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Originally Posted by CSteefel
Still as pointed out, it took Gollum from 2944 to 2980 to make his first visit to Shelob and Mordor, so that is some slow going--36 years. So in this regard, I think alatar's suggestion of a random walk makes sense, with Sauron exerting a pull on Gollum that eventually influenced where he ended up.
Only other discrepancy I see is that Sauron supposedly captured Gollum in 3017, but in 3018 the Orcs at Cirith Ungol say that he made his way through "some years ago...". So either they were being inexact (actually referring to the previous year), or Gollum was captured on one of his earlier visits (but this does not seem to be supported by the statements in The Tale of Years or in The Hunt for the Ring).
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Love this thread!
I also find it implausible that he spend 36 years trekking south. It should have taken him a year max. So he must have done something else. What would that be?
Looking at Gollum's character, he DOES actually have some interests apart from the ring.
1: He is a CURIOUS fellow, he likes learning new things. And he is willing to expose himself to danger just for fun. When he meets Bilbo, he reveals himsels out of curiosity. If he had just stayed inert, Bilbo would have just passed by. He agrees on the riddle game for much the same reason. He's also mentions having reached out for the dead people in the Dead Marshes. Sam thinks he wants to eat them - I think more he did it just for the heck of it.
2: He is especially interested in secrets nobody else knows and caves. That's part of his nature wanting to get preciousss stuff and keep it to himself.
3: He also does like making clever plans and executing them - he takes pleasure from being clever and his skills. We tricksed them yesss. They thought Smeagol was stupid but he tricksed them alll. Clever Smeagol!
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king? Sneaking? Fat Hobbit is always so polite. Smeagol shows them secret ways that nobody else could find, and they say "sneak!" Sneak? Very nice friend. Oh, yes, my precious. Very nice, very nice.
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4: He enjoys food - especially fish, but probably also other things. He does seem genuinely happy while consuming a fish, and not bothering about the ring at all at that moment.
Originally Posted by The Passage of the Marshes, TTT
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- See, my precious: if we has it, then we can escape, even from Him, eh? Perhaps we grows very strong, stronger than Wraiths. Lord Smeagol? Gollum the Great? _The_ Gollum! Eat fish every day, three times a day; fresh from the sea. Most Precious Gollum! Must have it. We wants it, we wants it, we wants it!
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I guess this means he has been to the sea - and that he probably trekked down there to try sea-fish, instead of the fish from lakes and rivers. The South Gondor coast is the closes to Moria.
5: He seems to me to have a great deal of knowledge about many things. For instance, he has seen Lembas before and recognizes it as well. (Dunno if they tried feeding him that while he was a prisoner of Thranduil? )He also knows Southeners and Ring Wraiths. He seems to recognize pretty much anything they come across while he travels with the Hobbits and knows what to do.
From these observations, I think he spent the 36 years just exploring around Mordor for fun, maybe further south as well. Trying to find **really** secret places to make him feel good + maybe looking for the perfect fish.
The reason he didnt tgo straight for the ring. Well - "ring urge" seems to be constantly felt, but controllable. Sauron himself managed to think about other things and not just go bananas about his ring. Bilbo didnt feel "ring urge" while being in Rivendell - then suddenly relapsed.
So the urge to go to Mordor migh have cancelled the calling of the ring out a bit. And pherhaps he thought that after 500 years in a small cave, he needed to brush up on his knowledge of the ways of the world to be effective in finding the ring.
As well, I think he just enjoyed having something new to do.