smeagolappreciation

[smeagolappreciation]

Some things that came to mind as I kept drawing him…

and all the innocent tumblr users just going about their day will look up and shout ‘SHUT UP ABOUT GOLLUM’…and I’ll look down and whisper 'No.”

[smeagolappreciation]

https://youtu.be/F3cvR4ikFyE

New trailer for upcoming LOTR: Gollum game

#smeagol #gollum #trahald #hobbit #hobbits #stoor #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute #lord of the rings: gollum #Youtube

[smeagolappreciation]

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

#smeagol #gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkein #middle earth #cute

[smeagolappreciation]

Sad Sméagols :(

#smeagol #gollum #trahald #hobbit #hobbits #lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #middle earth #cute

[smeagolappreciation]

A few screenshots from the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Gollum game. I’m so excited for this! 🐟

Teaser trailer: https://youtu.be/tFYCR1G2n9k

#gollum #smeagol #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #middle earth #cute #lord of the rings: gollum

[smeagolappreciation]

Old English Fun Fact of the Day

The OE verb smêagan means “to pry/burrow/sneak/creep”

It survives in the Modern English smuggle, and is where Tolkien got the inspiration for the name Smeagol 

[smeagolappreciation]

Sméagol's Song. As Tolkien wrote it (first half) and as Andy Serkis sang it in The Two Towers.

#sméagol #gollum #trahald #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute #the two towers

[smeagolappreciation]

We only wish to catch a fish so juicy sweeeet! 🐟

Credit: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (New Line Cinema)

#gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute #the two towers #sméagol

[smeagolappreciation]

Quick sketch

#gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute #the two towers #sméagol

[smeagolappreciation]

lotr 30 day challenge → day 16 → character you pity the most → an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of yore, an old starved, pitiable thing.

[smeagolappreciation]

The Stoor Hobbits

The Stoors seem a little more mysterious than they actually are, I think, because they differ from the Fallohides and the Harfoots in a few interesting ways. (Before I keep going, you’re probably going to want to make sure that you’ve read this post about the history of hobbits first, otherwise you might not know about the different types of hobbits, etc etc.)

Stoors stand out from the other hobbits culturally in that they actually liked water and knew how to swim (whereas most other hobbits are afraid of water and avoid it.) Also, they were apparently the only hobbits to ever grow beards? Though it seems that this trait has faded over time…

But, more importantly, the Stoors share a pretty different history from the Fallohides and the Harfoots. At the beginning of the Third Age (the first recorded mention of hobbits at all), all three groups are living east of the Misty Mountains in the Vale of the Anduin. Then, in 1050, the Harfoots migrated west over the mountains, followed within the next century by the Fallohides. The Stoors stayed east longer, though, and might have only followed the others west as late as 1300. And while the first two groups travelled along the High Pass and pretty much just kept heading west until they found a spot to build a village, the Stoors’ migration track was very different. They crossed the mountains at the Redhorn Pass, much further south. And while some stayed in the north, even more of them headed south into Dunland, where they lived for many years. They even established relations with the Dunlendings, which had a further impact on their culture and language.

When the war between Angmar and Arnor broke out (this is around 2430), the Stoors that had stayed in the north moved to avoid the fighting. Some of them went south to rejoin the other Stoors in Dunland, while some went back east over the mountains (these were Smeagol/Gollum’s people, by the way.)

The three groups of hobbits weren’t reunited until they were busy colonizing the Shire in 1630. This long absence from the Fallohides and the Harfoots is what makes Stoors seem so different culturally and linguistically. And while, in the following centuries, the three hobbit groups intermingled and generally became one single people, those areas with a higher Stoorish heritage (the Eastfarthing and Buckland, mainly) still show some linguistic differences from the rest of the Shire.

