What is "gollum"

Gollum is a genus of ground sharks in the family Pseudotriakidae, native to the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The genus was described in 1973 by biologist Leonard Compagno, who named it named after the character Gollum from J. R. R. Tolkien's works, noting the species Gollum attenuatus (the slender smooth-hound) "bears some resemblance in form and habits".

Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the River-folk, who lived near the Gladden Fields. Originally known as Sméagol, he was corrupted by the One Ring and later named Gollum after his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat".

In Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, the name Sméagol is said to be a "translation" of the actual Middle-earth name Trahald (having to do with the idea of "burrowing", and rendered with a name based on Old English smygel of similar meaning).

The Ring, which Gollum referred to as "my precious" or "precious", extended his life far beyond natural limits. Centuries of the Ring's influence twisted Gollum's body and mind, and, by the time of the novels, he had "come to love and hate the Ring, just as he loved and hated himself." Throughout the story, Gollum was torn between his lust for the Ring and his desire to be free of it. Bilbo Baggins found the Ring and took it for his own, and Gollum afterwards pursued it for the rest of his life. Gollum finally seized the Ring from Frodo Baggins at the Cracks of Doom in Orodruin in Mordor; but he fell into the fires of the volcano, where both he and the Ring were destroyed.

Gollum is a character in British writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth.

Gollum may also refer to:

• Gollum (genus), a genus of ground shark
• Gollum galaxias, a species of freshwater fish in the genus Galaxias
• Ingerophrynus gollum or Gollum's Toad
• Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic, a 2003 memoir by British actor Andy Serkis
• Gollum browser, a web application designed for using Wikipedia
• Gollum or Golin language, a language of Papua New Guinea
• Gollum Wiki, the wiki system used by the GitHub web hosting system