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OneLord of the Ringscharacter that always inspires spirited discussions is Gollum, aka Sméagol. Could he ever have been redeemed and allowed into the Undying Lands like other Ringbearers, Bilbo and Frodo? Perhaps not, because some of Gollum’s crimes are exceedingly darker than they were let on.
It is well known, amongst bothThe Lord of the Ringsbook and film fans that Gollum has done some pretty damning stuff. For starters, he murdered his best friend, Déagol, because the guy didn’t give him the birthday present he wanted—the One Ring. He used the Ring’s invisibility power to hurt his people, for which he was banished. He tried to get Frodo and Sam killed by Shelob. And he bit Frodo’s finger off in Mount Doom. Some fans even believe there was no redemption for Gollum because he broke the oath he swore to Frodo and the ring. But amongst all the bad things that Gollum’s done, his darkest crime remains his diet.
Gollum is a Cannibal
Technically, Gollum is of the Hannibal Lecter persuasion. And it is explicitly shown inThe Hobbitmovie, in the scene where he is excited at the prospect of eating Bilbo, if the hobbit loses the riddle game they decide to play.Whenever Bilbo gets a riddle right, Gollum grows more and more frustrated because he’d be letting a gourmet meal of soft, Hobbit flesh escape him after ages of surviving on slimy fish.
Well, if he loses, Precious, then we eat it. If Baggins loses, we eat it whole.
In fact, Gollum preferred meat to fish. According to a passage inThe Hobbit, he would often sneak up on any goblins that loitered in the tunnels under the Misty Mountains, where he lived by a lake at the roots of the mountains. In the chapter “Riddles In The Dark”,author J.R.R. Tolkien writes aboutGollum’s dietary preferences.
He [Gollum] liked meat too. Goblin he thought good, when he could get it; but he took care they never found him out. He just throttled them from behind, if they ever came down alone anywhere near the edge of the water, while he was prowling about.
In the same chapter, there’s another mention of Gollum’s cannibalistic exploits. After Bilbo has won the riddle game and asks Gollum to show him the way out, Gollum excuses himself to get the One Ring so he can subdue Bilbo and kill him for food. On his way, in his inner monologue, Gollum thinks about how he used his “Precious” ring just a while ago to easily catch and eat an imp!
No one would see him, no one would notice him, till he had his fingers on their throat. Only a few hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblin-imp. How it squeaked! He still had a bone or two left to gnaw, but he wanted something softer.
Considering that before being twisted into a monstrous creature, Gollum was a Stoor—a hobbit-adjacent race—and thatsome goblins and orcs were said to be elves onceand therefore a species adjacent to humans, it undoubtedly makes Gollum a cannibal. And it’s quite the dark turn from Tolkien. Only, it gets worse because Gollum’s not just eating goblins, he is also allegedly eating human babies!
Did Gollum Eat Babies?
J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing might seem rather PG compared to, say, George R.R. Martin. But it’s merely a matter of posturing. The author did throw in some pretty dark stuff in the most subtle, nonchalant, and eloquent way into his text that most readers might’ve just glossed over. And that’s probably the reason why many fans might’ve forgotten or have no idea that Gollum’s favorite dish wasn’t just freshly-caught fish. He ate everything, from orcs and goblins to small animals. But he often yearned for softer meat, like hobbits, or anything that breathed and he could subdue. And can you guess what’s the easiest thing to subdue? Young, defenseless babies.
InThe Fellowship of the Ringchapter “A Shadow of the Past,” Gandalf and Frodo are discussing Gollum’s search for Bilbo after he escaped with the One Ring.Gandalf talks of the hunt for Gollumand finding a trail in Mirkwood, where the Woodmen were talking of a mysterious, bloodthirsty new creature that was climbing into bird and animal nests and even into cradles through windows to snatch young ones.
The wood was full of the rumour of him, dreadful tales even among beasts and birds. The Woodmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find the young it slipped through windows to find cradles.
Despite the possibility of this being a rumor, there’s little doubt that the baby snatcher was indeed Gollum. He had terrible strength, and it is indicated on several occasions that he could overpower a fully grown hobbit or a small goblin. He used the Ring for stealth to supplement his strength, but since that wasn’t available to him, he decided to target anyone easy to overpower. He’d sneak past the grown-ups to get at the offspring of men, birds, and beasts. Not that he needed one, but in Gollum’s defense, there weren’t a lot of options available to him when he lived under the mountains, other than fish, vermin, orcs, and goblins. He had stopped venturing out into the sun because it hurt his eyes and skin.
But here’s another theory amongstThe Lord of the Ringsfans. It is also possible that the longer he wore the One Ring, the more it poisoned his body and soul to reject all nourishment touched by the light, like the elven Lembas bread or fresh fruits and vegetables that were from the earth. He clearly hated potatoes, and he never shared the hobbits’ provisions, limited as they were. So, meat was the only food group for him. But eating babies? Now that’s too dark for anyone’s taste.