Not all Stoors moved to the Shire, though. The eventual fate of those Stoors who returned to the East remains a mystery (though it’s most likely that they just slowly died out.) They’re an interesting little subculture, though, because they were specifically identified as being a matriarchal society. And, finally, not all of the Stoors in Dunland moved north to the Shire (most of them did, but not all.) And there was still a small Stoorish population there during the War of the Ring, since the Nazgul checked there first when they were trying to find Frodo and the Ring.

So, we actually know quite a bit about the Stoors - probably even more than we know about the Fallohides and the Harfoots. Honestly, I think that’s what makes them so mysterious - Tolkien tells us enough about them that we start to notice the gaps in the story, and start to wonder what was supposed to fill them…

SOURCES: LOTR, LOTR Appendices, The Unfinished Tales (“The Hunt for the Ring”)

((The map is an excerpt from Karen Wynn Fonstad’s Atlas of Middle Earth, which shows the migration of hobbits in the Third Age. I’ve highlighted the Stoors’ paths in blue.))

A little background on Smeágol's heritage.

[smeagolappreciation]

Gollum expressions from a couple nights ago

[smeagolappreciation]

Definitely one of my favourite scenes!

#sméagol #gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute #the two towers

[smeagolappreciation]

“Wake up, sleepies!”

#sméagol #gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute #return of the king

[smeagolappreciation]

Check out the work of SkekLa on Deviant Art here: http://skekla.deviantart.com/gallery/29328925/LORD-OF-THE-RINGS-FANART I particularly like the reimagining of Smeágol before the ring.

#sméagol #gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute

[smeagolappreciation]

Smeagol has been to the dentist!

#smeagol #gollum #trahald #stoor #hobbit #hobbits #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #middle earth #cute

[smeagolappreciation]

Smeagol Before the Ring

((This post was written by the wonderful Holly (misterfrodomisterfrodo) as part of the Scribe Sunday Project!))

Sméagol was a Stoor Hobbit of the River Folk who was raised near a place named the Gladden Fields along the banks of the Anduin River.  He would have been born between 2430 to 2440 and raised under what was known as the “Watchful Peace”. He spent the early years of his life under the care of his extended family for unknown reasons. His grandmother was the matriarch of the community (- meaning a female being “head of the house). He never married or had children.

Tolkien describes him to have been: “The most inquisitive and curious- minded of that family was called Sméagol. He was interested in roots and beginnings; he dived into deep pools; he burrowed under trees and growing plants; he tunnelled into green mounds; and he ceased to look up at the hill- tops, or the leaves on trees, or the flowers opening in the air: his head and his eyes were downward.”

He found the ring around the year 2463. As Tolkien doesn’t give a specific date for his birth, his estimated age would be somewhere between his early twenties to early thirties. For the production of the films, Peter Jackson chose the year 2430 for his birth, which makes him just 33 years old when he discovered the ring on his birthday.

After his friend Deagol found the ring, he demanded it as his birthday present and the murdered him when refused. He buried his friend’s body and returned home. He most probably made up a fake story for Deagol’s disappearance and told no one about the ring they found.

He was banished from his community in the year 2470. The ring had caused him to start stealing from his friends and family. He spied on them. They gave him the nickname “Gollum” from the horrible swallowing noise he used to make with his throat. He was eventually banished for this trouble-making. He wandered for some time before he sought refuge in the Misty Mountains when the sunlight began to hurt him. He stayed here for over 500 years.

The ring prolonged his life way beyond its natural limitation and gradually began to twist his body and mind. He began to call the ring “my precious” and sometimes, “his birthday present”.  He developed two personalities and loved and hated himself and ring equally. He lost the ring in 2491 and spent the rest of his life trying to get it back. He searched every corner of Middle Earth he could which is the reason why he knew all those secret paths he took Frodo and Sam on in the Lord of the Rings. During this time he was captured twice. He eventually escaped from Mirkwood and followed the Fellowship. On March 25th 3019, he successfully stole the ring from Frodo Baggins before falling to his death. He would have been just under 600 years old.

SOURCES: LOTR, The Complete Guide to Middle Earth