1782. Gollum

Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel,The Lord of the Rings.

Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit^[1] of the River-folk, who lived near the Gladden Fields.^[2] Originally known as "Sméagol", he was later named "Gollum" after his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat".^[3] His life was extended far beyond its natural limits by the effects of possessing the One Ring, which enslaved him to the point that he pursued it for the rest of his life after losing it to Bilbo Baggins.

During his centuries under the Ring's influence, he developed dissociative identity disorder: "Sméagol" still vaguely remembered things like friendship and love, while "Gollum" was a slave to the Ring who knew only treachery and violence. In The Two Towers, Samwise Gamgeenamed the good personality "Slinker", and the bad personality "Stinker". The two personalities had a love/hate relationship, and often quarrelled when Gollum talked to himself (as Tolkien puts it in The Hobbit, "through never having anyone else to speak to").