My Precious?

[Firefoot]

Recently, I was rereading The Hobbit, or, more specifically, the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter, when this occurred to me. Obviously, the Ring had long since consumed Gollum's mind, and it was the most valuable and precious thing he had. The question is, what is really Gollum's precious? Let me explain:

The first time we hear Gollum speak is immediately after he is described to us:

"Bless us and splash us, my precioussss! I guess it's a choice feast; at least a tasty morsel it'd make us, gollum!" And when he said gollum he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat. That is how he got his name, though he always called himself "my precious." (italics Tolkien's, bolding mine.)

And a few sentences later:

What iss he, my preciouss?" whispered Gollum (who always spoke to himself through never having anyone else to speak to).

It seems pretty clear that here, "my precious" is in fact Gollum himself. In LotR, it seems very explicit that "my precious" is the Ring. This is how Frodo and Sam understand it: Sam says in "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol": "But I was forgetting - his Precious. I suppose the whole time it has been The Precious for poor Smeagol." When Frodo talks to Gollum about the Ring, he always uses the term "precious." With the possible exception of in "The Taming of Smeagol", there would not seem to be a doubt that Gollum uses "my precious to refer to himself - even he calls himself Smeagol. This might be passed off as a difference or controversy between the two books, except towards the end of "Riddles in the Dark", there is this:

He had a ring, a golden ring, a very precious ring. (...) "Where iss it? Where iss it?" Bilbo heard him crying. "Lost it is, my precious, lost, lost! Curse us and crush us, my precious is lost!"

Usually in the Hobbit, the ring is "his birthday present", but here, the Ring is certainly the precious being referred to. And, it LotR, he appears to be using "the precious" in both ways within sentences of each other:

"Ach, sss! Cautious, my precious! More haste less speed. We musstn't rissk our neck, musst we, precious? No, precious - gollum!" He lifted his head again, blinked at the moon, and quickly shut his eyes. "We hate it," he hissed. "Nassty, nassty shivery light it is - sss - it spies on us, precious - it hurts our eyes."
He was getting lower now and the hisses became sharper and clearer. "Where iss it, where iss it: my Precious, my Precious? It's ours, it is, and we wants it. The thieves, the thieves, the filthy little thieves. Where are they with my Precious?"

So the question is: what is "the precious", really? Does Gollum associate himself with the Ring in some strange way, to the point that in his mind they are really the same thing? He is certainly attached the Ring strongly enough. If this is so, what does Gollum mean when he swears to serve the master of the precious "by the precious"? Is he really swearing by the Ring, as Sam and Frodo think? Or does Gollum simply use the same term for the two things that are most precious to him: the Ring, and his life?

[Oddwen]

The transition from Gollum himself being called Precious, to the Precious being called Precious was apparently a transition made when Tolkien rewrote the hobbit to the true version of Bilbo's story.
I have with me an unedited copy of "Riddles in the Dark", and after "bless us and splash us!" follows this:

"We haven't the present we promised, and we haven't even got it for ourselves."

No mention of Gollum chasing after Bilbo. Instead, Bilbo gets him to lead him outside as consolation.
This change in writings was probably brought about to make the transition from Gollum/Precious to Ring/Precious more credible.

Does Gollum associate himself with the Ring in some strange way, to the point that in his mind they are really the same thing?

I would say so. He'd had it so long, and used it so often that he probably couldn't differentiate himself from it at all. Then when he lost it, who knows what went on in his head? It was like losing part of himself, he probably thought it was the better half.
And then those nasty hobbits wouldn't let him have himself back. Like they stole his soul, or something.

"Poor, poor Smeagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he's lost now."
"Perhaps we'll find him again, if you come with us," said Frodo.
"No, no, never! He's lost his Precious," said Gollum.

Poor Smeagol indeed.
(I hope this hasn't been too rambled...my brain's a little rusty... )

[Sapphire_Flame]

Does Gollum associate himself with the Ring in some strange way, to the point that in his mind they are really the same thing?

The personality of Gollum seemed to be wholy based on the possession of the Ring. So, as Oddwen pointed out with the quote, with the loss of the Ring came something of a loss of self. The Gollum personality didn't have anything to attach to and so it was "lost", so to speak.

Smeagol, on the other hand, was the initial personality, and so wasn't "lost". So came the Smeagol/Gollum arguments. The Smeagol personality was able to voice his opinion (heh) because of the "loss" of strength in the Gollum personality. Unless I'm much mistaken, Gollum and Smeagol didn't argue much (or at all) in The Hobbit, when the Ring was surmised to be safe in his/their hut.

Abedithon le,

~ Saphy ~

[Firefoot]

Interesting comments on Gollum/Ring vs. Smeagol. So if the Gollum side associates himself with the Ring, how does the Smeagol side see it? Looking back at the arguments his two sides have with each other, the Gollum side is always for taking back the Ring, while the Smeagol side stands for holding up to his promise and not harming Frodo. This may be because while the Gollum side feels he is lost, the Smeagol side is now free, from the Ring if not from Gollum. Gollum is certainly one of the most complex characters.

So, in light of these opinions, which side of Gollum's personality is making the promise to serve the master of the Precious? Or is it both? Would his motives be different depending on which side it is? My guess is, it is the Smeagol side that is promising to be good, and the Gollum side goes along with it to get the rope off, not intending to keep the promise. The Gollum side would be the one that wanted to swear on the Precious rather than by it, as a way of trying to achieve possession of his Precious and in turn the part of his soul that he has 'lost.'

[Oddwen]

Here we get a little bit more into the "He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself" bit.

I can almost see Gollum as the Ring come to flesh. He's devious, manipulative, and very cunning, while Smeagol is almost childish and naive.
Smeagol hates the Ring and Gollum because they almost "make" him do what he didn't/doesn't want to do. Maybe he's too childish to realize that it's his choice too, but giving in has become an age-old habit.
While Gollum hates Smeagol for holding him back.

And when a chance came it caught...Gollum, and it had devoured him. It could make no further use of him: he was too small and mean; and as long as it stayed with him he would never leave his deep pool again.

But then Gandalf says that Sauron sent forth his will, and the Ring "abandoned Gollum".
Is Gandalf referring to Gollum just because Frodo would know him by that name, or is he naming the evil half?

which side of Gollum's personality is making the promise to serve the master of the Precious?

I would say that both of them did it, Smeegs because he was frightened of Frodo and the Ring, and because Gollum could see a loophole in that promise.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Gollum spoke like that because he was a severely muddled individual.