Gollum (SLASH'EM)
h Gollum 
| |
|---|---|
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d6 physical, Weapon 1d6 physical, Touch 1d2 poison (strength) |
| Base level | 16
|
| Speed | 10 |
| Base AC | -5 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | -6 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 500 |
| Nutritional value | 200 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | Poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison resistance |
|
Gollum:
| |
| Reference | monst.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 5120 |
- For the monster in EvilHack, see Gollum (EvilHack).
Gollum, h, is a defunct monster that exists in the code of SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. He is a unique humanoid that serves as the quest nemesis for the Hobbit quest in SLASH, an ancestral version of SLASH'EM: there, he guards both the Bell of Opening and the Hobbit quest artifact, The One Ring. The Hobbit quest became defunct when SLASH adopted the Wizard Patch and became SLASH'EM, and the Hobbit role and other similar roles were translated into playable races like the Elf of NetHack 3.3.0—the data for Gollum has been retained and commented out in every iteration of SLASH'EM since.
Gollum is a strong and omnivorous humanoid creature that desires the hero's quest artifact, will also pick up any gems, magical items and other objects that he comes across, and can also follow the hero to other levels if he is adjacent like other quest nemeses. Gollum has two weapon attacks and a touch attack that can inflict strength-draining poison, but lacks any means to steal back the quest artifact if the hero obtains it without killing him. He possesses poison resistance.
Gollum is poisonous to consume, and eating his corpse or tin has a chance of granting poison resistance.
Generation
Gollum is always generated hostile, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
Origin
In J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth setting, Gollum (also known as Sméagol) was originally a Stoorish hobbit during the middle periods of the Third Age. Sméagol's friend and close relative Déagol had offered him a cheap present on his birthday: later that day, Déagol was pulled into the water by a large fish while boating in the Gladden Fields, and found a gold ring. Sméagol demanded the ring as a birthday present and strangled Deágol when he refused, hiding his body afterward—thus, Sméagol became the fourth Ring-bearer. Sméagol kept his treasure secret and used it in malicious ways, slowly becoming corrupted by the ring; his peers began to avoid him, and in his state as a loner he muttered to himself and gurgled in his throat, which earn him the derisive moniker of "gollum".
Eventually banished from his family and hobbit-hole, Smeagol wandered in loneliness up the River, using the invisibility of the Ring to survive by catching and eating raw fish. Some time later, he made his way to a cave in the Misty Mountains from which the stream ran—there, the Ring's malignant influence twisted his appearance and mind, prolonging his life well beyond its normal span with the murder of Déagol haunting him the entire time. For over four hundred years, "Gollum" managed to live on a small island surrounded by a subterranean lake; he would prey upon any raw fish he caught from his small raft, along with goblins from the nearby Goblin-town. Meanwhile, he had developed a habit of talking to the Ring and reassuring himself that it turned up to him so it could be his "Birthday Present" and his "precious".
Gollum eventually became so disfigured and grotesque in appearance and mentality that by the time he encountered Bilbo Baggins, he was afflicted with almost complete madness. The Hobbit details Bilbo's encounter with Gollum and subsequent theft of the Ring (which Bilbo may well have been aided in by the Ring itself). Gollum would eventually leave the caves in pursuit of Bilbo and the Ring, encountering Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring—in events that span much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gollum leads Frodo into Mordor and betrays him to Shelob, and eventually he finally seizes the Ring from Frodo in Sammath Naur; in his euphoria, he loses his balance and falls into the fires of Mount Doom, destroying both him and the Ring for good.
