Sméagol
This page should be merged with Gollum.sméagol as he first holds the one ring
Sméagol (OE, pron. [ˈsmæ͡ɑːɣoɫ]; also Trahald) was a Hobbit of Stoor-kind who lived on the banks of the Anduin in the later Third Age. He was an inquisitive Hobbit who was interested in roots and beginnings,he dig under the roots of trees and into riverbanks,his eyes and thoughts were often on what he might find. His friend Déagol came upon the One Ring, but Sméagol murdered Déagol and took the Ring. He was eventually exiled by his people, and crept into the roots of the Misty Mountains, where he became the creature of the dark better known as Gollum.
Etymology
Sméagol is the translation of actual Westron name Trahald.
Tolkien explained in his Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings the origin of the name Sméagol in the lemma on smials:
- "Smials. A word peculiar to hobbits (not Common Speech), meaning 'burrow'; leave unchanged. It is a form that the Old English word smygel 'burrow' might have had, if it had survived. The same element appears in Gollum's real name, Sméagol."
- ― Tolkien
