Sméagol

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Sméagol (Trahald) was a Hobbit of Stoor-kind who lived on the banks of the Anduin in the later Third Age. 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.


Origin of the name

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

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