Melkor's Letter #7: Gollum, Bilbo and Adventures

Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things...

Dear Sauron,

Gollum has your Ring. He has now captured your most powerful one! This is great news! Meanwhile, Bilbo will be unfortunately taken out on “an adventure” with Gandalf and his Company – Thorin and Company to be exact.

Gollum is a peculiar creature. He would wear it until it tired him, and so he would keep it in a pouch and later hide it in a hole in the rock of an island. He would put it on when he couldn’t bear to be parted from it, or hungry, or tired of fish, which he loved. He would also creep along dark passages to look for stray goblins. Gollum is a Hobbit, a Stoor, and he was born in 2430 TA and dwells in the Gladden Fields. He was kicked out of his own family’s home by his grandmother as he took to thieving, muttering to himself, gurgling in his throat.

But most importantly, he is already corrupted by the One Ring. Make sure it never ends! Make sure he keeps the Ring forever! That way, one day he’ll be one of us! He loved when no one can see him when he wore the Ring and would often use it for crooked and malicious uses. Luckily for us, these are things that we look for! The more you wear it, the more you love it, much like he loves himself.

Initially, Gandalf saw something peculiar in Bilbo, who would see it as “just an adventure” at first. But Bilbo didn’t really know that he was going to go to Lonely Mountain. He thought he was just going to go out, which would be the best part of this whole journey. See, Thorin just doesn’t want Bilbo going with him. Convince him that Gandalf just doesn’t know anything.

Gandalf will convince Thorin how great Bilbo would be as an additional member of Thorin and Company. But Bilbo – he doesn’t have any adventurous spirit whatsoever! Sure, he is half a Baggins and half a Took – which is what Gandalf tries to persuade him of – though really, he is a Baggins of Bag End. He really doesn’t know anything about his Took side. Gandalf will convince him of that. Our job is to make him forget it. Make him forget that he even had a “Took side!” Remember that Bilbo just doesn’t do adventures. They just aren’t his thing. You know, this is to their advantage, and to our disadvantage, since that would mean that Bilbo will one day grab hold of your Ring, which is now in Gollum’s hands.

But do not fret! All we must do, is make sure Bilbo holds on tightly to his Baggins side. After all, Belladonna Took never had any adventures once she married Bilbo’s father Bungo Baggins. Who wants to go on adventures anyways? It seems Belladonna just knew better after she married Bungo. See, Gandalf’s idea – which could possibly also be our Enemy’s – was that Bilbo had this Took side, which frequently went on adventures, like a spark that’s waiting to ignite. This was very unlike most Hobbits. Most Hobbits are living like Bilbo now, in his Baggins side, as “plain quiet folk [who have] no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things, make you late for dinner.” But Gandalf sees that Bilbo is not just like any other hobbit and take him out on adventures to redeem his Took side. But we must stop him! We must stop Bilbo from going on adventures. He was right in the beginning. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner. What does anyone see in them?

How do we do this? Leave the Ring to Gollum. He’s so close to being one of us! One day he will be, if Bilbo never touches it. And we can continue convincing Gollum all the great things the Ring would bring. It made him invisible, though that’s only in darkness, so keep him in darkness! Never let him see the light, as the ring wouldn’t make him invisible that way. He will only be shaky and faint. See, Bilbo doesn’t know he will one day touch it, but that is our greatest fear. We’ll remind him of how great he has it at home. Remind him that no hobbit has ever had to go on adventures before. And Bilbo wouldn’t know where he would go! And how is he going to get along with dwarves? We spend so much time trying to separate the two. And not only those two – all need to be separated from each other! As we discussed, Friendship is a fluke! Friendship doesn’t accomplish anything! Friendship is the ultimate killer of our wills!

As you remember, the Elves and Dwarves didn’t really like each other for a while. See, they did in the First Age, but I highlighted their differences, so they didn’t like each other in the Second Age. They have settled their dispute, but still, the fact remains that they haven’t fully resolved it, and we are not planning on doing so anyways. Same with Bilbo and the Dwarves. What use does he have going with them? Should Bilbo go, make sure that he gets as close to the Ring as possible. No one would take the Ring to Mordor that way. But even if he does, it would be so easy as you are the Ring’s maker. Much like me, you can use your power to control other characters, including Gandalf. Gandalf is a Maia just like you once were. However, you have the Ring. You are the Ring’s maker. This increases your power. Do what I say, and you should always have the upper hand. Not even hobbits can come close to you!

