Gollum - Sméagol's actions are defensive, not offensive.
What I mean by that is that most of the "bad" things he does, were done to him first. The actions are reciprocal.
"We be nice to them if they be nice to us" -- he wasn't lying. He very much lives by this -- "I will give to you what you give to me."
(Example: Frodo removes the rope from his neck, Sméagol saves Frodo from drowning.)
EXAMPLES PROVING THAT SMEAGOL'S ACTIONS WERE DEFENSIVE RATHER THAN OFFENSIVE
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Example 1: The Finding of the Ring (Return of the King)
"Sméagol chokes Déagol."
Déagol actually choked him first (behind the scenes have said they made Déagol choke Sméagol first so that viewers would realize that "it could have gone either way" -- Déagol intended to kill.)
Example 2: FOTR - ROTK
"Gollum tries to get the ring back."
Well, of course he does, he was robbed. Somebody literally came into his home and stole his favorite thing, then handed it down to their nephew. I'd be trying to get it back, too. He's not over here thinking "oh, it's a ring of power that needs to be destroyed!" he's thinking he's been robbed, stolen from -- and rightfully so.
Example 3: The Taming of Sméagol (The Two Towers)
"Gollum attacks the hobbits."
Actually, THEY attacked HIM.
He was not in a offensive stance, here. He was not in a position to choke, or attack, he was in a position to take. He was simply going to grab the ring and then, no doubt, flee.
The hobbits are the ones that woke up and yanked him down. This is when he decided to attack.
He doesn't like to put himself in harm's way when he doesn't have to. It's always a last resort.
Example 4: Gollum's Plan (The Two Towers)
"Sméagol decides to betray the hobbits."
But… According to Sméagollum, Frodo betrayed him first (and Sam was never good to him in the first place). Frodo did exactly what Sméagol ends up doing. Frodo manipulated him ("good Sméagol, nice Sméagol, trust Master, come!") and lured him over only so that he could get captured, blind-folded, and beaten severely.* In Sméagollum's mind, Frodo knew this was going to happen, he set it up to happen, he allowed it to happen. Sméagol does the same, back -- he manipulates Frodo, he lures him to Shelob's Lair, so that Frodo can be captured and eaten up.
*Side note: he was not told he wouldn't be killed by these men. It's very possible, if not likely, that he thought they were going to kill him in the moment. He thought Frodo allowed this.
(And another thing -- Frodo in the books promised he'd protect Sméagol. Sméagol in The Two Towers refers to it at a point, despite the fact that we never got a scene in the movies where Frodo makes the promise. At the end of The Two Towers, Sméagol says "Master wouldn't hurt us!" to which Gollum responds "Master broke his promise!" You could look at Sméagol saying "Master looks after us now", before he expells Gollum, as his repeating Frodo's promise, too -- "I will look after you/I will protect you". Anyway, Sméagol in Return of the King manipulatively says to Frodo "Sméagol look after Master". In his mind, he is looking after Frodo in the same way Frodo looked after him... by leading him get hurt.)
"Why does it cry, Sméagol...?"
"Naughty little fly, why does he cry?"
Example 5: The Parting of Sam and Frodo (The Return of the King)
"Sméagol gets rid of the lembas bread and frames Sam."
In The Two Towers, Sam said Sméagol should starve. "Starve, then, and good riddance!" He then ate the lembas bread right in front of Sméagol ("stuffed his face," if you will), to rub it in; the fact that he could eat it and Sméagol couldn't.* (He also ripped the rabbit Sméagol was eating right out of his hands.)
(continuing with a reblog due to 30 images per post limit)
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The Undeniable Dystopia is Here.
Life is bad. Like shockingly, horrifyingly bad. Growing up really felt like living through a series of unfortunate events- I was certainly repeatedly traumatized. But I never had to fight for my life every single day. That's where we are right now, and yet 95% of people can't or won't acknowledge reality. Hell really is empty and all the devils are here.
We live in a cesspit of plague. That's the state of the entirity of the Western world. I didn't want it at the start because I knew I was more "vulnerable" to its effects. Now I'd avoid it with just as much effort even if I was the healthiest person on Earth. The vaccines didn't stop the death, they just made it slower so people wouldn't notice.
All around me the effects are obvious. Everyone is ill. "The worst colds ever" and "the first year they've ever had hayfever". Quality of life is plummeting. Life expectancy is plummeting. Workers shortages. The internet full of people begging society to change course but incapable of leaving their beds to plead in person. Babies born tiny and starved, the effects on their brains untold. Kids collecting autoimmune diseases like pokemon cards. More Strep. More RSV. Kid after kid with their limbs stripped to the bone to stop the bacteria killing the rest of them. Brain damage termed just "brain fog." Friends of friends dropping dead. Strokes galore.
But you only see it if you're willing to open your eyes.
I can't study safely. I can't sit my exams without risking another hit of the virus that has already left me more disabled. It's not safe to go to the shops. It's not safe to sit in my own garden without a mask. It's not safe to go to the hospital- I know for sure because that's where I caught it last time. Every possible step forward, every possible move, every single day, involves a level of risk I couldn't comprehend 4 years ago.
I don't have PTSD, because we are not 'post'. The trauma is still growing.
At uni, I sit there in full PPE. PPE I spent more money on than I can afford, as someone who lives on less than minimum wage. I look around the room for the seat with the best ventilation, the best chance of air flow. I'm not religious, but I pray. Because I cannot afford to become even more disabled and I cannot afford to disable the person I love most. And then in filter 200 people who no longer care who they hurt with what they spread. Most avoid me- an uncomfortable reminder of the ongoing horror. One decides to sit next to me, coughing, excitedly asking me if I will be joining them for post-exam drinks. Indoors. Unmasked. We live in parallel worlds and yet they cannot even acknowledge that much.
They jet off abroad. Go to clubs. Have a sniffle but visit gran anyway. I pay attention when watching shows set in other dystopias, taking note of how to clean and suture a wound at home if needed. We cannot risk the hospital. I grow vegetables as the online prices rise and we cannot risk a trip to the store. I'm reminding my family what's at stake and begging them to protect themselves because I can't lose anyone else. And I'm praying.
Once again, just like when I was a teen, I find my comfort in misunderstood monsters and outcasts. The lonely characters that the world hates, who break down in tears when shown an ounce of kindness. I get wrapped up in the fantasy of having a safe space where I can finally let my guard down just for a minute. Where I can finally feel seen and see a bearable future. And when I see their visible scars, I feel them too, and I struggle against the urge to make more of my own.
There's no one coming to help me though and no safety in sight. There is just endurance. Even what remains of the mental health service is useless- why would I explain my pain to someone likely happily spreading the very virus that has created this hell? And I can't ask for support from my uni- they've made their views clear that this is my "anxiety" and I'm merely "overly cautious".
But I caught it, so not cautious enough. And it damaged my already disabled body further, so not anxious enough.
The undeniable dystopia is here and there is no end in sight.
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