Como com muitas coisas, Jackson tomou algumas liberdades dramáticas com o relacionamento Sméagol / Gollum . No entanto, embora eu não seja capaz de encontrar qualquer evidência que sugira que houvesse animosidade entre as personalidades, Jackson estava definitivamente mais próximo da marca do que parece.
Sméagol legitimamente se preocupou com Frodo?
Sim, muito mesmo. Frodo foi a primeira coisa viva em muito tempo que foi bom para ele, e ele respondeu a isso. Ele diz isso explicitamente em The Two Towers :
'But Sméagol said he would be very very good. Nice hobbit! [Frodo] took cruel rope off Sméagol's leg. He speaks nicely to me.'
The Two Towers Book IV Chapter 2: "The Passage of the Marshes"
Tolkien chega a dizer que Frodo pode ter sido capaz de resgatar Sméagol; ele diz isso algumas vezes em suas cartas, por exemplo na Carta 246 ele diz:
If [Sam] had understood better what was going on between Frodo and Gollum, things might have turned out differently in the end. For me perhaps the most tragic moment in the Tale comes in II 323 ff. when Sam fails to note the complete change in Gollum's tone and aspect. 'Nothing, nothing', said Gollum softly. 'Nice master!'. His repentance is blighted and all Frodo's pity is (in a sense) wasted. Shelob's lair became inevitable.
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 246: To Mrs. Eileen Elgar (Draft). September 1963
Sméagol a qualquer momento queria destruir o Anel?
Classificar de. A influência de Frodo estava ajudando a nutrir a personalidade Sméagol (embora Sam a tenha arruinado, como mencionado acima).
Obviamente, nunca temos a oportunidade de testar até onde vai a lealdade de Sméagol a Frodo (ou até onde ela teria ido), mas mais tarde na Carta 246, Tolkien se envolve em alguma especulação sobre o assunto:Sam could hardly have acted differently. (He did reach the point of pity at last (III 221-222) but for the good of Gollum too late.) If he had, what could then have happened? The course of the entry into Mordor and the struggle to reach Mount Doom would have been different, and so would the ending. The interest would have shifted to Gollum, I think, and the battle that would have gone on between his repentance and his new love on one side and the Ring. Though the love would have been strengthened daily it could not have wrested the mastery from the Ring. I think that in some queer twisted and pitiable way Gollum would have tried (not maybe with conscious design) to satisfy both. Certainly at some point not long before the end he would have stolen the Ring or taken it by violence (as he does in the actual Tale). But 'possession' satisfied, I think he would then have sacrificed himself for Frodo's sake and have voluntarily cast himself into the fiery abyss.
I think that an effect of his partial regeneration by love would have been a clearer vision when he claimed the Ring. He would have perceived the evil of Sauron, and suddenly realized that he could not use the Ring and had not the strength or stature to keep it in Sauron's despite: the only way to keep it and hurt Sauron was to destroy it and himself together – and in a flash he may have seen that this would also be the greatest service to Frodo.
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 246: To Mrs. Eileen Elgar (Draft). September 1963
De acordo com Tolkien, Sméagol não queria destruir o Anel per se ; em vez disso, ele queria mantê-lo longe de Sauron. Gollum teria conseguido isso apenas mantendo-o para si, mas a personalidade nutrida do Sméagol, de acordo com Tolkien, teria percebido que isso não funcionaria a longo prazo (e, mesmo estando bem no fundo de Mordor, não teria funcionado em a curto prazo também), e teria destruído o Anel (e ele mesmo) com esse objetivo em mente.