Smeagol had the ring for nearly 500 years and never completely succumbed to its power like the ring-wraiths did. While he was corrupted, he still had a spark of himself under all those centuries of madness. I believe Gandalf specifically points this out somewhere. Something about the nature of hobbits enabled them to resist the ring better than any other race, even the high elves that had lived on Valinor–heck, even Gandalf, a Maia, feared to take up the ring. The only person who seemed able to bear it with no corruption was Tom Bombadil in the books.
Comment on *cough cough* GOLLUM *cough cough*
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 1 week agoYeah, I get that. They were all influenced in some way. I thought hobbits were supposed to be perfect for the job as they were considered lesser in power than the other races, so the ring wouldn’t really empower them as much, thus less chance of corruption. The same reason they couldnt just fly to Mt Doom on the eagles as they were a powerful race, more susceptible to corruption. Golem wanted the ring more than life itself and killed for it very quickly so I find its just that aspect I find hard to believe.
slingstone@lemmy.world 1 week ago
medgremlin@midwest.social 1 week ago
I have interpreted it less as “the hobbits are less powerful”, and more as “what would a powerful hobbit even want?”.
If a hobbit had all the power in Middle Earth, they would have an amazingly cozy hobbit hole with the best food and their parties and garden would be the envy of every hobbit and probably some elves and men. Hobbits don’t really have much interest in conquest, and their definition of dominance includes being well-liked or admired by those they dominate.