Do Not Neglect Their Lessons
“The most inquisitive and curious-minded of that family was called Sméagol. He was interested in roots and beginnings; he dived into deep pools; he burrowed under trees and growing plants; he tunnelled into green mounds; and he ceased to look up at the hill-tops, or the leaves on trees, or the flowers opening in the air: his head and his eyes were downward.” (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Book I, 62)
This passage was in our family’s reading a few nights ago. With today’s beautiful sun and tonight’s enlightening moon, as well as a sermon on pity this week that was mainly sprung from Tolkien’s writings, it finally hit me on why Gollum ended up how he did.
Yes, it was the Ring that transformed him from Sméagol to Gollum, the Ring that twisted and warped his hobbit-like person into the wretched undying monster that he became. Tolkien was always careful to give main characters very telling beginnings. So it is right for us to take Gandalf’s account of Gollum’s early life before he captured the Ring quite seriously.
In Middle-Earth, while nearly everyone (even Sauron) begin their existence in goodness, meaning well, many seem to snag certain parts of themselves that stick out on evil as temptation passes by. Gollum was snagged on the Shadow by his propensity not to look up at the hills, the trees, and the sky. He initially has no interest in the Sun or Moon, but by the time he has the Ring for a while, he hates nothing as much as these Lights.
Given the weight which Tolkien placed on Light, Stars, and the account of the Sun and Moon in his other works (e.g., The Silmarillion), and given his and C. S. Lewis’ saturation with Medieval literature and cosmology, it is not unreasonable to see Gollum’s beginning as someone who refuses to be taught by the heavens, the heavens which declare the glory of God. Sméagol would not raise his head to look and hear the Sun, Moon and Stars speaking, and he was thus more easily drawn into darkness, both literally and theologically. For sin is darkness, self-absorbed and imprisoned in one’s lusts.
We all went out to the porch tonight to be silent under the few stars we could see, and tried to listen to the Moon.
