“The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien (post 12): Sam’s and Frodo’s views of Sméagol-Gollum approach, but do not reach, multiple personality.

In the last post, I erred in saying that the narrator, per se, misunderstood the multiple personality meaning of the debate between Sméagol and Gollum, because that misunderstanding was attributed to a specific character, Sam.

In the next chapter, Sam’s view approaches multiple personality: “Sam, remembering the overheard debate, found it hard to believe that the long submerged Sméagol had come out on top: that voice at any rate had not had the last word in the debate. Sam’s guess was that the Sméagol and Gollum halves (or what in his own mind he called Slinker and Stinker) had made a truce and a temporary alliance: neither wanted the Enemy to get the ring; both wished to keep Frodo from capture, and under their eye, as long as possible” (1, p. 638). And since Sam may have previously made the “Slinker and Stinker” distinction, I can only accuse the narrator of carelessness and inconsistency in expressing Sam’s point of view.

Frodo still does not distinguish between Sméagol and Gollum as Sam has, but Frodo has newly noticed that Gollum, who had typically referred to himself as “we,” now sometimes refers to himself as “I”: “For one thing, he noted that Gollum used I, and that seemed usually to be a sign, on its rare appearances, that some remnants of old truth and sincerity were for the moment on top” (1, p. 643). However, Frodo does not yet connect the “I” to the Sméagol personality as opposed to the “we” of the Gollum personality.

Comment

Since Sam does not explain what he means by saying there is a Sméagol half and a Gollum half, it cannot be assumed that he recognizes it as multiple personality, per se. Sam’s theory of the case must be assumed to be magical, not psychological, until proven otherwise.

1. J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings [1954-55]. 50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.