How come Gollum?

[Gary Gamgee]

Here a question for you...

If Smeagol was a hobbit how come Gollum didn't know what Bilbo was?

[A! Elbereth]

To tell you the truth the whole Gollum and Smeagol all in one thing confuses me more than anything has before.

[Fatty]

Hi Mr Gamgee, welcome to War of the Ring.

To tell you the truth I have not thought much about this before.

I guess they did have some things in common. Also Gollum was not exactly rational, and his vague memories of his former life only came through when "Slinker" was the one in control.

..........

[Mirkgirl]

The hobbits Smeagol was part of and the hobbits in the Shire were not exactly the same and Gollum's memories for his people were not that good to be able to recognize someone who was from the same species but not exactly the same... that's the whole thing IMO

And Welcome Gary Gamgee entdraught

[Algamesh]

I don't think it was ever said that Gollum was a hobbit ... just that his race was closely related to the hobbits. Is this correct? Maybe they didn't have hairy feet or something lol !

But then again, it occurs to me that I may have read somewhere that he was a Stoor ...

Anyway ... through his madness and insanity ... he may not have enough of a grasp on reality to really remember his heritage.

[Catz]

it was never really stated, just suggested that Gollums people were some of the stock from which the hobbits developed, not hobbits themselves......hobbits themselves didnt even know where they were from....Smeagol was taken by the ring long before the hobbits settled in the Shire...and im pretty sure that in the book there are references to Gollum being reminded of his home by Sam and Frodo.....or perhaps ive just finally lost it and im imagining things :huh:lol wouldnt be the first time :o lol :cool:
:catz:

[Pil]

Yup, i think that Gollum and the hobbits are not COMPLETELY separate, but the amount of time that had passed from when smeagol turned gollum and left, to bilbo and frodo's time...the connection would be too vague for his twisted mind to work out, even if WE as readers can handle it. ;)

[Falmon]

Gollum was indeed a Hobbit. His people were the ancestors of the Stoors of the Shire, but they were certainly Hobbits. I'm quite sure if you open up the Tolkien Letters you can find a quote from Tolkien confirming that Sméagol was of Hobbit-kind.

I imagine Gollum did not recognize Bilbo for what he was because he had been living the life of a twisted gangrel creature under the mountains, feeding on Goblins, for thousands of years. There was a time, before he ever came to the Misty Mountains, that he was surprized by Sun. "He had almost forgotten about the Sun" Gandalf said. He probably rarely thought about his old life as a Hobbit before his precious came.

In any case there is never a time when Bilbo tells Gollum that he is a hobbit. Gollum asks "What iss he, my preciouss?" and Bilbo answers "I am Mr. Bilbo Bagins. I have lost the dwarves and I have lost the wizard, and I don't know where I am; and I don't want to know, if only I can get away."

Gollum may have figured it out while they were engaged in their riddle-game.

[Pil]

Possibly...during that game a lot of things came back to him... :mmmm: