The Taming of Sméagol

The Taming of Sméagol marks a decisive turning point in the Quest of the Ring, transforming the hunter into the hunted and binding the Ring's most obsessive pursuer to its bearer by an oath sworn on the very object of his desire. It is an act of mercy that, against all reason, reshapes the path into Mordor and seals the fate of the Ring itself.

The Desperate Encounter

After fleeing the Company at Parth Galen, Frodo and Samwise Gamgee spent three days lost and climbing among the barren slopes and stones of the Emyn Muil, unable to find a way down from the eastern cliffs. On the third evening, as a storm broke with thunder and lightning, a high, shrill shriek—the cry of a Black Rider—sent Frodo slipping down the rock-face. Sam, hauling him back up with the grey Elven rope from Lórien, realized that the creature they had sensed following them was real. That night, under the clear moon, they saw a small black shape creeping head-first down the sheer precipice: Gollum, moving with spider-like agility, hissing and muttering to himself about his "Precious" and the "thieves, the filthy little thieves." When he fell the last few feet, Sam leaped upon him. The struggle was fierce: Gollum's long arms and legs wrapped around Sam, his sharp teeth bit into Sam's shoulder, and only Frodo's intervention with the drawn sword Sting—forcing Gollum's head back and threatening his throat—brought the creature to submission.

The Choice of Mercy

As Gollum grovelled and whimpered, Frodo faced the same choice that had confronted Bilbo in the dark tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains. Sam urged tying the creature up or killing him outright. But Frodo, hearing in his mind the echo of Gandalf's words—"Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need"—lowered his sword. "For now that I see him, I do pity him," he said. He refused to kill Gollum, refused to let him go, and instead declared that the creature must come with them and help them. Gollum, now calling himself Sméagol, agreed, but when Sam tied a rope to his ankle to prevent escape, Gollum screamed in agony, claiming the Elven rope burned and bit him. Frodo, recognizing the depth of the creature's pain and the power of the Ring over him, demanded a promise. Gollum, with a sudden clarity, swore "on the Precious" itself to serve the master of the Precious and never to let Sauron have it. Frodo accepted the oath, and Sam reluctantly cut the rope.

The Oath and the Divided Self

From that moment, a change came over Gollum. He spoke less with hissing and whining, addressed his companions directly rather than his "precious self," and became pitifully anxious to please—cringing, capering, and weeping when rebuked. Yet Sam, more deeply suspicious than ever, sensed that this new "Sméagol" was merely a truce between two warring halves. Later, as they rested in the Dead Marshes, Sam overheard Gollum's internal debate: Sméagol pleading to keep his promise to the "nice master," and the other voice—Stinker, as Sam called it—lusting for the Ring and whispering of a "She" who might help them take it. The oath, sworn on the Ring itself, held Gollum, but the Ring was already twisting his words and feeding his desire. Frodo, aware of this, warned Gollum that if he himself ever put on the Ring, he could command Gollum to leap into a fire. The taming was never complete; it was a fragile, desperate pact forged in the shadow of Mordor.

Consequences and Significance

This event fundamentally altered the course of the Quest. Gollum, now bound by oath and desire, became the guide who led Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes, past the Black Gate, and ultimately to the secret pass of Cirith Ungol. His divided nature—the lingering Sméagol who served and the ravenous Gollum who plotted—created the very tension that would, at the Cracks of Doom, lead to the Ring's destruction. Frodo's mercy, a deliberate rejection of the easy path of vengeance, proved to be the only force that could bring the Ring to the Fire. The taming of Sméagol is thus not a victory of will over evil, but a precarious, compassionate gamble that, against all odds, succeeded.