Thread: Gollum or Golem
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Old 03-13-2007, 10:00 AM   #6
Legate of Amon Lanc
A Voice That Gainsayeth
 
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I'd second Boro. I think actually Gollum and Golem is very, very improbable to have any connection. I never thought of Gollum not having free will: actually, he has pretty lot of free will. And the Ring... even the Ring didn't totally enslave him. No, certainly not. The Nazgul have no free will, for example ("they have no other will than his own"). But Gollum?
Quote:
Originally Posted by FotR, Chapter 2 - Shadow of the Past
Even Gollum was not wholly ruined. He had proved tougher than even one of the Wise would have guessed -as a hobbit might. There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own, and light came through it, as through a chink in the dark: light out of the past. It was actually pleasant, I think, to hear a kindly voice again, bringing up memories of wind, and trees, and sun on the grass, and such forgotten things.
But that, of course, would only make the evil part of him angrier in the end – unless it could be conquered. Unless it could be cured." Gandalf sighed.
"Alas! there is little hope of that for him. Yet not no hope. No, not though he possessed the Ring so long, almost as far back as he can remember. For it was long since he had worn it much: in the black darkness it was seldom needed. Certainly he had never "faded". He is thin and tough still. But the thing was eating up his mind, of course, and the torment had become almost unbearable."
Nothing more, nothing less. It has became almost unbearable for him - but he still remained himself.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boromir88
Anyway, onto Golems...I think the Orcs would fit much better under 'golems.' They were slaves (and called ant-like) under the domination of Morgoth and Sauron. In Tolkien's earliest writings Morgoth made the Orcs out of rocks and clay (very golem-esque)...though he would scrap that idea. Still I think the Orcs are the best fit. And even the Orcs had a free will, though it seemed to be a rare occurance...the Orcs could beg and plead for mercy, and Shagrat and Gorbag's conversation is quite revealing towards the ability of Orcs to have a free will.
I have always imagined the Trolls possibly more like Golem. No free will, made of stone... the Orcs, exactly as you said about Gorbag and Shagrat, seem to (at least in the final revision) have free will. But I know, I know, there are other topics about it...
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