I forgot i never posted this but I finally watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy all the way through for the first time a couple months back and I got stupidly attached to Sméagol and I just like the idea of a post canon dynamic where he doesn’t give in to the corruption of the ring and lives in Frodo’s backyard as Frodo tries to slowly reintroduce him to society lmao
“Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters.”
“Half a moment!” cried Bilbo, who was still thinking uncomfortably about eating. Fortunately he had once heard something rather like this before, and getting his wits back he thought of the answer. “Wind, wind of course,” he said
I interpret the ainur without wings.“Half a moment!” cried Bilbo, who was still thinking uncomfortably about eating. Fortunately he had once heard something rather like this before, and getting his wits back he thought of the answer. “Wind, wind of course,” he said
For [the One Ring] had been taken from Anduin long ere they sought for it, being found by one of the small fisher-folk that dwelt by the River, ere the Kings failed in Gondor… ~ The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power (Art: “Smeagol and the Ring of Power” by drkay85 on deviantART)
Then in the midst of gathering fear and the rumour of war the foreboding of Elrond was proved true, and the One Ring was indeed found again, by a chance more strange than even Mithrandir had foreseen; and it was hidden from Curunír and from Sauron. ~ The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power (Art: “Smeagol und Deagol” by WilliWeissfuss on deviantART)
‘So you have been there [to Mordor]?’ Frodo insisted. 'And you’re being drawn back there, aren’t you?’
'Yess. Yess. No!’ shrieked Gollum. 'Once, by accident it was, wasn’t it, precious? Yes, by accident. But we won’t go back, no, no!’ Then suddenly his voice and language changed, and he sobbed in his throat, and spoke but not to them. 'Leave me alone, gollum! You hurt me. O my poor hands, gollum! I, we, I don’t want to come back. I can’t find it. I am tired. I, we can’t find it, gollum, gollum, no, nowhere. They’re always awake. Dwarves, Men, and Elves, terrible Elves with bright eyes. I can’t find it. Ach!’ He got up and clenched his long hand into a bony fleshless knot, shaking it towards the East. 'We won’t!’ he cried. 'Not for you.’ Then he collapsed again. ’Gollum, gollum,’ he whimpered with his face to the ground. 'Don’t look at us! Go away! Go to sleep!’
'He will not go away or go to sleep at your command, Sméagol,’ said Frodo. 'But if you really wish to be free of him again, then you must help me. And that I fear means finding us a path towards him. But you need not go all the way, not beyond the gates of his land.’
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 Sméagol. Poor, poor Sméagol, he went away long ago. They took away his Precious, and he’s lost now.’
'Perhaps we’ll find him again, if you come with us,’ said Frodo.
'No, no, never! He’s lost his Precious,’ said Gollum.
–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, “The Taming of Sméagol” (Art by Peter Xavier Price)
Remember that part in the LOTR Extended Editions where Andy Serkis talks about how, as Gollum, he had to slide down a creek to catch a fish? Apparently, it had snowed the night before, so crews where out melting snow off the creek edge in order for the scene to be filmed. Well….
The top photo is that creek. In his full mo-cap suit, Andy got on his belly and began sliding along, pretending to catch a fish.
The second photo is where he hit ice and couldn’t stop himself from sliding.
The third photo is where he would have ended up, sliding off the edge and down that waterfall, if one of the film crew hadn’t caught him at the last moment.
Just a bit of perspective on what Andy has gone through to portray Gollum…
Do you recognize this rock wall? If you’re a fan of the LOTR movies, you should! It’s the wall Gollum climbs down as he tries to sneak up on Frodo and Sam at the beginning of The Two Towers.
![For [the One Ring] had been taken from Anduin long ere they sought for it, being found by one of the](https://64.media.tumblr.com/9c216369107eb9b4dc23f42dd9702908/b1c1b4ad3952e6be-f9/s1280x1920/a64947ae7dfc34027c4866e56523bdb9eeb8801c.jpg "For [the One Ring] had been taken from Anduin long ere they sought for it, being found by one of the")
![‘So you have been there [to Mordor]?’ Frodo insisted. 'And you’re being drawn back](https://64.media.tumblr.com/84092f11ba8cb24b71564d2e7e49b1e0/tumblr_n1yym1m4P41rtwlb5o1_1280.jpg "‘So you have been there [to Mordor]?’ Frodo insisted. 'And you’re being drawn back")
