MovieChat Forums > The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Discussion > Was Gollum bad?

Was Gollum bad?

posted 3 years ago by catbug (421)
7 replies | jump to latest

Did he turn against Frodo because he was betrayed? Or was it the ring making him bad?

THE RING.

[–] catbug (421) 3 years ago

I don't know. When he finds the ring he turns bad pretty quickly, and decides to kill his fishing companion in an instant. Frodo waited a whole trilogy to go nuts.

VladTheImpala
4 years ago
The fact that Gandalf brought 3 eagles with him makes me think he was harboring some hope that perhaps Smeagol wasn't beyond redemption, and that one of them was for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOnhBKPSuWA&lc=UggqOyXBagVINXgCoAEC

😭

[–] Kowalski (56916) 3 years ago

FRODO WAS AND IS A BETTER PERSON...THE WEAKER THE WILL THE FASTER THE CORRUPTION.

[–] Abed303 (282) 3 years ago

Also, that fishing companion was his own cousin,

[–] catbug (421) 3 years ago

Even worse!

[–] Abed303 (282) 3 years ago

Agreed. In Gollum's defense though, it didn't take Boromir too long either.

[–] Ace_Spade (9334) 3 years ago

Both.

I think Gollum would have betrayed Frodo eventually. It was inevitable. He wanted his "precious" back and there was never any chance he'd let Frodo chuck it into Mt. Doom, but I do think he had gotten a little nicer by travelling with Sam and Frodo. Frodo's kindness was slowly, slowly redeeming Gollum. Who knows how far he might have gotten given more time?

So, yeah, I think Gollum finally trusting another person and even liking them a bit for the first time in decades was doing him good. It follows, then, that he'd REALLY hate that trust being smashed like that at the pool, and any explanation Frodo gave him would surely be inadequate because of that hurt.

Would Gollum have betrayed them later without the pool? Probably.

Could he have "converted"? Maybe. I think it unlikely, but possible. But any hope of that was gone after Frodo helped Faramir's men.