Discussing: Gollum in Moria
Gollum in Moria
Branwyn
Message: 44449
10 Sep 05 6:38 AM
Original Post
General Audience
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Message: 44449
10 Sep 05 6:38 AM
Original Post
General Audience
Read-Only
Thanks for any help with this.
B.
Re: Gollum in Moria
Tolkien gives us the answer in his account of The Hunt for the Ring published in Unfinished Tales:
[The] Chieftain of the Ringwraiths […] with six companions [… about] the twenty-second of July [...] met their companions, the Nazgûl of Dol Guldur, in the Field of Celebrant. There they learned that Gollum had eluded both the Orcs that recaptured him, and the Elves that pursued them, and had vanished.2
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 4, The Hunt for the Ring: Of the Journey of the Black Riders
He had indeed in his terror of the Nazgûl dared to hide in Moria. [Author's note.]
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 4, The Hunt for the Ring: Notes, Note 2
It seems clear that pursued both by Elves and Orcs Gollum crossed the Anduin, probably by swimming, and so eluded the hunt of Sauron; but being still hunted by Elves, and not yet daring to pass near Lórien (only the lure of the Ring itself made him dare to do this afterwards), he hid himself In Moria. That was probably in the autumn of the year; after which all trace of him was lost.
What then happened to Gollum cannot of course be known for certain. He was peculiarly fitted to survive in such straits, though at cost of great misery; but he was in great peril of discovery by the servants of Sauron that lurked in Moria, especially since such bare necessity of food as he must have he could only get by thieving dangerously. No doubt he had intended to use Moria simply as a secret passage westward, his purpose being to find "Shire" himself as quickly as he could; but he became lost, and it was a very long time before he found his way about. It thus seems probable that he had not long made his way towards the West-gate when the Nine Walkers arrived. He knew nothing, of course, about the action of the doors. To him they would seem huge and immovable; and though they had no lock or bar and opened outwards to a thrust, he did not discover that. In any case he was now far away from any source of food, for the Orcs were mostly in the East-end of Moria, and was become weak and desperate, so that even if he had known all about the doors he still could not have thrust them open. It was thus a piece of singular good fortune for Gollum that the Nine Walkers arrived when they did.
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 4, The Hunt for the Ring: Other Versions of the Story
HTH
Cheers, Liz
