Despite being published nearly 70 years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings remains one of the most influential books for fantasy across all mediums. From fantasy films and TV shows to video games and of course books themselves, the entire genre has been inspired by Tolkien's works in some shape or form.
At the heart of both the Lord of the Rings books and films, is an incredible cast of characters whose journeys both physical and spiritual form the core of the story. Among these, no character has a more tragic story than Gollum also known as Smeagol, who first appeared in The Hobbit. Gollum is an incredibly grey character and while he suffered more than his fair share of hardships, he also did a number of bad things.
5 Gollum Bit Off Frodo's Finger To Get The Ring
Despite inadvertently saving all of Middle Earth by destroying the One Ring, Gollum's intentions at the end of The Lord of the Rings were greedy and murderous. As Frodo himself was grappling with the power of the ring and failing to destroy it, Gollum seized the opportunity to attack Sam and Frodo, to once again try and reclaim the ring.
After grappling, Gollum jumps on Frodo's shoulders, an extremely dangerous thing to do given that they are standing on the precipice of Mount Doom's great pit. He then bites off Frodo's finger to get his hands on the ring one last time, before falling into the fiery depths from which the One Ring was forged. This penultimate Mount Doom scene does, however, differ slightly from The Return of the King.
4 Gollum Setup Samwise In The Film
One of the changes that the Lord of the Rings movies made from the books, was the addition of a scene in which Gollum manipulates Frodo into thinking Samwise Gamgee could not be trusted. To do this Gollum planted some crumbs of Lembas bread on Sam, before throwing the rest off the side of a cliff, making it look as though Sam had greedily eaten all of their supplies.
When the two Hobbits woke an argument ensued, resulting in the parting of Sam and Frodo, something that did not happen in the books, with the two remaining loyal to each other throughout all their toils. Despite deviating from the original work, this nonetheless made for a great scene and ended up making the character of Gollum darker than he was in the books.
3 Gollum's Attempted Murder Of Bilbo Baggins
When Bilbo Baggins got lost and stumbled upon Gollum in The Hobbit the two of them agreed to play a game featuring riddles. The agreement was that if Gollum won he would eat Bilbo, but if Bilbo won Gollum was to show him how to get out, allowing him to be reunited with his party.
However, Gollum was a sore loser and upon losing instead intended to murder Bilbo. Had it not been for Bilbo previously picking up the One Ring that Gollum had recently dropped, and accidentally discovering its power of invisibility, Gollum would most likely have killed Bilbo and then eaten him.
2 Gollum Led Frodo Into A Trap
Towards the end of The Lord of the Rings when Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee were looking for a way to reach Mount Doom and complete their mission of destroying the One Ring, Gollum saw an opportunity to kill them and reclaim his precious.
He led them into the lair of a giant spider, Shelob, who was known for devouring any who happened upon her. Gollum hoped that once she was done eating them he would be able to retrieve the ring. His plan however was foiled by the powers of Frodo's Elvish blade Sting, and Samwise Gamgee's incredible bravery. The fact that Gollum had intended to kill Frodo, whom he had grown close to on their recent travels, shows just how strong of a grip the ring had on him.
1 Smeagol Killed His Friend Deagol For The Ring
Easily one of the worst things ever done by Gollum was actually the act that led him down the path to becoming Gollum in the first place. Around half a millennium before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Smeagol was an early Hobbit-type creature with a seemingly kind heart. However, when his friend and cousin Deagol found the One Ring while fishing, the ring's power quickly corrupted Smeagol's mind and heart, instilling an overwhelming desire for its power in him.
After asking nicely for the ring as a birthday present and being denied, Smeagol showed no hesitation in killing his friend and taking the ring for his own. He then left his home and lived in isolation with his precious, slowly transforming into the creature that would come to be known as Gollum. While the power of the One Ring can be somewhat blamed for this unfortunate event this heinous act cannot be overlooked, especially when others with purer hearts were able to resist the ring's pull.