You know ... when I began reading and preparing for this study, I went out and bought a new copy of the book for the sole purpose of writing all over it! As I read, I would jot down notes in the sidebars, underline sentences / paragraphs, circles, stars, etc. Let me recommend to everyone that loves Tolkien's literature to go out and purchase a copy to do just this!
OK ... now on with the Discussions!
In the chapter entitled "The Taming of Smeagol", we really get a good look into Gollum's personality, his mannerisms, and all those little things that make him ... well, Gollum. After reading these chapters more times than I can now count, I began considering Gollum's madness(es?). He IS truly mad.
In this post, I plan to make a series of inquiries and "What do you thinks" about Gollum's behaviors and mental states. Originally, I planned this discussion to be broken up into several different posts but I think I'll just place them all in one collective post. I think that at a base level all these issues may be inter-related and perhaps we will get more understanding by discussing them together ...
An interesting reply can be found when Frodo addresses Gollum about his journey towards Mordor:
"So you have been there (Mordor)?" Frodo insisted. "And you're being drawn back there, aren't you?"
"Yess. Yess. No!" shrieked Gollum.
Is Gollum being drawn back against his will by some intangible power or do you believe it is a choice (for fear of not obeying Sauron) to return? Obviously, Gollum is aware that he is going back due to circumstances not of his choosing. Does his knowing reply shock you? Assuming that you believe that the compulsion to return to Mordor is an enchantment of some sort, did you expect him to be conciously aware of it?
Gollum sat up again and looked at him under his eyelids. "He's over there," he cackled. "Always there. Orcs will take you all the way. Easy to find Orcs east of the River. Don't ask Smeagol. Poor, poor Smeeagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he's lost now."
In the sidebar horizontal to this dialogue, I have written, "Does Gollum realize he's mad?" I think this is a very intriguing question because in most cases (probably all) ... no one ever realizes that they are crazy. Their perception is that the mental state by which they live is the norm. What are your opinions on this and do you think that Gollum knew he was a raving lunatic?
In the previously bulleted item I reproduced a bit of Gollum's dialogue and I would like to revisit the last sentence ... "They took his Precious, and he's (Smeagol) lost now." A very short couple of pages later, we encounter the following:
"Very lucky you came this way. Very lucky you found Smeagol, yes. Follow Smeagol!"
It seems that these statements are contradicting. Can there be truth to both? In your opinion, does Smeagol legitimately re-emerge?
* * *
From: Majah Sent: 12/4/2002 10:08 PM
Thanks for the idea Algamesh.
i was in Barnes and Noble the other day looking at the display of Tolkien books and wishing i had a reason to buy a new set...
* * *
From: Storrmrider Sent: 12/5/2002 7:39 AM
Don't ask Smeagol. Poor, poor Smeagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he's lost now."
"Very lucky you came this way. Very lucky you found Smeagol, yes. Follow Smeagol!"
I think Gollum remembers his past life as Smeagol the Stoor and his normal Hobbit like existance. That life was lost years ago upon finding the Ring, killing off Deagol, and slinking away to the dark depths of the Misty Mountains.
The Gollum side of him has been looking and searching for the Ring again and wants it back. However, when Sam and Frodo came upon Gollum, rodo's treatment of Gollum brought out the Smeagol side in him once again.
Gollum states that it is lucky they found Smeagol because if they had not been able to find that side of Gollum's personality, Gollum would have gone a head and throttled and murdered both Sam and Frodo right then and there. I think the Smeagol side really wants to be good and he appreciates that Frodo is treating him decently.
Stormrider
* * *
From: Elanor Sent: 12/6/2002 5:21 PM
Stormrider, I agree that they are lucky to have found the Smeagol side of Gollum rather than physically found the creature. I'd always thought they were lucky to have found a guide, but this new revelation changed the way I read the chapters. So here are some of my new observations and findings.
The first quote mentioned by Algy, regarding Gollum being drawn back to Mordor seems to be the first time the 2 personalities of Gollum/Smeagal emerge.
It seems to me that the personality battle continues throughout the paragraph/section when Gollum comments that Smeagol is lost because they took his Precious. I think this line of thought is interesting because I would assume that Gollum, rather than Smeagol would be lost without the ring. Smeagol was around before the ring, while Gollum was post ring. Gollum acknowleging Smeagol as lost is better that Smeagol being dead. If he is lost, he can be found by Frodo. As Gollum says, they are lucky to have found Smeagol.
