Gollum

Gollum is a guard involved in Melissa Walsh’s kidnapping and captivity, remembered by her as a quiet, hard-to-understand figure. His few observed actions—watching from a doorway and later bringing her Ventolin inhaler—make him a distinct presence within the group holding her, while leaving his motives and wider identity unspecified.

Identity and Introduction

Melissa gives the captor the name Gollum; it is her identifying label for him, not an account of his actual name or background. She recalls him as a short, dark man who watched from the doorway and did not speak. When she tried to communicate with him, she felt that he did not understand her.

Her recollection of the kidnapping distinguishes Gollum from another captor she calls The Boxer. That man, of medium height and solid build, wore a black hood and a scarf over the lower part of his face. Melissa remembers his eyes clearly, but the account does not establish a personal connection or shared history between the two men beyond their involvement in holding her.

Role in Melissa’s Captivity

Melissa tries to tell her captors something when they throw her bag out of the van and again when a tall, thin man brings her food and water. Neither attempt leads to her being heard: the tall man tells her to be quiet, while Gollum, standing in the doorway, appears not to understand and remains silent. The contrast defines his role in these moments: he is present as a watcher, but not an effective channel for communication.

Melissa makes a deliberate effort to remember what happened, believing that details could help the police catch the people holding her. Her recollection identifies Gollum as one person she encountered, but it gives no further account of his part in the abduction itself or of what he knows about the group’s plans.

The Inhaler

Later, footsteps ascend the wooden staircase, the door opens, and light reaches Melissa beneath her hood. Gollum pulls back the duvet to reveal her curled up, prods her, and orders her to wake. In his hand is her Ventolin inhaler.

The inhaler matters because Melissa has asthma: seeing it produces an immediate reaction, and its presence connects Gollum’s visit to a concrete medical need. The scene shows him bringing her the inhaler, but does not explain how he obtained it, why he brings it at that moment, or what happens after it is offered. It therefore complicates his earlier silence without resolving his intentions.

Narrative Significance and Limits

Gollum is presented through Melissa’s constrained perspective, which makes his silence and actions legible to the reader chiefly through what she observes and remembers. Her self-chosen label distinguishes him in the absence of a known identity, while the discarded bag and repeated attempts to speak mark the limits of her communication with her captors.

The return of the Ventolin inhaler creates a small but consequential shift in that pattern: the silent guard now carries an object tied to Melissa’s immediate health. The available account does not develop him beyond these encounters, and it supplies no resolution about his fate or his relationship to the other people involved.