[JennyHallu]

I don't know if Bilbo's resistance to the Ring was as much better than Smeagol's as it seems. Bilbo found the Ring in such a way that it prevented any necessity of violence. Perhaps the ring had learned how to approach his victims.

Honestly, I never really got the feeling that the handy little trinket in The Hobbit and the actively malevolent presence in The Lord of the Rings were the same bit of jewelry. Almost as though even in his revision of the chapter Tolkien still hadn't yet realized quite what a danger the Ring was going to be.

I wonder if Bilbo was riddling with Smeagol or Gollum? The ring had left him, and Bilbo was bringing up all his hidden and hated memories of sun and happiness, and Smeagol really seemed almost wistful about it.