The Ring & Bilbo

[SonofUgluk]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Another thought struck me: what about Gollum's time in the wraith-world? Does repeated wearing of the Ring for a long period, as was the case with him, lead to such a change in the senses, giving a somewhat permanent affinity for the shadow-world just as a wound from a Morgul-blade? That would explain Gollum's apparent extraordinary abilities of sight, smell, and hearing.

Hi Inzil I think Gollums enhanced senses came from the fact he lived in 'darkness' under the mountains for so long - in the same way blind people find their senses of hearing and smell enhanced due to their absence of sight , their other senses compensate , so gollums 'other' senses became enhanced from living in the dark for so long . This is why he 'hates' the sun and only wishes to travel under the cloak of the moon (if he travels at all , he hates both the sun and the moon , he'd rather live with no illumination whatsoever) . It will be interesting to see in the film of the Hobbit how Jackson deals with the issue of the 'wraith world' aspect of the wearing of the ring , I think tolkein maybe avoided that aspect as the Hobbit was supposed to be a childrens book which is maybe why he avoided that 'spooky' side of the wielding of the ring ...