Gollum

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Gollum is a fictional monster. He first appeared in the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit and rose to prominence in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was a River-folk Stoor Hobbit who lived near the Gladden Fields. According to The Lord of the Rings, he was originally known as Sméagol before being corrupted by the One Ring and renamed Gollum due to his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat". Sméagol obtained the Ring by assassinating his cousin Déagol, who discovered it in the River Anduin. Gollum was torn throughout the story between his desire for the Ring and his desire to be free of it. Bilbo Baggins found the Ring and took it for his own, and Gollum afterward pursued it for the rest of his life. Gollum finally seized the Ring from Frodo Baggins at the Cracks of Doom in Mount Doom in Mordor, but he fell into the fires of the volcano, where both he and the Ring were destroyed.

Gollum has been described as a psychological shadow figure for Frodo as well as an evil guide in contrast to the good guide, the wizard Gandalf. They have also noted that Gollum is not entirely evil and that he plays a role in the will of Eru Iluvatar, the omnipotent god of Middle-earth, which is required for the Ring's destruction. In The Hobbit, Gollum was introduced as "a small, slimy creature" who lived on a small island in an underground lake at the Misty Mountains' roots. Gollum despises everything Elven made. Gollum's life was extended far beyond that of other members of his clan due to the Ring's influence. An average hobbit's lifespan is over 100 years, but a span of 556 years separates Gollum's finding of the Ring and its destruction, by which time he was almost 600 years old.