{"id":399779,"date":"2026-04-19T06:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/399779\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T06:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:19:11","slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings-5-things-that-still-make-no-sense-about-gollum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/399779\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord of the Rings: 5 Things That Still Make No Sense About Gollum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gollum is one of the most critical characters in The Lord of the Rings<\/a>, both in Peter Jackson\u2019s movies<\/a> and, of course, J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s original books<\/a>. In fact, Gollum played a key role in both the original Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies and in Jackson\u2019s trilogy of movies based on The Hobbit, and he is about to be crucial on the big screen yet again, in the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite this continued prominence within the franchise, there are still a number of things that don\u2019t make a whole lot of sense about Gollum, especially regarding his depiction in the movies and what the movies include about the character. Of all those confusing plot points, these 5 aspects of Gollum\u2019s character are the ones that make the least amount of sense, specifically concerning Gollum\u2019s character in the movies.<\/p>\n

Gollum Didn\u2019t Experience Rapid Aging After Losing The Ring<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Gollum had the One Ring for nearly 500 years, so it\u2019s not surprising that, by the time he makes an appearance in the movies, he\u2019s entirely corrupted by it and has morphed into a creature that his own family would no longer recognize. Yet, when Gollum loses the Ring in The Hobbit, he doesn\u2019t immediately begin aging or really showing many signs of changing at all (that is, outside of his desperation and obsession over finding the One Ring).<\/p>\n

This is particularly surprising because audiences see how rapidly Bilbo begins aging in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring after he leaves the Ring to Frodo. Granted, Gollum had the Ring much longer than Bilbo did\u2014by hundreds of years\u2014so the effects would look different, but it\u2019s nevertheless odd that he doesn\u2019t change much physically after it leaves his possession. <\/p>\n

Gollum Survived His Fall In Shelob\u2019s Lair<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gollum absolutely refused to die until he was fully submerged in the fires of Mount Doom itself in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He had several close calls, but the point at which he seems almost certainly dead (and wasn\u2019t) is in Shelob\u2019s lair. Frodo realizes that Sam was right and Gollum has trapped him, luring Frodo to what he hopes is his death. The two get into a scuffle, at which point Frodo seems to send Gollum hurtling to his death, down a cavern.<\/p>\n

Yet, Gollum returns to try and take the Ring one last time before Frodo can throw it into the magma of Mordor\u2014and Gollum doesn\u2019t even seem to be injured. How he survived this fall is never shown on screen, and it\u2019s more than a little odd that he fell in this way and not only lived to tell the tale but also basically seemed absolutely fine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The beginning of The Return of the King shows more about Sm\u00e9agol\u2019s backstory, including the moment his cousin, D\u00e9agol, finds the One Ring. In this scene, Sm\u00e9agol immediately wants the Ring, and tells D\u00e9agol that he should give it to him because it\u2019s his birthday, and he wants it. When D\u00e9agol refuses, they begin to fight, and Sm\u00e9agol chokes him to death.<\/p>\n

What is odd about this scene is how quickly the Ring corrupts Sm\u00e9agol. The effects are essentially immediate, assuming that Sm\u00e9agol wasn\u2019t violent beforehand\u2014which, at least in terms of what is shown on screen, seems to be the case. This is especially odd because Sm\u00e9agol was a Stoor, a type of hobbit, which should have meant he had a greater resistance to the influence of the Ring, the same as Bilbo and Frodo. <\/p>\n

Gollum Is Starving But Also Incredibly Strong<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yet another confusing aspect of Gollum\u2019s character is the fact that he is emaciated, yet he manages to engage in physical fights multiple times throughout The Lord of the Rings. He\u2019s also shown to be very limber, able, among other things, to keep up with the Fellowship throughout The Fellowship of the Ring. <\/p>\n

Yes, by the time he\u2019s fighting Frodo (multiple times) in The Return of the King, Frodo is likewise weakened. Nevertheless, it\u2019s odd that Gollum is so clearly starving, and his body looks constantly on the brink of death, yet he proves to be rather strong.<\/p>\n

Sm\u00e9agol Seemingly Develops An Actual Affection For Frodo<\/p>\n

\"Elijah<\/p>\n

Finally, one of the most confusing elements of Gollum\u2019s characterization in the movies is the fact that he seems to develop a genuine affection for Frodo, even though he eventually does try to kill him. It\u2019s clear that he also despises Frodo, which seems to repeat the notion that he hates and loves the Ring and hates and loves himself. However, he has much less reason to like Frodo, who has the one thing he wants and is on a mission to destroy it.<\/p>\n

Even taking into account the fact that, at times, Gollum knows the Ring must be destroyed, it\u2019s odd that he seems to actually care about Frodo at multiple points, even as Frodo has essentially enslaved him and prevented him from reuniting with his precious. It\u2019s actually a shame that this wasn\u2019t explored more on screen, as it\u2019s one of the most interesting parts of his character. As it stands, though, it simply remains confusing.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gollum is one of the most critical characters in The Lord of the Rings, both in Peter Jackson\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,189437,85,46,51891,397,58542],"class_list":{"0":"post-399779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gollum","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-list-feature","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-the-lord-of-the-rings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}