I also found it interesting to note how different characters address Gollum/Smeagol. Frodo usually address him as Smeagol, while Sam calls him Gollum. The creature treats each of the hobbits very differently. I have to wonder if this has to do with what personality you address him by. If you talk to Gollum, you get nasty and mean, if you address Smeagol you get the wretched creature.
Gollum appears to always refer to himself as Smeagol, so it is difficult to tell if he recognises the 2 personalities within himself. The peronalities can still be told apart. Besides hissing and "we" comments, it seems that "the precious" is only refered to when Gollum is out or fighting to surface. Smeagol emerges enough to be rid of the hissing Gollum and the "we" comments, but you can still see traces of Gollum when he refers to the precious.
The key to whether or not Gollum know's he's mad may lie in who the "we" is always refers to is. Is "we" Gollum and the ring/precious, or does it refer to Gollum and Smeagol. If it is the later, then Gollum must be aware of his 2 personalities. I think Smeagol is in the dark though.
Just a few of my mad ramblings and thoughts. I hope 1 or 2 of them make sense.
What are your thoughts?
keep shining
elanor
* * *
From: Elanor Sent: 12/8/2002 12:07 AM
Do you think that Smeagol's promise counts for both the Smeagol and Gollum personalities. He frequently says, smeagol will be good, smeagol promised. But does Gollum promise? Toward the end of the chapter on the marshes, Gollum goes so far as to address himself as Gollum. He says "Gollum the Great, The Gollum,...Most Precious Gollum." The multiple personalities allow Gollum to follow his orders from the Dark Lord while Smeagol still keeps his promise.
elanor
* * *
From: Storrmrider Sent: 12/9/2002 4:02 PM
Is there any one in the psychiatric profession? I wonder how Gollum/Smeagol would be diagnosed professionally.
I had considered a split or multiple personality but he doesn’t exactly fit that mold. With a split personality, each of his personalities would not be aware of each other and this does not seem to be the case. Gollum and Smeagol speak to each other several times. They seem to be very aware of each other.
Does Gollum know that Smeagol wants to keep his promise to Frodo? I think he does. I wonder if Smeagol knows that Gollum plans to trick Frodo and Sam and exactly what Gollum plans! I think that the evil Gollum personality is much stronger than the long lost Smeagol persona. Gollum has had many more years to dominate the body of the Stoor and has been able to grow and develop; whereas Smeagol only was present for a short portion of the Stoor’s life—what, maybe 20 years only? Therefore, because he has been Gollum longer, I think that Gollum may be able to hide his intentions from Smeagol. He is much more devious and sneaky. Even if Smeagol suspected what Gollum was up to, he would not have been strong enough to prevent Gollum for doing it.
I looked up MPD/DID (Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder) and found this statement:<o:p></o:p>
“People with split personalities usually have had some kind of repetitive, overwhelming, and often life-threatening trauma at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood (usually before the age of nine. The most likely cause is extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood, but survivors of other kinds of trauma in childhood (such as natural disasters, invasive medical procedures, war, and torture) have also reacted by developing split personalities.”
From what I remember reading, Smeagol came from a very nice family and upbringing which would indicate that there was none of the above traumas in his young life. However, after he found the Ring and began acting sneaky with his peers, perhaps they shunned him and made fun of him which may have been traumatic, but I really doubt that.
Also the extra personalities of someone are used to hide from the reality of the traumas he faces. I do not see Gollum or Smeagol hiding from anything other than the moon, stars, sun, Orcs, Sauron, etc. He hides by using the dark and taking cover rather than hiding as the other being of his personality.
So what would a dual personality that is aware of each half be diagnosed as? What kind of madness is Gollum suffering from? Are there any doctors in the house?
Stormrider
* * *
From: Alaere_Dûnhilien Sent: 12/18/2002 1:25 PM
I have been thinking about this split personality stuff, and that normally one does not realise about his other personalities, but that Gollum, or Sméagol, did seem to know. But what if he actually did not know, and that he was in some sort of trance when his two halves were discussing about whether or not to take the ring. Then he would not even know about this conversation.
