The Legend of Howling Wolf Gollum

Well I guess pretty near everbody knows the story of the War Of The Ring and about how Frodo and Sam took it and went all the way to Mordor and threw it in the fires of Mount Doom. And I guess most folk still remember the tale of how Old Bilbo Baggins found the ring in the caverns deep under the Misty Mountains and how he wrangled it away from Gollum. And there may even be some folks still about that know what little there is to know about how old Gollum got the ring himself long, long ago on that tragic day in the Gladden Fields. But like I said, everyone pretty much knows all this ever since it came out in The Redbook Of Westmarch and There and Back Again

But even those books do not tell all there is of Gollum's story. You see, as long as Gollum had the ring, the ring also had him so to speak. But once it was taken from him, some small spark of the old Smeagol that had not yet been utterly destroyed by the Darkness the ring had placed upon his heart slowly made it's way back into Gollum's mind. And this part of him, small though it might have been, did not love the ring at all, no, in fact it despised the ring for all that it had wrought upon Smeagol

And then, while on the journey to Mordor with Frodo and Sam, a strange thing happened. Gollum went off to no one knows where, and even Gollum will not speak of it, but if asked he will simply smile and nod and tell you that he just "went out for a stroll." When he returned he was changed in a way that, while insignificant at first, was later found to be both remarkable and profound. Outwardly he had changed but little. He had taken to wearing hats and sunglasses, and could now play the guitar and sing. But inside it was as if a dark veil was slowly being lifted from his heart.

Of course we all know what followed on that fateful trip and of the ultimate fate of the Ring. Still, the exact details are cloudy at best. Frodo and Sam, both suffering from starvation, thirst, exhaustion and exposure, not to mention having spent long weeks under the shadow of the Dark Lord, could hardly be considered reliable witnesses. In addition to this, there is a little known account of the demise of the ring that has only recently come to light. It was told to me by the granddaughter of a great Raven who was in turn sired by the very same raven that carried messages back and forth between Thorin Oakenshield and Dain of the Iron Hills just before the all too well known Battle Of The Five Armies at the feet of the Lonely Mountain.

The story as told to me by the raven is as follows:

"Oh yes, well you see, the Hobbit had claimed the ring for himself and that other fellow was just lying there on the floor, limp as a drownded worm. Well, as I'm sure you can imagine, old Granddad was frightfully curious as to what would happen next when along comes old Gollum. How he could see through all that darkness with those things on his eyes I'll never know, but he comes along just the same and when he sees that Frodo lad slip on the ring he just freezes. Granddad said Gollum stood there for a moment, took off his hat and sunglasses and set down this odd looking case and he swore he could see a tear in Gollum's eye. Then he says that poor old Gollum took a step toward where Frodo had been, stopped and looked back at his case as if thinking about something, then he muttered something about "duty," and "shouldn't happen to anyone else" and leaped after Frodo.

Well, you know all about the fight and the whole bit with the finger and all and how Sam and Frodo were rescued. But what nobody seems to know is that after they left, another fellow comes along. We aren't sure who he was, but he wore a silly looking hat with a long feather in it. Then this ruddy faced gentleman actually starts to laughing and singing, that's right, singing! Granddad said he sang:

Glasses and hat,
Imagine that!
He must've gone and forgot 'em.

Fell in the pit?
Gotta hurt quite a bit,
But I know a song for old Gollum.

Well, old Granddad couldn't remember much more of it, a lot of ring-ding a dillo's and merry-oberry-o's and then Badda-bing! Bada-boom! There's Gollum, all fresh and clean and ready to go. Well, Gollum, he goes and kneels before the big weird guy and kisses his hand. I gotta tell ya, that part really touched Grandpa, he always got a little choked up when he told us that part of the story. Anyway, the big guy pulls out a sheet of paper and a rubber stamp and puts: "Paid in Full" on it and hands it to Gollum who looks at it for a moment and then tosses it into the fire. Then they pick up Gollum's gear and head on down the tunnel. Never said a word to each other. Well, nobody ever saw 'em come out the other end. But someway or another they made it. Anyhow, that's the story my Granddad used to tell us when we was just young chicks and still fresh out the egg."

And that is the story as it was related to me by the raven. What happened after that is still hidden, but some say that Gollum started calling himself Howling Wolf shortly thereafter and that it was he himself who played Nine-Fingered Frodo at Cormallenstock.

We now know that H.W.G. is the very same Gollum of the Redbook of Westmarch. But nobody seems to hold that against him these days. Maybe it's because he brought the Blues to Middle Earth, maybe it's because they think that he suffered enough. And maybe it's because without him, the ring might never have been destroyed. Ask ten different folk and you will get ten different answers. But one thing pretty much everyone agrees on is that when it comes to singin' the blues, no one in Middle-Earth does it better, or has more of a reason to sing 'em than H.W.G.

-The Runt