Tudo o que posso pensar é que Gollum é um estudante astuto de história; durante a caminhada pelos Dead Marshes, ele assume o papel de loremaster, relatando alguns contos do Grande Cerco e da Batalha da Última Aliança:
The Dead Marshes. There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméagol was young, when I was young before the Precious came. It was a great battle. Tall Men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates.
The Two Towers Book IV Chapter 2: "The Passage of the Marshes"
'The old fortress, very old, very horrible now. We used to hear tales from the South, when Sméagol was young, long ago. O yes. we used to tell lots of tales in the evening, sitting by the banks of the Great River, in the willow-lands, when the River was younger too, gollum, gollum.' He began to weep and mutter. The hobbits waited patiently.
'Tales out of the South,' Gollum went on again, 'about the tall Men with the shining eyes, and their houses like hills of stone, and the silver crown of their King and his White Tree: wonderful tales. They built very tall towers, and one they raised was silver-white, and in it there was a stone like the Moon, and round it were great white walls. O yes, there were many tales about the Tower of the Moon.'
The Two Towers Book IV Chapter 3: "The Black Gate is Closed"
No entanto, hesito em dizer que isso foi uma reflexão sobre o próprio Gollum; por sua própria admissão, esses contos lhe foram contados de volta quando ele era apenas Sméagol, meramente lembrado por ele séculos depois.
Até onde eu posso dizer, o interesse anterior de Sméagol em "raízes e origens" não refletiu na personalidade de Gollum, exceto que ele gostava de ficar em cavernas.No entanto, posso dizer com confiança que Gollum ainda era curioso , pelo menos sobre uma coisa:
"What iss he, my preciouss?" whispered Gollum (who always spoke to himself through never having anyone else to speak to). This is what he had come to find out, for he was not really very hungry at the moment, only curious
[...]
He was anxious to appear friendly, at any rate for the moment, and until he found out more about the sword and the hobbit, whether he was quite alone really, whether he was good to eat, and whether Gollum was really hungry.
[...]
After a while Gollum began to hiss with pleasure to himself: "Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?" He began to peer at Bilbo out of the darkness.
The Hobbit Chapter 5: "Riddles in the Dark"