See, Gandalf is quite an interesting creature. He seems to try to find the most unlikely people to meet up, knowing that friendship and community is the way to go in destructing our deeds. He values virtues such as compassion, community, and integrity. Our goal is to destroy all of that! Much like yourself, Gandalf is one of the Maiar – an immortal spirit in visible, physical form. He dwelt in Lórien but learned things like pity and patience from the Vala Nienna, the Lady of Pity and Mourning. See, he really has much more in common with you and I than anyone would think! The chief difference is that their roles are designed so they could follow the will of our Enemy. Gandalf would later be known as Mithrandir of the Council of the Wise, as the most vigilant and closest in council with the Elves, especially Elrond. However, our Shadow returned during then, and Saruman learned about the Rings of Power. We were able to darken their hearts. See, Gandalf and Elrond were fooled for a hot second. Gandalf was able to use his dark thoughts to gather all the rings into his hand to master you. He thought he could fight back, though that would fight fire with fire. That was why he would later turn to Hobbits.

But let’s go back for a minute: when you finally arose, you were close to declaring yourself. You almost had Rivendell! Gandalf didn’t know what was happening, so he meant to call upon Bilbo and would meet Thorin by chance in Bree. They would go to Thorin’s Halls to discuss destroying Smaug before going to the Blue Mountains. Thorin was a little skeptical, which was to be expected. He was a little more focused in reclaiming the treasure of his forefathers. By then, Gandalf had already formed Thorin and Company but thought to add Bilbo to go to the Lonely Mountain. He had been intrigued by Bilbo since his childhood, as “[Bilbo] had stayed in [Gandalf’s] mind ever since, with his eagerness and his bright eyes, and his love of tales, and his questions about the wide world outside the Shire.” (UT, “The Quest of Erebor”). He tried to visit Bilbo many times, who was often off visiting the Dwarves! So, Gandalf would go back to Thorin to ask him to let Bilbo come along with him. But Thorin was suspicious, thinking he was “soft as the mud of his Shire, and silly.” This would lead to our greatest plan! But unfortunately, Gandalf says, “if [Bilbo] goes with [Thorin, he] will succeed, if not, [he would] fail,” leading Bilbo to be thrust into the hole of going on adventures.

So now, we really don’t have a chance. Bilbo will be going on this adventure to reclaim Lonely Mountain, regardless of our efforts to stop him. Thankfully, it was only revealed that he would merely go. It was not revealed to Bilbo what he would do there. So, Bilbo doesn’t know he was going to approach the One Ring. And when he captures it, he doesn’t know that’s your Ring. Because the Ring is now with Gollum in the Gladden Fields physically, though its powers went with you, its Maker. So, we only have one final choice: to wield your ring to make Bilbo claim the Ring as his own, much like what we did to Gollum. “My birthday-present,” Gollum would say referring to it, “it came to me on my birthday, my precious.” This was what he always said to himself, which is the opposite of what good Hobbits would do on their birthdays.

And lastly, speaking of which – we convinced him that Deagol’s gift was insufficient, thus Sméagol would want the Ring. It was said that Hobbits give gifts on their birthdays. They claim that the gift is a form of thanksgiving and a recognition of service rather than a mere custom. Is it really, though? No, Bilbo would give gifts to Lobelia of all Hobbits, who would only come back and try and steal his spoons. Granted it was revealed later, but he has been doing this for a while. We figured; in what universe would we have any interest in doing that? So, we set Sméagol free, so we can convince him he was special among the Hobbits, having this birthday present to himself, the One Ring. Is it really his birthday present? No, it’s still YOUR ring. And it will always be. The Hobbits can’t get near you. They don’t even know what’s going on!

Your precious comrade,

Melkor Morgoth