Or, another possibility: I thought that Sméagol could be possessed by the Gollum personality. Gollum actually being a part of Sauron. After all, after he did have the ring for so long, and Sauron poured some of his malice in it. Maybe this part went over to Sméagol, and possessed him. I believe that people who are possessed, do not realize this either.
I wouldn't know if I am making sense here, these are just some thoughts that have come up in my mind.
Namárië,
Alaere
* * *
From: Zauber Sent: 12/19/2002 2:34 PM
Storm, you said Gollum doesn't exactly fit the mold of MPD. First, generalities can be made regarding the dissociative disorders, but usually alternate personalities are created by a severaly traumatized child as a way to survive, and there is no rule book to go by. Each child makes up the situation themselves, in effect creates the disorder themselves, which leads to tremendous variety. Personalities CAN be aware of each other. Or, often one central personality is aware of some or all of the others, while they are unaware of the central alter. This is called co-consiousness.
I think Tolkien has, in Gollum, made an excellent portrayal of dissociation; whether it is the extreme of Multiple personality is hard to say, without talking to Gollum in person!
Concerning the childhood trauma: we are dealing with a different world here, with different rules. I would suspect Gollum did have two distinct personalities: Smeagol, pre-Ring, and Gollum, post-Ring. I think bearing the Ring for 100's of years is what split him in two. Remember, these differences were obvious enough for Sam to distinquish between Stinker and Slinker.
No, I'm not a psychiatrist, but an Integrative Breathing Practitioner and a Reiki Healer, with a specialty of working with people abused as children, including a number of people with multiple personalities. My view of Multiple Personality is that it's a wonderfully creative response to a life-threatening situation. I see it as a positive, rather than dying or becoming psychotic. And I see Gollum's strategy of splitting because of the Ring also to be a positive response. I don't think Gollum is 'crazy'. I think he has a severe disorder, but do feel Gollum was capable to 'redemption' and 'sanity', with Elven assistance, had things played out differently on Mt. Doom.
Zauber
* * *
From: Glorfindle Sent: 12/19/2002 5:35 PM
Redeemability of Gollum? Possibly. However we must remember Gollum aquired the ring through the murder of Deagol. This before he even possessed it. I have severe doubts that he would be able to accomplish a transition to salvation, since it was obviously not in his nature to begin with. Part of me hopes it could be true of course. I guess it is in the nature of man to give second chances.
Also, KUDOS to you Zauber for the fine work you do. We need more caring, loving professionals like you
* * *
From: Storrmrider Sent: 12/20/2002 12:28 AM
Zauber:
Thank you for your knowledge on Multiple personalities! I just pulled up one article and some of my comments stem from reading it. I'm trying to remember the case of Sybil--I thought none of her personalities knew of each other?!?!)
However, it is interesting to know that the personalities can be aware of each other.With that in mind, then Gollum/Smeagol does seem to have a multiple personality.
If Smeagol had a nice upbringing, then what made him so greedy and jealous that he would kill Deagol to get the Ring? Was the Ring's power working its desire to use Smeagol to bring it closer to Sauron? Killing his long time friend could have been a very traumatic experience which triggered the splitting of his personalities.
I imagine having the Ring for 478 years and then having it "stolen" from him was an even more traumatic experience for him. Would one of the personalities be able to stay dominant for so many years and squelch the meaker (in this case "real") personality so completely?
A little bit of the Smeagol personality re-surfaced when Bilbo was lost in the mountain by reminding Gollum of the riddles of his childhood. Only a small glimmer of that personality came out though and submerged again quickly. Fresh from losing the Ring, Gollum was still very strong and angry!
But Smeagol surfaced again when Frodo took him into his care and showed him some compassion. Smeagol seemed to be stronger this time and it may have been because he had been without the Ring for 111 years! The power of the Ring may have subsided a bit allowing that to happen, but it was still very much on the mind of Gollum who lay in wait for a chance to retake it!
It must have been very traumatic for the Stoor. Smeagol promised to be good for Frodo and take him to Mordor but Gollum suspected that Frodo was going to give it to Sauron. It must have been really driving Gollum wild thinking that! And Smeagol liked being treated kingly again and wanted to please. And Gollum wanted the Ring for himself.
What a war was going on inside of him! It is almost as if the two personalities are creating more trauma than creating a situation to hide from the trauma!
