Do we like Gollum?
A character from The Lord of the Rings (1954–55)
Our score: 3 out of 10. We pity him and he makes a great character, but we wouldn't back him. He'd betray you for his Precious without a second thought, even if a flicker of the old Sméagol sometimes shows.
Gollum first turns up in The Hobbit as the strange creature living deep under the Misty Mountains. There Bilbo Baggins finds himself in a game of riddles with him. In The Lord of the Rings the ring Bilbo took from him turns out to be the One Ring, the story's central object. Gollum is the one who wants it back, and he trails Frodo and Sam across Middle-earth.
He is a split creature: the fawning, eager-to-please "Sméagol" on one side and the plotting, sinister "Gollum" on the other. Frodo's pity gives the better half a chance, and the book is a long tug-of-war between the two. Gollum is clever, relentless and sometimes useful, but you can never trust him to stay on your side.
He scores a 3 because his sad history earns real sympathy, and he helps the plot along. But his obsession with the Ring makes him dangerous to everyone around him, Frodo and Sam most of all. The kinder voice inside him loses more often than it wins.
In the end, Gollum's pursuit of the Ring takes him to Mount Doom. When Frodo cannot give up the Ring, Gollum's own obsession ends up deciding the outcome of the quest.