Discussing
Clearing the Gollum From Your Throat

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Tolkien’s trickiest character forces us to confront the ugliness of our sin.

Thanks for the insightful review. I've always thought that Gollum embodies the fact that, as Augustine said, "the disordered soul is its own punishment." Gollum's disordered desire puts him in the hell of his self-imposed exile in the Hobbit (similar to the hell of Lewis's "The Great Divorce), and eventually casts himself into the lake of fire in Mt. Doom. All of this, of course, was done willingly by Gollum himself, a picture of the fact that the destruction of the wicked is nothing but the intrinsic outcome of self- rather than God-centered desire.

Interesting observations, Josh, if not ones I would have made myself. I would disagree with your description of Gollum as a minor character, for example, as he is finally the only reason why the ring is destroyed and the quest fulfilled. This uncomfortable fact problematizes your contention that Gollum is our sin, as it would imply both that sin is productive and that pure evil is, in the end, defeated by pure evil. This is perhaps true, but it is not in line with redemption through faith and grace. Perhaps a better description of Gollum would be as our sinful nature, something along the lines of Stevenson's Hyde.

Gollum is certainly crucial to this epic tale's climactic moment, that's true. In terms of what he represents, though, I meant to imply that Gollum is what we look like - spiritually - when we give ourselves over to sin, not that he necessarily represents sin itself.

OK. An important distinction there, and one I was not entirely clear on the first time I read the post. I see your point more clearly now, and I am more likely to agree when taking only The Hobbit into account (not that you really care). Still, though, I don't think that your interpretation works as well in light of the Lord of the Rings. But maybe that was never the point.

It is interesting to carry this through to the Lord of the Rings, though. Gollum continues to give in to his sin right up until the end, when he grasps for the ring and falls into the volcano. So it is his pursuit of sinfulness that paradoxically destroys the evil ring (and him). You're right there is not much faith and grace here; perhaps Rings is more a tale of fire and brimstone.

I have always thought Gollum provides a very interesting lens through which to view the Reformed perspective on God's instrumental use of evil in the accomplishment of His sovereign will. Frodo, like Isildur before him, lacked the complete freedom of will necessary to destroy the ring when the final moment of decision came. But Gollum, whose freedom was bound entirely to his desire for the ring, was the one whose bondage to evil ironically--and mysteriously--provided the only means by which the evil of the ring could be overcome and the ring finally destroyed.

This makes me think of the Incarnation. Only through God's instrumental use of evil--by allowing the crucifixion of His Son--did God see fit to accomplish the salvation of all who were by nature slaves to their sin natures.

I think Tolkien was getting at precisely this kind of paradox when he wrote The Silmarillion… “ And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.”