Stormrider
You know ... when I began reading and preparing for this study, I went out and bought a new copy of the book for the sole purpose of writing all over it! As I read, I would jot down notes in the sidebars, underline sentences / paragraphs, circles, stars, etc. Let me recommend to everyone that loves Tolkien's literature to go out and purchase a copy to do just this!
OK ... now on with the Discussions!
In the chapter entitled "The Taming of Smeagol", we really get a good look into Gollum's personality, his mannerisms, and all those little things that make him ... well, Gollum. After reading these chapters more times than I can now count, I began considering Gollum's madness(es?). He IS truly mad.
In this post, I plan to make a series of inquiries and "What do you thinks" about Gollum's behaviors and mental states. Originally, I planned this discussion to be broken up into several different posts but I think I'll just place them all in one collective post. I think that at a base level all these issues may be inter-related and perhaps we will get more understanding by discussing them together ...
An interesting reply can be found when Frodo addresses Gollum about his journey towards Mordor:
"So you have been there (Mordor)?" Frodo insisted. "And you're being drawn back there, aren't you?"
"Yess. Yess. No!" shrieked Gollum.
Is Gollum being drawn back against his will by some intangible power or do you believe it is a choice (for fear of not obeying Sauron) to return? Obviously, Gollum is aware that he is going back due to circumstances not of his choosing. Does his knowing reply shock you? Assuming that you believe that the compulsion to return to Mordor is an enchantment of some sort, did you expect him to be conciously aware of it?
Gollum sat up again and looked at him under his eyelids. "He's over there," he cackled. "Always there. Orcs will take you all the way. Easy to find Orcs east of the River. Don't ask Smeagol. Poor, poor Smeeagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he's lost now."
In the sidebar horizontal to this dialogue, I have written, "Does Gollum realize he's mad?" I think this is a very intriguing question because in most cases (probably all) ... no one ever realizes that they are crazy. Their perception is that the mental state by which they live is the norm. What are your opinions on this and do you think that Gollum knew he was a raving lunatic?
In the previously bulleted item I reproduced a bit of Gollum's dialogue and I would like to revisit the last sentence ... "They took his Precious, and he's (Smeagol) lost now." A very short couple of pages later, we encounter the following:
"Very lucky you came this way. Very lucky you found Smeagol, yes. Follow Smeagol!"
It seems that these statements are contradicting. Can there be truth to both? In your opinion, does Smeagol legitimately re-emerge?
* * *
From: Majah Sent: 12/4/2002 10:08 PM
Thanks for the idea Algamesh.
i was in Barnes and Noble the other day looking at the display of Tolkien books and wishing i had a reason to buy a new set...
* * *
From: Storrmrider Sent: 12/5/2002 7:39 AM
Don't ask Smeagol. Poor, poor Smeagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he's lost now."
"Very lucky you came this way. Very lucky you found Smeagol, yes. Follow Smeagol!"
I think Gollum remembers his past life as Smeagol the Stoor and his normal Hobbit like existance. That life was lost years ago upon finding the Ring, killing off Deagol, and slinking away to the dark depths of the Misty Mountains.
The Gollum side of him has been looking and searching for the Ring again and wants it back. However, when Sam and Frodo came upon Gollum, rodo's treatment of Gollum brought out the Smeagol side in him once again.
Gollum states that it is lucky they found Smeagol because if they had not been able to find that side of Gollum's personality, Gollum would have gone a head and throttled and murdered both Sam and Frodo right then and there. I think the Smeagol side really wants to be good and he appreciates that Frodo is treating him decently.
Stormrider
* * *
From: Elanor Sent: 12/6/2002 5:21 PM
Stormrider, I agree that they are lucky to have found the Smeagol side of Gollum rather than physically found the creature. I'd always thought they were lucky to have found a guide, but this new revelation changed the way I read the chapters. So here are some of my new observations and findings.
The first quote mentioned by Algy, regarding Gollum being drawn back to Mordor seems to be the first time the 2 personalities of Gollum/Smeagal emerge.
It seems to me that the personality battle continues throughout the paragraph/section when Gollum comments that Smeagol is lost because they took his Precious. I think this line of thought is interesting because I would assume that Gollum, rather than Smeagol would be lost without the ring. Smeagol was around before the ring, while Gollum was post ring. Gollum acknowleging Smeagol as lost is better that Smeagol being dead. If he is lost, he can be found by Frodo. As Gollum says, they are lucky to have found Smeagol.
