Smeagol, Deagol, & their race of beings - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Wormtongue · 04-18-2002, 08:34 PM

Hail all! I've read all there really is to read about these interesting braches of Hobbit, and was wondering about the vastly numerous portrayals of these creatures. I've seen him (Gollum) pictured as almost a quasi-amphibian with green skin and bulbous eyes to an emaciated little naked halfling with long hands and feet. I opt for the latter, but he doesn't seem as devilish and slimey as the pitiful halfling type would make him out to be. A number of pictures I've seen float in between frog-man and gnome. I'm curious as to your general mental image (is it the same as the movie?) of these people and if you've any more information than what Gandalf reveals in Fellowship, feel free to enlighten my rogueish countenance! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

Birdland · 04-18-2002, 08:47 PM

If I'm understanding your question right, you're wondering what Gollum would have looked like "pre-Ring"?

My own image of the three branches is that they reflect the three races of Middle Earth; Harfoots being the most "mannish", Fallohides being like elves, and Stoors reflecting dwarves, (mainly because they had facial hair.)

Mind you, they all look like Hobbits. Your never going to mistake a Halfling for a Man, Elf or Dwarf. I just think that each branch had a slight overlay of these physical traits to them.

Tolkien even suggests that their interests and personalities reflect the Three Races. Fallohides were more interested in hunting and the arts. Harfoots copied the homes and farming of Man. So I suppose the Stoors may have had a touch of the "love of wealth" that defined the Dwarves.

which kind of explains Smeagol's un-natural attraction to the Ring the moment he saw it.

lathspell · 04-19-2002, 04:00 AM

The only thing said that I know of is that they are akin to the ancestors of the ancestors of the stoors. So I guess he would look hobbit-like most of all the M-E races.

I've made thread on this case too: Bilbo & Gollum. I guess it's somewhere on the second page of Books II.

Bramblerose Gamgee-Took · 04-19-2002, 04:40 AM

My mental images of the three hobbits kinds some pretty much the same as Birdlands description, but Gollum to me, I guess looked liked a slimy green hobbit, with big silver eyes, and very decietful, yet pathetic. That is what your asking, isnt it? [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

Shadowfax Clawson · 04-19-2002, 05:21 AM

I seem to remember Tolkien writing something to the effect of Gollum's skin being pale and tallow, such as many creatures who make their homes in caves. I found they portrayal in the movie of his eyes to be the best thing about him; pale, malicious, and ghostly grey. However, I always have imagined him with pale skin, characteristic of cave creatures, with any pigment leached over the 500 years he made his home in the Misty Mountains.

Great question, Wormtongue!

Belegfanaion · 04-20-2002, 12:49 PM

Well, if ya want my point of view, I read the Hobbit WAY before the movie FOTR came out, and I only read LOTR after seeing the movie, so I only had the Hobbit to go on. But I'd imagined a slimy Halfling-sized creature with long, black groping fingers, perhaps something like a mole with large round eyes that were adept at seeing in the dark. He/It wold have had long legs and fin-like feet and hands for swimming, a keen sense of smell, and, obviously, a love for treasure, as was made clear in the LOTR. That's how I'd imagined him. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

avarerniliel · 04-20-2002, 04:31 PM

How I think of Gollum...hmmm...pale, blue, rotting skin, bulbous eyes, keen smell and hearing, greasy, strangly, and little hair, a sunken face, skinny, malnourished, gruesome, large hands and feet, gangly, a body that's too small for him, and all that Gollum is wearing is a loincloth.

It's amazing how you never hear of anyone picturing Gollum in a pink tu-tu with curly blonde hair...oh well. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Wormtounge! Long time, no see! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

04-18-2002, 08:34 PM	#1
Wormtongue Pile O'Bones Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA Posts: 17	Smeagol, Deagol, & their race of beings Hail all! I've read all there really is to read about these interesting braches of Hobbit, and was wondering about the vastly numerous portrayals of these creatures. I've seen him (Gollum) pictured as almost a quasi-amphibian with green skin and bulbous eyes to an emaciated little naked halfling with long hands and feet. I opt for the latter, but he doesn't seem as devilish and slimey as the pitiful halfling type would make him out to be. A number of pictures I've seen float in between frog-man and gnome. I'm curious as to your general mental image (is it the same as the movie?) of these people and if you've any more information than what Gandalf reveals in Fellowship, feel free to enlighten my rogueish countenance! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img] __________________ "Heroes await me,my enemies ride fast, Knowing not this ride's their last. Saddle my horse as I drink my last ale, Bowstring and steel will prevail..." +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Manowar

