February 13, 2023

47. He’s Just A Gross Little Guy!

1 hour 2 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: Gollum. For all

the high adventure, heroics great and small and world-shattering consequences

and much more that exists in Tolkien’s legendarium, arguably the most

fascinating character he created in the end is his most racked, ruined and

miserable, first encountered as a mysterious slimy creature living and lurking

in a subterranean lake with only one thing of particular value to his name.

Tolkien’s introduction of both Gollum and a magic ring into this world was, to

borrow a phrase from the narrator of The Hobbit, a turning point in his

career, the more when as he embarked on the writing that would result in The

Lord of the Rings he realized he needed to rethink and redo the original, much

more comically grotesque version of Gollum into a being living out any number

of emotional and physical extremities at once. Arguably both this

transformation and then the incorporation of this version of Gollum into his

grand story became something he never quite got over, based on his various

reactions over time as seen most clearly in his published letters on the

subject. Why might the strongest scene for the entire Lord of the Rings be the

simple gesture of Gollum tentatively reaching out to touch a sleeping Frodo on

the way to Cirith Ungol? What is it about Tolkien’s self retcon of what Gollum

is at heart that is fascinating still? Does the unspoken backstory of Sméagol

and Déagol’s relationship suggest deep waters indeed, and how did Tolkien

regard them both? And did Gollum really eat babies in the end or was that just

something dreamed up by dirtbag elves?

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle – just

waiting on some fish as the endless, timeless years stretch on…

Was there rain? There was

rain.

The HarperCollins Union strike looks to be over! Here’s a press

announcement.

Like we said, rumors, no more, about

Embracer and Warner Bros. Who knows.

The BBC Repair Shop story is a treat.

Just hanging around Tolkien and

Gandalf in Warsaw.

Lord of the Bins! Well,

good luck.

Gollum’s touching of Frodo’s knee should be portrayed more in fan art, but

maybe we’re not looking hard enough. But there is this at

least.

All letters quoted taken from the standard Letters of J. R. R.

Tolkien

collection. The letter to Eileen Elgar quoted later in the episode can be

read in full here.

Our episodes on Sam Gamgee and

the Red Book of Westmarch.

Andy Serkis’s retelling on how he first considered the Gollum casting can be

found in both the movie documentaries and his own book on the

role.

Admittedly that Cat in the Hat

fish is a punk.

Grendel? Fascinating and monstrous

character…but not Gollum.

John D. Rateliff’s The History Of The

Hobbit breaks down

the history of the book from manuscript through its later editions, including

the abandoned early 1960s rewrite.

The Third Man is a great, great

film.

Were the elves spreading stories of atrocity

propaganda? Well…

Serkis himself sees

Gollum through the lens of addiction, but the evidence that Tolkien

himself had that in mind is scanty at best.

The David Foster Wallace

piece in question – one of several on tennis, his favorite sport – is “The

String Theory.” (The exact quote: “It’s the sort of love whose measure is

what it’s cost, what one’s given up for it.”)

Déagol, shadowy and still

crucial.

Yeah sure, Midsomer Murders,

but really it’s about Rosemary &

Thyme as we say. And we do

want that TV series we dream up.

Goofus and Gallant

forever. If you like.

How associated is the phrase ‘unstuck in time’ with Kurt Vonnegut? Quite a

bit.

And go go go Everything Everywhere All At

Once! Surely it

can win everything.

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By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

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