I also found it interesting to note how different characters address Gollum/Smeagol. Frodo usually address him as Smeagol, while Sam calls him Gollum. The creature treats each of the hobbits very differently. I have to wonder if this has to do with what personality you address him by. If you talk to Gollum, you get nasty and mean, if you address Smeagol you get the wretched creature.
Gollum appears to always refer to himself as Smeagol, so it is difficult to tell if he recognises the 2 personalities within himself. The peronalities can still be told apart. Besides hissing and "we" comments, it seems that "the precious" is only refered to when Gollum is out or fighting to surface. Smeagol emerges enough to be rid of the hissing Gollum and the "we" comments, but you can still see traces of Gollum when he refers to the precious.
The key to whether or not Gollum know's he's mad may lie in who the "we" is always refers to is. Is "we" Gollum and the ring/precious, or does it refer to Gollum and Smeagol. If it is the later, then Gollum must be aware of his 2 personalities. I think Smeagol is in the dark though.
Just a few of my mad ramblings and thoughts. I hope 1 or 2 of them make sense.
What are your thoughts?
keep shining
elanor
* * *
From: Elanor Sent: 12/8/2002 12:07 AM
Do you think that Smeagol's promise counts for both the Smeagol and Gollum personalities. He frequently says, smeagol will be good, smeagol promised. But does Gollum promise? Toward the end of the chapter on the marshes, Gollum goes so far as to address himself as Gollum. He says "Gollum the Great, The Gollum,...Most Precious Gollum." The multiple personalities allow Gollum to follow his orders from the Dark Lord while Smeagol still keeps his promise.
elanor
* * *
From: Storrmrider Sent: 12/9/2002 4:02 PM
Is there any one in the psychiatric profession? I wonder how Gollum/Smeagol would be diagnosed professionally.
I had considered a split or multiple personality but he doesn’t exactly fit that mold. With a split personality, each of his personalities would not be aware of each other and this does not seem to be the case. Gollum and Smeagol speak to each other several times. They seem to be very aware of each other.
Does Gollum know that Smeagol wants to keep his promise to Frodo? I think he does. I wonder if Smeagol knows that Gollum plans to trick Frodo and Sam and exactly what Gollum plans! I think that the evil Gollum personality is much stronger than the long lost Smeagol persona. Gollum has had many more years to dominate the body of the Stoor and has been able to grow and develop; whereas Smeagol only was present for a short portion of the Stoor’s life—what, maybe 20 years only? Therefore, because he has been Gollum longer, I think that Gollum may be able to hide his intentions from Smeagol. He is much more devious and sneaky. Even if Smeagol suspected what Gollum was up to, he would not have been strong enough to prevent Gollum for doing it.
I looked up MPD/DID (Multiple Personality Disorder / Dissociative Identity Disorder) and found this statement:<o:p></o:p>
“People with split personalities usually have had some kind of repetitive, overwhelming, and often life-threatening trauma at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood (usually before the age of nine. The most likely cause is extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood, but survivors of other kinds of trauma in childhood (such as natural disasters, invasive medical procedures, war, and torture) have also reacted by developing split personalities.”
From what I remember reading, Smeagol came from a very nice family and upbringing which would indicate that there was none of the above traumas in his young life. However, after he found the Ring and began acting sneaky with his peers, perhaps they shunned him and made fun of him which may have been traumatic, but I really doubt that.
Also the extra personalities of someone are used to hide from the reality of the traumas he faces. I do not see Gollum or Smeagol hiding from anything other than the moon, stars, sun, Orcs, Sauron, etc. He hides by using the dark and taking cover rather than hiding as the other being of his personality.
So what would a dual personality that is aware of each half be diagnosed as? What kind of madness is Gollum suffering from? Are there any doctors in the house?
Stormrider
* * *
From: Alaere_Dûnhilien Sent: 12/18/2002 1:25 PM
I have been thinking about this split personality stuff, and that normally one does not realise about his other personalities, but that Gollum, or Sméagol, did seem to know. But what if he actually did not know, and that he was in some sort of trance when his two halves were discussing about whether or not to take the ring. Then he would not even know about this conversation.
Or, another possibility: I thought that Sméagol could be possessed by the Gollum personality. Gollum actually being a part of Sauron. After all, after he did have the ring for so long, and Sauron poured some of his malice in it. Maybe this part went over to Sméagol, and possessed him. I believe that people who are possessed, do not realize this either.
I wouldn't know if I am making sense here, these are just some thoughts that have come up in my mind.
Namárië,
Alaere
* * *
From: Zauber Sent: 12/19/2002 2:34 PM
Storm, you said Gollum doesn't exactly fit the mold of MPD. First, generalities can be made regarding the dissociative disorders, but usually alternate personalities are created by a severaly traumatized child as a way to survive, and there is no rule book to go by. Each child makes up the situation themselves, in effect creates the disorder themselves, which leads to tremendous variety. Personalities CAN be aware of each other. Or, often one central personality is aware of some or all of the others, while they are unaware of the central alter. This is called co-consiousness.
I think Tolkien has, in Gollum, made an excellent portrayal of dissociation; whether it is the extreme of Multiple personality is hard to say, without talking to Gollum in person!
Concerning the childhood trauma: we are dealing with a different world here, with different rules. I would suspect Gollum did have two distinct personalities: Smeagol, pre-Ring, and Gollum, post-Ring. I think bearing the Ring for 100's of years is what split him in two. Remember, these differences were obvious enough for Sam to distinquish between Stinker and Slinker.
No, I'm not a psychiatrist, but an Integrative Breathing Practitioner and a Reiki Healer, with a specialty of working with people abused as children, including a number of people with multiple personalities. My view of Multiple Personality is that it's a wonderfully creative response to a life-threatening situation. I see it as a positive, rather than dying or becoming psychotic. And I see Gollum's strategy of splitting because of the Ring also to be a positive response. I don't think Gollum is 'crazy'. I think he has a severe disorder, but do feel Gollum was capable to 'redemption' and 'sanity', with Elven assistance, had things played out differently on Mt. Doom.
Zauber
* * *
From: Glorfindle Sent: 12/19/2002 5:35 PM
Redeemability of Gollum? Possibly. However we must remember Gollum aquired the ring through the murder of Deagol. This before he even possessed it. I have severe doubts that he would be able to accomplish a transition to salvation, since it was obviously not in his nature to begin with. Part of me hopes it could be true of course. I guess it is in the nature of man to give second chances.
Also, KUDOS to you Zauber for the fine work you do. We need more caring, loving professionals like you
* * *
From: Storrmrider Sent: 12/20/2002 12:28 AM
Zauber:
Thank you for your knowledge on Multiple personalities! I just pulled up one article and some of my comments stem from reading it. I'm trying to remember the case of Sybil--I thought none of her personalities knew of each other?!?!)
However, it is interesting to know that the personalities can be aware of each other.With that in mind, then Gollum/Smeagol does seem to have a multiple personality.
If Smeagol had a nice upbringing, then what made him so greedy and jealous that he would kill Deagol to get the Ring? Was the Ring's power working its desire to use Smeagol to bring it closer to Sauron? Killing his long time friend could have been a very traumatic experience which triggered the splitting of his personalities.
I imagine having the Ring for 478 years and then having it "stolen" from him was an even more traumatic experience for him. Would one of the personalities be able to stay dominant for so many years and squelch the meaker (in this case "real") personality so completely?
A little bit of the Smeagol personality re-surfaced when Bilbo was lost in the mountain by reminding Gollum of the riddles of his childhood. Only a small glimmer of that personality came out though and submerged again quickly. Fresh from losing the Ring, Gollum was still very strong and angry!
But Smeagol surfaced again when Frodo took him into his care and showed him some compassion. Smeagol seemed to be stronger this time and it may have been because he had been without the Ring for 111 years! The power of the Ring may have subsided a bit allowing that to happen, but it was still very much on the mind of Gollum who lay in wait for a chance to retake it!
It must have been very traumatic for the Stoor. Smeagol promised to be good for Frodo and take him to Mordor but Gollum suspected that Frodo was going to give it to Sauron. It must have been really driving Gollum wild thinking that! And Smeagol liked being treated kingly again and wanted to please. And Gollum wanted the Ring for himself.
What a war was going on inside of him! It is almost as if the two personalities are creating more trauma than creating a situation to hide from the trauma!
Stormrider