The Importance of Being Gollum

Abstract

The examination of Smeagol and Gollum as dual personalities, according to JD Collins, has been greatly misunderstood. Their personalities came about from trama and the Rings deteroriative power on the mind. The Smeagol personality became (as it was in life) cruel, greedy, and selfish, where as the Gollum was weaker, more cowardly, and just as perverted by the Ring. Collins then claims that in the final scene in Mt. Doom, when Frodo succumbs to the Rings power, it is Smeagol that brites off Frodo’s finger, but Gollum who continues to clutch but refuses to put it on as they plummet to their death. Gollums last inent, Collins concludes, was to stop Smeagol from being able to put the Ring on. Despite the faults of Gollum, Collins asserts, he deserves more respect as a Ring Bearer, which he was for many years.