04-19-2002, 04:00 AM	#3
lathspell Regenerating Ringkeeper Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Holland Posts: 757	The only thing said that I know of is that they are akin to the ancestors of the ancestors of the stoors. So I guess he would look hobbit-like most of all the M-E races. I've made thread on this case too: Bilbo & Gollum. I guess it's somewhere on the second page of Books II. __________________ 'You?' cried Frodo. 'Yes, I, Gandalf the Grey,' said the wizard solemnly. 'There are many powers in the world, for good or for evil. Some are greater than I am. Against some I have not yet been measured. But my time is coming.'

04-19-2002, 05:21 AM	#5
Shadowfax Clawson Pile O'Bones Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: North Carolina, USA Posts: 20	I seem to remember Tolkien writing something to the effect of Gollum's skin being pale and tallow, such as many creatures who make their homes in caves. I found they portrayal in the movie of his eyes to be the best thing about him; pale, malicious, and ghostly grey. However, I always have imagined him with pale skin, characteristic of cave creatures, with any pigment leached over the 500 years he made his home in the Misty Mountains. Great question, Wormtongue! __________________ "In buying a horse or taking a wife, shut your eyes tight and commend yourself to God." -Tuscan proverb

04-20-2002, 12:49 PM	#6
Belegfanaion Animated Skeleton Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Rivendell Posts: 45	Well, if ya want my point of view, I read the Hobbit WAY before the movie FOTR came out, and I only read LOTR after seeing the movie, so I only had the Hobbit to go on. But I'd imagined a slimy Halfling-sized creature with long, black groping fingers, perhaps something like a mole with large round eyes that were adept at seeing in the dark. He/It wold have had long legs and fin-like feet and hands for swimming, a keen sense of smell, and, obviously, a love for treasure, as was made clear in the LOTR. That's how I'd imagined him. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] __________________ "'Hold it up!' said Gandalf. 'And look closely.' As Frodo did so, he now saw fine lines, finer than the finest pen-strokes, running along the ring, outside and inside: lines of fire that seemed to form the letters of a flowing script. They shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth. 'I cannot read the fiery letters,' said Frodo in a quavering voice. 'No,' said Gandalf, 'but I can. The letters are Elvish, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here. But this in the Common Tongue is what is said, close enough: One Ring to Bring them all and in the darkness bind them.'"

04-18-2002, 08:47 PM	#2
Birdland Ghastly Neekerbreeker Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: the banks of the mighty Scioto Posts: 1,751	If I'm understanding your question right, you're wondering what Gollum would have looked like "pre-Ring"? My own image of the three branches is that they reflect the three races of Middle Earth; Harfoots being the most "mannish", Fallohides being like elves, and Stoors reflecting dwarves, (mainly because they had facial hair.) Mind you, they all look like Hobbits. Your never going to mistake a Halfling for a Man, Elf or Dwarf. I just think that each branch had a slight overlay of these physical traits to them. Tolkien even suggests that their interests and personalities reflect the Three Races. Fallohides were more interested in hunting and the arts. Harfoots copied the homes and farming of Man. So I suppose the Stoors may have had a touch of the "love of wealth" that defined the Dwarves. which kind of explains Smeagol's un-natural attraction to the Ring the moment he saw it.

04-19-2002, 04:40 AM	#4
Bramblerose Gamgee-Took Haunting Spirit Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Bywater Posts: 67	My mental images of the three hobbits kinds some pretty much the same as Birdlands description, but Gollum to me, I guess looked liked a slimy green hobbit, with big silver eyes, and very decietful, yet pathetic. That is what your asking, isnt it? [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

04-20-2002, 04:31 PM	#7
avarerniliel Haunting Spirit Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: In front of the moniter... Posts: 58	How I think of Gollum...hmmm...pale, blue, rotting skin, bulbous eyes, keen smell and hearing, greasy, strangly, and little hair, a sunken face, skinny, malnourished, gruesome, large hands and feet, gangly, a body that's too small for him, and all that Gollum is wearing is a loincloth. It's amazing how you never hear of anyone picturing Gollum in a pink tu-tu with curly blonde hair...oh well. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Wormtounge! Long time, no see! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]